Flying Finn gate crashes Brit's party.

Back to back races don't give the teams much chance to regroup and work on the car. This means the form coming into Silverstone should be the Ferrari's leading the way, Mclaren just behind BMW, Renault and then a midfield close as you like.

The British gp is the home race for a lot of teams that are based in the UK , Mclaren, Williams, Renault, Honda, Super Aguri and Spyker whose factory is based right next to the circuit. Also for the drivers David Coulthard, Jenson Button, Anthony Davidson and Lewis Hamilton. The rookie driver returning to the UK with his eyes on a home win. The crowds had all come to see a Hamilton win but Coulthard also had a boost in his step extending his contract with Red Bull until 2008.

Qualifying saw a straight fight between Mclaren and Ferrari for pole. Alonso looked as if he had it in the bag When Raikkonen had ran wide at the final turn but managed to snatch it, Then Hamilton set the home crowd going crazy snatching the pole with a brilliant lap. The only driver in the 1 minute 19 second bracket. This pushed Kimi to second Alonso 3rd Massa 4th . Kubica 5th and a surprise with Ralf Schumacher in 6th it was the Toyota drivers best qualifying for a while. The Renault's of Kovalinen then Fisichella comoleting the top 8. A season worst 9th for BMW's Heidfeld and 10th for Trulli who isnt used to be out qualified by his team mate. The other brits having not as much fun as Davidson had a bizarre spin into the gravel which in turn wrecked Buttons lap Leaving the two brits 18th and 19th. Button disappointed with this lowly grid spot did say that his lap may of been slowed but the car wasn't much faster than 18th Spot. Coulthard was happy with 12th spot after a poor final practice. Other surprises were Rosberg down in 17th just ahead of the two brits, A misfire wrecking the young German's chances. And Takuma Sato in 21st being out qualified by one Spyker of Sutil.

The first moment of the race came before the lights had even gone out. Felipe Massa stalled on the grid dropping him last and having to start in the pitlane. Once the cars finally set off Kimi Raikkonen immediately went for the lead. Hamilton was hard but fair in defending the position as the drivers headed in to the fast turns of Maggots and Becketts at the back Massa was carving his way through the field. The order being Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso, Kubica, Kovalainen, Fisichella, Heidfeld and Schumacher who had lost a few places at the start. By the end of the first lap Massa had made his way up to 16th. Over the next few laps The top 3 traded fastest sectors and laps. The gap between 1st and 2nd around 0.8 to 1 second with Alonso 2-2.5 behind the leader. