Kimi Raikkonen cruised to an unchallenged victory in the Spanish GO this past weekend, easily extending his championship points lead over McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.
Raikkonen, who pipped Renault's Fernando Alonso for the pole in qualifying, was never seriously threatened. Felipe Massa made it a Ferrari 1-2, with Hamilton 3rd in the McLaren. Neither Massa nor Hamilton had anything for the World Champion this weekend. Raikkone was totally in charge of the race, and even with 2 safety car periods, he easily opened up a lead and kept his rivals in check.
Robert Kubica continued to be the revelation of the season with strong 4th for BMW, followed by Mark Webber, in an inspired drive for Red Bull. Jensen Button gave Honda some hope with a 6th place finish, by far the best they've done recently. Kazuki Nakajima in the Williams-Toyota finished 7th, with Jarno Trulli in the factory Toyota 8th.
Alonso, who ran a light fuel load to try and steal his home pole, blew up on the 34th lap. His run for pole was amazing, and he showed that Renault is moving forward. They aren't there yet, but Alonso's performance was gutsy.
The main story of the day was the horrific wreck that took Heikki Kovalainen out of the race on lap 21, when he was leading during the pit stop window. He speared off the track at 150 mph when his left front wheel failed. He had no chance to slow the car as is skidded across the gravel into the tire wall. Reports are that he has a mild concussion, and will be OK in time for turkey in 2 weeks.
Drive of the day? That goes to Button, who pulled his Honda from 13th to 6th. He drove a steady, aggressive race and kept clear of the accidents. Maybe Honda will make some progress now. Honorable mention goes to Mark Webber, who kept his head down and gave Red Bull their best finish of the season, and showed that Adrian Newey's newest design is fundamentally fast. Webber qualified 7th, and kept his pace throughout. We've also got to give credit to Nakajima, who took his Williams from 12th on the grid to 7th. A great drive for the rookie.
The biggest question of the day is David Coulthard. He was roundly trounced by Webber in qualifying, only putting his Red Bull in 17th, behind the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Bourdais. In the race, we was involved in accidents with Sutil's Force India and then Timo Glock closed the door on him in a turn and punctured a tire. He seemed to be off the pace all weekend.
One pleaing note was that Super Aguri made it to the race. This may have been their last race in F1; if they can't find new funding, they'll likely be done. It'd be a shame, since they've done wonders with a budget that's probably smaller than McLaren's catering bill. Let's hope Aguri Suzuki can find new partners soon and keep them on track.
