April 15th 2007
And everyone thought it was going to be boring with Schumacher gone. Filipe Massa knew that, after the last race, winning was the only thing that could quiet the Italian press. And, he was able to turn his pole into a win and bring a cheer from the Scuderia. It may quiet the Gazzetta della Sport for a few days, but the young Brazilian better keep the performance level up if he wants to be a hero in the papers.
The talk of the pitlane was still Lewis Hamiton who was in the running for the first win of his career this weekend. The Brit is bringing some much needed new blood into the sport, but let's hope that he matures enough not to start swerving on the start. He may get away with it this time, but the stewards will be watching the next time. Ron Dennis was sort of smiling with the second place finish, but Alonso's finish in an undignified fifth place made sure that the sour puss face that we've all seen for years was prominently on display at the end of the race.
The start
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Kimi Raikkonen seemed to have issues with balance over the weekend and just wasn't in contention to challenge Hamilton. But, a podium finish is still a podium finish. I can't recall the last time that two Ferrari driver's were as evenly matched. Whoever can get the car set up correctly seems to have the green light to go for the win.
BMW is hoping that they can be a spoiler to the McLaren/Ferrari show and Nick Heidfeld was hot on the heels of the flying Finn and did manage to get ahead of Alonso. It seems that things are finally coming together for the old Sauber team. Kubica finished about thirty seconds behind Alonso, but was still on the lead lap. BMW is hoping that they can keep developing the car. A third team in the championship running could make it interesting for the fans (and drive the bookies insane).
Felipe Massa
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Jarno Trulli was able to tell his Toyota team that they did have the speed to beat Renault. But the fact that Giancarlo Fisichella finished in eighth probably didn't help the other Italian in the fight to keep his job. I still can't believe that Toyota has spent this much money and has almost nothing to show for it. But then again, when you're sitting on billions, it's got to go somewhere.
Flabio is watching his team make the same slide they did in 1996 after Michael Schumacher left Bennetton to go to Ferrari. The car was struggling all weekend and when you have no mechanical failures and only one point to show for it, the Italian supermodel stalker is going to have to aim lower on the food chain and make due with B list actresses unless the team's fortune improves.
Nicholas Todt, Jean Todt
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Williams was sort of there, but let's face it, no one has been cheering for them in years.
Honda didn't do well as either the factory team or last year's car, er, I mean the Super Aguri. Rubens was nowhere near race pace and Button was out early after tangling with Scott Slow, er, I mean Speed. The junior team must have been using the junior engines as both expired before the end of the race with Davidson trying to set the Guinness record for the worlds longest smokescreen.
Felipe Massa, Stefano Domenicali and Kimi Raikkonen
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Both Spykers were classified, but you've got to wonder if Ferrari is ripping them off selling them motors out of the F430 streetcar rather than the F1 V8...
As the circus heads to Spain next, we have a three way tie for the lead between both McLaren drivers and the Flying Finn. Alonso will be under tremendous pressure to win in front of his home crowd. With racing back in Europe, everyone will get new chassis with all the new bits that have been designed since the launch version.
Well, everyone except Super Aguri. They've already said they don't want the Honda launch car...
Race Results
