Raikkonen leads Ferrari one-two in Spain

Lewis Hamilton salvaged third on a difficult day for McLaren, with his teammate Heikki Kovalainen airlifted to hospital for precautionary checks following a violent accident in the early part of the race.

After his sensational front row qualifying effort, crowd favourite Fernando Alonso was unable to deliver the result the Spanish fans craved. An engine failure took him out of fifth place after 33 laps.

Alonso immediately lost second place to Massa at the start of the race, while Hamilton squeezed past BMW's Robert Kubica to take an early fourth.

While Raikkonen proceeded to edge away from Massa in the opening laps, both Ferraris pulled clear of Alonso, who had Hamilton and Kubica close behind him.

As widely expected, the Renault was the lightest car amongst the front-runners, but ran until lap 16 before making its first pitstop. Massa was the next to pit three laps later, with Raikkonen, Hamilton and Kubica all stopping over the next two laps.

The heavier Kovalainen therefore picked up the lead, only to plunge off the track at the fast Turn 9 after his left front tyre suddenly deflated. The McLaren went deep into the tyre wall, and the safety car was called while the medical crew attended to Kovalainen. Despite the substantial damage to the car, the initial indications were that the Finn had escaped injury in the accident.

The race resumed on lap 28 with Raikkonen still leading from Massa, but Hamilton and Kubica up to third and fourth having jumped Alonso in the first pitstops.

Although the top four remained in close company and lapping at a similar pace for the remainder of the race, there were no changes in the order, and Raikkonen was able to clinch a straightforward second victory of 2008, extending his championship lead and putting Ferrari on top of the constructors' table.

Alonso dropped back from this group before retiring with an engine failure on lap 33. That allowed Red Bull's Mark Webber to take a strong fifth place after a very competitive drive that took him clear of the rest of the upper midfield.

Jenson Button benefited from a long second stint and late final stop to jump out of the pack and emerge in sixth place, claiming Honda's first points of the year. Williams' Nico Rosberg had been on course for the position before retiring with an engine failure, but his teammate Kazuki Nakajima provided some consolation with seventh.

The final point went to Toyota's Jarno Trulli, who had been chasing Webber until having to make an additional pitstop. He fended off the charging Nick Heidfeld, who had been forced to the back of the field when he had to take a penalty for stopping while the pits were closed during the safety car period.

Giancarlo Fisichella completed the top ten for Force India, having been in contention for the last point before losing ground when he pitted several laps earlier than the rest of the midfield group.

The race saw unusually high attrition for Barcelona, starting on the first lap when Adrian Sutil (Force India) tried an ambitious move on David Coulthard's Red Bull and ended up spinning into the path of Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel - prompting a brief safety car period.

Renault driver Nelson Piquet did not last much longer, dropping to 18th when he ran wide across the gravel, then tangling with Vettel's teammate Sebastien Bourdais at Turn 10 as he tried to recover, breaking both cars' suspension.

Debris from Piquet's trip off the road then punctured the radiator in Anthony Davidson's Super Aguri, ending the Briton's race.

Honda's Rubens Barrichello retired after a pitlane incident that deranged his car's nose section, while Timo Glock and Coulthard made the finish in 11th and 12th despite the Toyota running into the back of the Red Bull as they fought for the final top ten places after their second stops. The incident, which broke Glock's front wing and left Coulthard with a puncture, will be investigated by the stewards after the race.

Takuma Sato completed the finishers for the troubled Super Aguri team. The Japanese driver ran as high as ninth after gaining places when he pitted just before the second safety car, but an early second stop returned him to the back of the field.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Spanish Grand Prix
Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain;
66 laps; 307.104km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  1h38:19.051
 2.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  +     3.228
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     4.187
 4.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +     5.694
 5.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    35.938
 6.  Button        Honda                 (B)  +    53.010
 7.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    58.244
 8.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +    59.435
 9.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +  1:03.073
10.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
11.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +     1 lap
12.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda     (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:21.670

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)    42
Alonso        Renault               (B)    35
Barrichello   Honda                 (B)    35
Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)    22
Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda     (B)    9
Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    8
Piquet        Renault               (B)    7
Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    1
Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 4:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Raikkonen     29        1.  Ferrari                47
 2.  Hamilton      20        2.  BMW Sauber             35
 3.  Kubica        19        3.  McLaren-Mercedes       34
 4.  Massa         18        4.  Williams-Toyota        12
 5.  Heidfeld      16        5.  Toyota                  9
 6.  Kovalainen    14        6.  Red Bull-Renault        8
 7.  Trulli         9        7.  Renault                 6
 8.  Webber         8        8.  Honda                   3
 9.  Rosberg        7        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      2
10.  Alonso         6       
11.  Nakajima       5       
12.  Button         3       
13.  Bourdais       2       
       
All timing unofficial