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...Räikkönen on Early 'Plane! The great thing about Formula 1 is not the racing on track but the soap opera off it and this season it’s a great story: the world turned upside down, all the upstart number two drivers and teams are beating the number ones. According to Autosport magazine on Thursday, during the four week break since the last race Ferrari had developed new modifications to the car which particularly suited Räikkönen and henceforth Kimi would be unbeatable. It seems that nobody had explained this to Massa and the underpaid upstart wanged it around in Qualifying to get his third consecutive pole position making it three poles out of four this season. It may have been significant that Michael was at his first race this season and helped Massa - Kimi said that and his engineer were OK and didn't need Michael's help. Interestingly, the media said that Michael didn't do what you or I would have done, leant on the fence, had a few glasses of fizz and chatted to his mates, no he worked very hard doing data staring etc.and staying there after Räikkönen had left the circuit. Back in the old days Enzo Ferrari would wind up his drivers’ rivalry and you have to wonder if there is a similar agenda now. There is media speculation that the close Massa/Todt relationship (JT's son is of course Massa's manager) has left the Finn feeling like an outsider. Whatever the reason, he is definitely under-performing. The Grid was the now familiar Ferrari – McLaren – Ferrari – Mclaren – BMW with Alonso alongside Massa on the front. Trulli had excelled himself by getting sixth spot but blew it by stalling on the grid, his Toyota being cleared away whilst the other guys did a second formation lap. From lights-out it was Massa who lead but curiously moved to the right long before the turn-in for the first right hander leaving the door open for Alonso to take the better line. Sure enough Fernando came alongside on Massa’s left but there was no room as Massa turned into the left hander immediately following it. There was a slight touch and Alonso was in the dirt but he kept his foot down and with a great plume of kitty litter spewing onto the mid-fielders rejoined in fourth place. Miraculously the seemingly inevitable pile up did not happen, or rather postponed for a few more corners when a few mid-fielders came together. As is so often the case now, the actual racing was over for the day as they completed the first lap – Massa – Hamilton – Räikkönen – Alonso – Kubica - Heidfeld. Only mechanical failure or pit stop cock-up would alter the course of the remaining 64 laps. By lap 8 Massa’s Ferrari was already nearly six seconds ahead but Räikkönen was freewheeling back to the pits, something had broken, thought to be electrical, once a problem common to all Ferraris but mercifully not so much these days! Everybody had chosen to make two stops, Massa coming in on lap 20 and ironically it was him who had the fire that used to be a common follow-up to a Ferrari electrical problem; leaving with the back of his car in flames from spilt fuel but the rapid airflow soon extinguished the flames. Alonso also pitted on lap 20 and left on ‘hard’ tyres but Hamilton stayed out until lap 23. Heidfeld, realizing he was leaving his pit with only three wheels attached stopped, thought about it and drove off in his BMW with his front wheel nut held aloft by a Toyota mechanic. Somehow he managed to drive a whole lap without the wheel falling off; bet he's demon at the egg and spoon race! "Natürlich. BMW sind die Meister alles Kindersports!" [Thank you Dr Thiessen - Ed.] Hamilton’s ‘late first stop’ gamble hadn’t worked and after the first round of stops Massa was even further up the road, but equally Alonso’s ‘second stint hard tyre’ gamble hadn’t paid off either and he was even further behind his own upstart teammate in third. The racing was so uneventful that the TV producer gave us even more of the wretched ‘human interest’ pictures of people staring at TV screens than normal, with Massa getting very little airtime despite the fact that he was driving the perfect race and setting fastest lap. He was quite literally 'on fire’! Räikkönen was on the way to the airport, leaving even before Massa had made his second stop on lap 42, it’s really no wonder that Massa seems to be the current favourite. And so it finished, Massa turning down the wick and cruising home, with Hamilton beating his own No.1 Alonso, who had a face like an affronted haddock after the race. Further back Coulthud had another good race, bringing his Renault powered Dead Bull home ahead of the Works Renault of Kovalainen; contract negotiations must be protracted for DC this year. Kovy beat his Number 1 Fisichella, whilst the last point for eighth went to Sato, bringing home last year's pre-owned Honda ahead of the this year's Works models to score Super Aguri's first ever point. To add insult to injury, Sato's team mate Davidson beat poor old Jens who only had the Spyky MFIs behind him. After four races the No.2s both lead their No.1s in the Championship, with Hamilton in the top spot on 30 points to Alonso’s 28 and Massa on 27 to Räikkönen’s 22 . This wasn’t supposed to happen!
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