Daily Update Formula1 News

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello gave Brawn GP a stunning debut one-two in the dramatic season-opening Australian Grand Prix, which finished behind the safety car after Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica tangled while fighting for second.
Button controlled the race from the outset, while Barrichello had to recover from a poor start and two collisions - only gaining second thanks to the late crash.
Tail-end starters Jarno Trulli (Toyota), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Timo Glock (Toyota) also benefited from the incident to emerge in surprise third, fourth and fifth places.
Trulli's podium is in dispute, however, with McLaren suggesting that the Italian re-passed Hamilton under safety car conditions after sliding off the road during the caution.
While Button surged off the line into a clear lead at the start, his team-mate Barrichello got away extremely slowly after triggering the anti-stall system, and was in the lower reaches of the top ten by the first corner.

In his eagerness to recover the lost ground, Barrichello managed to tangle with both Mark Webber's Red Bull and Nick Heidfeld's BMW, leaving the latter with a puncture and causing Webber to spin into Kovalainen - who Barrichello felt had initially triggered the incident by tapping him from behind.
While Webber sustained a broken wing, Kovalainen was eliminated and Fernando Alonso had to drive across the grass in avoidance, Barrichello escaped with a slightly mangled wing and was able to continue in seventh. He would later remove another chunk of his wing on Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari while trying to fight back.
Button quickly established a four-second lead, but Red Bull driver Vettel was able to stabilise the gap at that level. They soon enjoyed a huge margin over the rest of the field, for the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Raikkonen had used their KERS boost to charge into third and fifth at the start, split by Kubica's BMW.
These three drivers had all opted to run short first stints on the soft tyres, and as the rubber faded, they began losing up to 5s per lap to the top two. By the time they had all pitted on lap 12, new third-place man Rosberg was half a minute adrift of Button and Vettel. The Williams would lose further ground with a left front wheel problem at its first pitstop.
Button and Vettel lost their advantage when the safety car was called on lap 19 - Williams's Kazuki Nakajima having crashed on the exit of Turn 4 while running a strong fourth on a long first stint strategy.
The safety car initially picked up Vettel rather than Button, leading to an extended delay while the pack was ordered. As the pitstops unfolded, Massa had moved back up to third, but he did not get close enough to Button and Vettel at the restart to use his KERS, and soon fell back to the midfield because his short first stint on softs forced him to make a very early final pitstop before the pack had strung out again following the safety car.
Button built his lead over Vettel back up to 5s in the next stint, only to lose it all with a slow final stop - rejoining just 1.5s ahead of the Red Bull, and with Kubica only 5s behind in third and unlike the leaders now on the medium compound tyres.
Kubica rapidly closed in on the leaders and attacked Vettel on the outside into Turn 3 with three laps to go. Neither was willing to give way, and they became entangled in the corner before both crashing on the next straight as their battered suspension gave way.
That gave Button and Barrichello a Brawn one-two after all - a staggering result for a team only rescued a month ago.
Trulli, Hamilton and Glock therefore appeared in the top five, ahead of Alonso and Rosberg, the latter losing more time when Nelson Piquet spun across his bows at the mid-race restart, and then when his soft tyres faded at the end.
Sebastien Buemi drove a highly impressive race on his debut to complete the scorers for Toro Rosso.
Ferrari's race fell apart in the closing stages. Massa slowed and retired, while Raikkonen spun into the wall and broke his front wing, before also parking in the garage with three laps to go.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Australian Grand Prix
Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia;
58 laps; 307.574km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Button Brawn GP (B) 1h34:15.784
2. Barrichello Brawn GP (B) + 0.807
3. Trulli Toyota (B) + 1.604
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 2.914
5. Glock Toyota (B) + 4.435
6. Alonso Renault (B) + 4.879
7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 5.722
8. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 6.004
9. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 6.298
10. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) + 6.335
11. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 7.085
12. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) + 7.374
13. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1 lap
14. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) + 2 laps
15. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 3 laps
16. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 3 laps

Fastest lap: Rosberg, 1:27.706

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Massa Ferrari (B) 46
Piquet Renault (B) 25
Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 18
Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1


