Barcelona, 13th May 2007

Ferrari's Felipe Massa scored a resounding second consecutive win in the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday to put himself firmly in contention for the World Championship. He led home McLaren's Lewis Hamilton by 6.7s although the margin had been nearly twenty seconds earlier in the race.

The young Briton becomes the youngest driver ever to lead the World Championship, two points ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso, while Massa is a just a point further back, but Ferrari's joy at victory was offset against the disappointment of the retirement of former joint championship leader Kimi Raikkonen with a suspected electrical fault.

In front of 140,700 spectators and in sunny weather, the race was virtually decided at the first corner, according to Alonso. Massa got away first, but Alonso was able to slot in behind and go around the outside of the Brazilian going into the first righthander. Alonso tried to stay on the outside but was squeezed onto the gravel and promptly lost two places to Hamilton and Raikkonen, rejoining with a damaged bargeboard.



At the end of lap one, Massa already led by 1.6s from Hamilton, then came Raikkonen and Alonso, followed by Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld in the BMWs, David Coulthard, then Nico Rosberg, Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button in eleventh. Both Toyota drivers suffered badly; Trulli stalled on the grid and had to start from the pit lane, and Ralf Schumacher was hit from behind by Alex Wurz, both requiring pit stops.

At the front, Massa continued to pull away, having a 6.6s lead over Hamilton after ten laps. The gap from Hamilton to Raikkonen also opened up, although not so quickly. However, Raikkonen pitted to retire with a minor electrical problem after only nine laps, which elevated Alonso to third place.

The BMWs remained in touch, with Kubica ahead and Heidfeld not far behind him, up to the first pit stops which began on lap 19. Massa and Alonso pitted together on lap 19, with Massa making a fiery exit of which he was not aware and which had no consequence. Kubica came in on lap 21 and then Hamilton a lap later, followed by Heidfeld on lap 24.

At the end of the pit stops, Massa had an almost identical lead over Hamilton at 8.8s but this would more than double in the next 27 laps. However Hamilton emerged with a 10s margin to teammate Alonso which had virtually trebled. Conversely, Alonso's margin to Kubica had virtually halved. Heidfeld, however, lost a wheel nut which causing a single slow lap to return to pits which put paid to his chances.

At the front, Massa's lead grew to 19s before he made his second stop on lap 42. Hamilton would stay out until lap 47 and Alonso stayed out a lap longer, but Massa's lead had halved to ten seconds by the time Hamilton rejoined, although his margin to Alonso had grown by seven seconds.

In the final stint, Massa gradually saw his lead dwindle, but not dramatically, so that he took a seemingly troublefree victory. Hamilton came in second, but now leading the championship, finishing his fourth successive Grand Prix on the podium, while a disappointed Alonso completed the top three.

Kubica annexed fourth place for BMW for the fourth time this season, while David Coulthard confirmed Red Bull Racing's testing form with fifth place after Heikki Kovalainen needed an extra mid-race pit stop which pushed him back to seventh behind Nico Rosberg. Takuma Sato was the final points-scorer delighting the Super Aguri team and resulting in their first World Championship points.