Kimi Raikkonen confirmed his and Ferrari’s return to form with a dazzling triumph in Sunday’s British Grand Prix as home hero Lewis Hamilton struggled home third to claim his ninth consecutive podium finish.
The 27-year-old Finn took full advantage of Ferrari’s excellent strategy and tyre problems that slowed both Hamilton and his McLaren Mercedes-Benz teammate and defending champion Fernando Alonso who came home second.
It was Raikkonen’s first victory in the British race, his second in succession, his third this season and the 12th of his career.
”Everything worked well, the tyres were good and the car was great all weekend,” said Raikkonen.
”I had the right strategy and it all worked well for me. I stayed out when I had to and it all worked out for me. After having a few attempts to win here and things always
happening, it is nice for me to win at last. It is one of the great races to win and for me it feels really good. It is a long championship, there is a long way to go and I am looking forward to the next race.”
After nine of this year’s 17 races, Hamilton, the 22-year-old British rookie, has the lead with an advantage of only 12 points ahead of Alonso while McLaren lead Ferrari by 25 points in the constructors championship.
After two successive wins, Ferrari have regained the momentum and put the pressure back on McLaren whose team chief Ron Dennis admitted: ”We are glad to have gone home from here with a decent collection of points. We had some problems including making the wrong tyre choice.”
Alonso, happier to be back ahead of young tyro Hamilton who extended his extraordinary record start to the season to nine successive podiums, conceded that second was the best he could have expected.
He said: ”I think only if I had started on pole and run away to get a good lead would it have been possible to win this race. The Ferraris were too fast for me here and for us and so I am happy to be second. It was the best I could expect here.”
Hamilton, cool-headed under pressure in his first British Grand Prix appearance, said he was a little disappointed to finish third and paid a rich tribute to the British fans who turned Silverstone into a festival of ”Lewis-mania” for the weekend.
”It was an interesting race and I got a really good start, which is the key to things, but I just couldn’t open up a gap and Kimi and Ferrari were in the end too quick for us. I had some tyre problems and some degradation and I just wasn’t able to run at the front and do it the way I wanted.”
He added: ”Our fans were fantastic and they showed they really are the best in the world.”
Brazilian Felipe Massa, who suffered electrical problems with his Ferrari before the start, stalled on the grid and then started from the pit lane, came home fifth behind Poland’s Robert Kubica who was in a BMW Sauber.
”It was a pity because I felt that with this car and the speed we had I could have won this race,” said Massa.
Raikkonen put himself in a position to take the chequered flag as victor by twice staying out on the track for extra laps, when his main rivals made pit stops.
Though he never passed either McLaren driver on the track with an overtaking move, the Finn was able to establish an unassailable 25-seconds advantage by clocking exceptionally quick laps when Alonso made his second pit stop.
Nick Heidfeld of Germany was sixth in the other BMW ahead of the two Renault’s of Finn Heikki Kovalainen and Italian Giancarlo Fisichella. – Sapa-AFP