World Championship standings, round 1:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Button 10 1. Brawn GP 18
2. Barrichello 8 2. Toyota 10
3. Trulli 6 3. McLaren-Mercedes 5
4. Hamilton 5 4. Renault 3
5. Glock 4 5. Williams-Toyota 2
6. Alonso 3 6. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1
7. Rosberg 2
8. Buemi 1

All timing unofficial
ref [AS]

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Ferrari have become the first team to unveil their 2009 car, ahead of the first run of their F60 at Mugello in Italy on Monday.
The car has been named as a way of celebrating the fact that Ferrari are the only team to have competed in each of the 60 years of the Formula One world championship.
Due to the radical change in F1 regulations this year, the look of the new car is dominated by the wide front wing and narrow rear wing - with the central part of the F60 featuring a highly-sculpted 'coke bottle' rear-end from behind the sidepods.
The new car features Ferrari's Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), which has been developed in conjunction with electronics supplier Magneti Marelli. It is mounted on the engine - although the team has not yet confirmed whether the device will be used for the first race.

"As you can see the car is not an evolution of last year's car," said technical director Aldo Costa.
"It's a completely new car, starting from a white piece of paper. Fundamentally the biggest changes come from the new rules from an aerodynamic point of view and the introduction of new technology, which is the KERS system.
"Because of that we had to start work pretty early and to review the main concept of the car, so it was a very very intense and long job."
The F60 features a longitudinally-mounted carbon fibre-cased gearbox and has a new Brembo designed braking system.
Felipe Massa is scheduled to test the car for the first time later today at Mugello, with initial shakedowns having been switched from Fiorano because of freezing temperatures at Ferrari's test track.
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Fernando Alonso took his and Renault's second shock victory in succession in the Japanese Grand Prix, as title contenders Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton finished only eighth and 12th after a series of controversial early incidents.

Both Hamilton (McLaren) and Massa (Ferrari) were delayed by drive-through penalties - the Briton for forcing Kimi Raikkonen wide at the start, and Massa for pushing his title rival into a spin shortly afterwards.

Robert Kubica kept himself in title contention by finishing second for BMW, fending off Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton made a slow start and was behind Raikkonen going into Turn 1, where the McLaren dived down the inside with a tyre-smoking move that took not only Hamilton and Raikkonen wide onto the run-off, but also caused their teammates Heikki Kovalainen and Massa to go off in avoidance.

That allowed Kubica and Alonso to slip into first and second ahead of the recovering Kovalainen, while Massa, Hamilton and Raikkonen fell back into the traffic.

On the next lap Massa ran wide into the Turn 10 chicane, allowing Hamilton to slip past and into fifth place, but the Ferrari fought back across the kerbs at the second part of the corner, punting Hamilton into a spin.

Both Hamilton and Massa would later receive drive-through penalties for their respective aggressive moves, consigning the title contenders to unproductive afternoons in the midfield.

At the front, Kubica held a narrow lead over Alonso and Kovalainen through the first stint, with Raikkonen swiftly hacking through the field and back up to fourth, then closing right in on the closely-matched top three.

But at the first stops Alonso managed to leapfrog Kubica and take the lead, and was able to charge away at the front.

Kovalainen's shot at victory ended at the same time, as his McLaren suffered what the Finn believed to be an engine failure.

By the time Alonso came in for his final stop on lap 43, he had established a 13-second lead over Kubica and an 18-second advantage over Raikkonen, and although both his pursuers were running several laps longer, neither was able to get anywhere near the flying Renault.

Alonso duly pulled away again after pitting, taking another comfortable victory that demonstrated Renault's huge improvements in recent weeks.

Raikkonen picked up his pace significantly prior to his second stop and was able to rejoin just metres behind Kubica. The pair then commenced a spectacular battle for second, running wheel to wheel into the first corner several times in the closing laps.

As they battled, Nelson Piquet closed in after a superb drive from 12th in the second Renault. A good start and very long stints allowed the under-pressure Brazilian to come through the field, and as Kubica and Raikkonen lost time fighting with each other, Piquet moved into podium contention.

Ultimately Piquet dropped back when he ran wide at Turn 5 in the closing laps, while Kubica managed to edge clear of Raikkonen as the Ferrari's tyres faded.

Jarno Trulli took fifth for home team Toyota, losing out to Piquet at the last stops, but his teammate Timo Glock was an early retirement with suspension damage from the first lap incidents.

Toro Rosso got both cars into the points, with Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel coming home sixth and seventh, ahead of the flying Massa, who at least reduced Hamilton's lead to six points.

Massa managed to salvage a point despite spinning when he banged wheels with Bourdais as the Toro Rosso rejoined following its final pitstop - an incident that will be investigated by the stewards after the race.

The Ferrari survived that tangle and produced a series of late passes to claim eighth, with Red Bull's Mark Webber his final target. The Australian had driven well on a one-stop strategy, but couldn't fend off Massa at the end.

BMW's Nick Heidfeld also used a one-stop plan to progress to 10th, ahead of Nico Rosberg (Williams) and the delayed Hamilton, who had pitted and taken on heavy fuel immediately after his tangle with Massa. This strategy failed to pay off, as although he was rapidly catching Massa in the middle of the race, he lacked the pace to make progress during his long final stint.

The sole Japanese driver in the field, Kazuki Nakajima, saw his first home race ruined at the start, when he lost his front wing on David Coulthard's Red Bull as it veered across his path after a dramatic suspension breakage. Coulthard, who suspected his suspension had been weakened in first corner wheel-banging, slammed into the barriers but was unhurt.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Japanese Grand Prix
Mount Fuji, Japan;
67 laps; 305.416km;
Weather: Cloudy, dry.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Alonso Renault (B) 1h30:21.892
2. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 5.283
3. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 6.400
4. Piquet Renault (B) + 20.570
5. Trulli Toyota (B) + 23.767
6. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 34.085
7. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 39.207
8. Massa Ferrari (B) + 46.158
9. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 50.811
10. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 54.120
11. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 1:02.096
12. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 1:18.900
13. Barrichello Honda (B) + 1 lap
14. Button Honda (B) + 1 lap
15. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:18.426

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 22
Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 17
Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 9
Glock Toyota (B) 7
Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1

ref[AS]
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08:57 Italian Davide Valsecchi has surged through in to the lead as the GP2 drama continues.
Lucas Di Grassi has been handed a drive through penalty for the clash with Mike Conway and fell down the order as he visited the pits.
The ever-spectacular Pastor Maldonado is once again a man on the move and is up to fourth.
Romain Grosjean has put pressure on Roldán Rodríguez for second over a couple of laps and slipped by in an excellent move at the first chicane. However, he has just thrown that away with a lurid slide, handing second back to Rodríguez.
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Sebastian Vettel became the youngest driver in Formula One history to secure a pole position after finishing on top in a wet qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix.

Vettel set his time early in Q3, and looked increasingly safe as the rain steadily became heavier.

In the end his 1:37.555 was enough to keep him clear of second-placed Heikki Kovalainen, while a stunning all-or-nothing lap from Mark Webber got the Australian up to P3 on his final run, edging out Sebastien Bourdais.

While there were celebrations in the STR garage, it was a different story for world championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who had a dreadful afternoon and now faces the task of trying to salvage a result from 15th on the grid.

Hamilton's problems began with a gamble on intermediates early in Q2. It never looked like paying off, but even though the Briton replaced them with full wets, he appeared distinctly uncomfortable with the conditions throughout the entire session and never threatened the top order.

McLaren were not the only front-running team to trip over during Q2. Kimi Raikkonen missed the cut-off and will start from 14th, and BMW's Robert Kubica could manage no better than 11th.

Hamilton's misfortunes will make life easier for main title rival Felipe Massa tomorrow, who will start the race from sixth alongside Nico Rosberg. Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock delivered on Toyota's early promise to end the afternoon in seventh and ninth, bookending Fernando Alonso, with Nick Heidfeld completing the top 10.

Force India recognised the adverse conditions as a chance to get a result, and the team were rewarded when Giancarlo Fisichella made it through to Q2 for the first time this season, the Italian finishing a very respectable 12th.

Both of the Hondas were early casualties, with Jenson Button both failing to make it through the first session.

Nelson Piquet also missed out at the expense of Renault teammate Fernando Alonso, who knocked him back below the cut-off point just moments after he'd pulled himself above it.

Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
1. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:35.464 1:35.837 1:37.555
2. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:35.214 1:35.843 1:37.631
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:36.001 1:36.306 1:38.117
4. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:35.543 1:36.175 1:38.445
5. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:35.485 1:35.898 1:38.767
6. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:35.536 1:36.676 1:38.894
7. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:35.906 1:36.008 1:39.152
8. Alonso Renault (B) 1:36.297 1:36.518 1:39.751
9. Glock Toyota (B) 1:35.737 1:36.525 1:39.787
10. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:35.709 1:36.626 1:39.906
11. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:35.553 1:36.697
12. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:36.280 1:36.698
13. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:36.485 1:37.284
14. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:35.965 1:37.522
15. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:35.394 1:39.265
16. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:36.510
17. Piquet Renault (B) 1:36.630
18. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:36.653
19. Button Honda (B) 1:37.006
20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:37.417
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Lewis Hamilton took a dominant pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix, resisting a strong challenge from his main title rival Felipe Massa.

Heikki Kovalainen put the second McLaren third on the grid, but three-time race winner Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) will start only fourth this time.

McLaren looked on course for a front row sweep after the first flying laps of Q3, with Hamilton and Kovalainen provisionally holding first and second.

Massa was back in fifth thanks to a scruffy first run, but he recovered well to set a 1:47.678 lap at the second attempt to usurp Hamilton.

The Briton was already responding, however, beating all three of Massa's new benchmark sector times and producing a 1:47.338 to snatch pole back by over three tenths of a second.

Kovalainen, who had topped Q2, had to settle for third, just over a tenth quicker than Raikkonen.

Nick Heidfeld out-qualified his BMW teammate Robert Kubica for only the second time this year as the German took fifth, alongside Renault's Fernando Alonso, while Kubica had to settle for eighth.

Mark Webber scraped into the top ten in the closing moments of Q2 and then earned seventh in Q3 - which was something of a breakthrough on a so far difficult weekend for Red Bull. David Coulthard only managed 14th in the second car.

Toro Rosso again got both cars into top ten, with Sebastien Bourdais going fastest of all in Q1 with a shock late lap. The Frenchman and teammate Sebastian Vettel had to be content with the fifth row when it came to Q3, through, with Vettel saving fuel and only opting for one qualifying attempt.

Webber's improvement meant that both Toyotas were pushed out of the top ten. Jarno Trulli looked set to reach Q3 until Webber's improvement pushed him down to 11th, while Timo Glock didn't improve sufficiently on his last Q2 run and had to settle for 13th. Renault's Nelson Piquet will start between the Toyota pair.

Force India appeared to be on course for their best qualifying result of the year as Adrian Sutil grabbed 14th and Giancarlo Fisichella edged up to 16th towards the end of Q1.

But last gasp improvements from Glock, Webber and the Hondas relegated Sutil and Fisichella to 18th and 20th respectively, split by Kazuki Nakajima's Williams after a very disappointing performance from the Japanese rookie. His teammate Nico Rosberg was 0.7 seconds faster in Q1, but couldn't better 15th in Q2.

Although Honda managed to beat the Force Indias, they couldn't summon enough speed to avoid Q1 elimination, with Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button ending up only 16th and 17th, 0.6 seconds slower than they needed to be to reach the next segment.

Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.887 1:46.088 1:47.338 12
2. Massa Ferrari 1:46.873 1:46.391 1:47.678 16
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.812 1:46.037 1:47.815 16
4. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:46.960 1:46.298 1:47.992 14
5. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:47.419 1:46.311 1:48.315 18
6. Alonso Renault 1:47.154 1:46.491 1:48.504 18
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:47.270 1:46.814 1:48.736 19
8. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:47.093 1:46.494 1:48.763 20
9. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:46.777 1:46.544 1:48.951 19
10. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:47.152 1:46.804 1:50.319 16
11. Trulli Toyota 1:47.400 1:46.949 13
12. Piquet Renault 1:47.052 1:46.965 15
13. Glock Toyota 1:47.359 1:46.995 13
14. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:47.132 1:47.018 15
15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:47.503 1:47.429 12
16. Barrichello Honda 1:48.153 9
17. Button Honda 1:48.211 9
18. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:48.226 9
19. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:48.268 9
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:48.447 9
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Lewis Hamilton took a dominant pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix, resisting a strong challenge from his main title rival Felipe Massa.

Heikki Kovalainen put the second McLaren third on the grid, but three-time race winner Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) will start only fourth this time.

McLaren looked on course for a front row sweep after the first flying laps of Q3, with Hamilton and Kovalainen provisionally holding first and second.

Massa was back in fifth thanks to a scruffy first run, but he recovered well to set a 1:47.678 lap at the second attempt to usurp Hamilton.

The Briton was already responding, however, beating all three of Massa's new benchmark sector times and producing a 1:47.338 to snatch pole back by over three tenths of a second.

Kovalainen, who had topped Q2, had to settle for third, just over a tenth quicker than Raikkonen.

Nick Heidfeld out-qualified his BMW teammate Robert Kubica for only the second time this year as the German took fifth, alongside Renault's Fernando Alonso, while Kubica had to settle for eighth.

Mark Webber scraped into the top ten in the closing moments of Q2 and then earned seventh in Q3 - which was something of a breakthrough on a so far difficult weekend for Red Bull. David Coulthard only managed 14th in the second car.

Toro Rosso again got both cars into top ten, with Sebastien Bourdais going fastest of all in Q1 with a shock late lap. The Frenchman and teammate Sebastian Vettel had to be content with the fifth row when it came to Q3, through, with Vettel saving fuel and only opting for one qualifying attempt.

Webber's improvement meant that both Toyotas were pushed out of the top ten. Jarno Trulli looked set to reach Q3 until Webber's improvement pushed him down to 11th, while Timo Glock didn't improve sufficiently on his last Q2 run and had to settle for 13th. Renault's Nelson Piquet will start between the Toyota pair.

Force India appeared to be on course for their best qualifying result of the year as Adrian Sutil grabbed 14th and Giancarlo Fisichella edged up to 16th towards the end of Q1.

But last gasp improvements from Glock, Webber and the Hondas relegated Sutil and Fisichella to 18th and 20th respectively, split by Kazuki Nakajima's Williams after a very disappointing performance from the Japanese rookie. His teammate Nico Rosberg was 0.7 seconds faster in Q1, but couldn't better 15th in Q2.

Although Honda managed to beat the Force Indias, they couldn't summon enough speed to avoid Q1 elimination, with Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button ending up only 16th and 17th, 0.6 seconds slower than they needed to be to reach the next segment.

Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.887 1:46.088 1:47.338 12
2. Massa Ferrari 1:46.873 1:46.391 1:47.678 16
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.812 1:46.037 1:47.815 16
4. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:46.960 1:46.298 1:47.992 14
5. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:47.419 1:46.311 1:48.315 18
6. Alonso Renault 1:47.154 1:46.491 1:48.504 18
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:47.270 1:46.814 1:48.736 19
8. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:47.093 1:46.494 1:48.763 20
9. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:46.777 1:46.544 1:48.951 19
10. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:47.152 1:46.804 1:50.319 16
11. Trulli Toyota 1:47.400 1:46.949 13
12. Piquet Renault 1:47.052 1:46.965 15
13. Glock Toyota 1:47.359 1:46.995 13
14. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:47.132 1:47.018 15
15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:47.503 1:47.429 12
16. Barrichello Honda 1:48.153 9
17. Button Honda 1:48.211 9
18. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:48.226 9
19. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:48.268 9
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:48.447 9
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Felipe Massa took a dominant victory in the first European Grand Prix at Valencia, beating championship leader Lewis Hamilton into second place.

But a question mark is hanging over Massa's win, with the stewards set to carry on a post-race investigation into a controversial pitlane incident that saw the Brazilian nearly collide with Force India's Adrian Sutil as they rejoined after their second stops.

It was one of two dramatic pitlane moments that marred Ferrari's afternoon, as Massa's teammate Kimi Raikkonen pulled away prematurely at his last stop and hit a member of the team's pit crew, who has been taken to the medical centre for further checks.

Behind Massa, Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Robert Kubica (BMW) completed the podium ahead of Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen, with Raikkonen ultimately stopping with an apparent engine failure.

Ferrari's pit dramas aside, Valencia's maiden F1 race was an uneventful one. Massa got cleanly away in the lead from pole position, while his front row partner Hamilton had to work hard to fend off Kubica into the first corner.

The top trio then settle into that order for the rest of the afternoon. Massa was the lightest of the leaders, yet despite pitting two laps earlier than Hamilton, he was able to pull out enough of an advantage not to come under threat.

The Brazilian then took total command of the race in the middle stint, where he was up to 0.7 seconds per lap faster than Hamilton and established a 10-second lead.

But it was placed in jeopardy at the final stops, where Massa was released into the path of Sutil and had to back off abruptly to avoid tangling with the Force India in the narrow pit exit.

The stewards immediately announced that they would investigate the incident, and then declared that this would take place after the race - removing the threat of a drive-through penalty but raising the possibility of Massa's win being retrospectively taken away.

Hamilton had no answer to Massa's pace and had to follow the Ferrari home, while third-placed Kubica was 40 seconds behind by the end, having lost time (but not positions) in the first stint when debris became stuck in the BMW's front wing, affecting the handling.

Kovalainen passed Raikkonen for fourth at the start then pulled away in the first half of the race. The Ferrari driver responded near the end of the second stint and caught right back up to the McLaren, only to then pull away early in his pitstop, delaying Raikkonen and leaving a mechanic injured.

Raikkonen rejoined behind Jarno Trulli in sixth, but had no chance to try and overtake before an engine failure ended his afternoon.

Trulli (Toyota) held on for fifth, having passed Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel in the first stops and then edged away from the young German, who finished a highly creditable sixth.

Toyota got both their cars into the points, as Timo Glock used a good start and a one-stop strategy to rise from 13th on the grid to seventh, ahead of Williams' Nico Rosberg and BMW's Nick Heidfeld. Vettel's teammate Sebastien Bourdais lost places on the opening lap and had to settle for 10th.

There was huge disappointment for the home crowd on the opening lap, when Williams' Kazuki Nakajima ran into the back of local hero Fernando Alonso's Renault and did enough damage to end the former champion's race.

Also in the wars was David Coulthard (Red Bull) - who was pushed into a spin on the first lap and later rotated again after a tangle with Sutil, who would himself eventually crash out in a solo incident.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The European Grand Prix
Valencia, Spain;
57 laps; 310.080km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Massa Ferrari (B) 1h35:32.339
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 5.611
3. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 37.353
4. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 39.703
5. Trulli Toyota (B) + 50.684
6. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 52.625
7. Glock Toyota (B) + 1:07.990
8. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 1:11.457
9. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 1:22.177
10. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 1:29.794
11. Piquet Renault (B) + 1:32.717
12. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1 lap
13. Button Honda (B) + 1 lap
14. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
15. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap
16. Barrichello Honda (B) + 1 lap
17. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1 lap

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:38.708

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 46
Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 42
Alonso Renault (B) 1


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Kimi Raikkonen beat home crowd favourite Fernando Alonso to the fastest time in the second free practice session at the new Valencia street track.
Until Raikkonen's last gasp lap, Alonso looked set to end the day at the top of the timesheets, having leapt to the front of the field on the supersoft Bridgestones with four minutes remaining, only for the reigning champion to pip him by 0.020 seconds in the closing moments.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:39.477 30
2. Alonso Renault (B) 1:39.497 + 0.020 39
3. Button Honda (B) 1:39.546 + 0.069 35
4. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:39.678 + 0.201 31
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:39.712 + 0.235 31
6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:39.954 + 0.477 30
7. Glock Toyota (B) 1:39.967 + 0.490 32
8. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:40.149 + 0.672 35
9. Piquet Renault (B) 1:40.439 + 0.962 32
10. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:40.500 + 1.023 23
11. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:40.585 + 1.108 24
12. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:40.607 + 1.130 34
13. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:40.696 + 1.219 23
14. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:40.742 + 1.265 34
15. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:40.877 + 1.400 32
16. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:40.982 + 1.505 36
17. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:40.999 + 1.522 32
18. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:41.084 + 1.607 35
19. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:41.246 + 1.769 38
20. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:41.377 + 1.900 31
ref [AS]

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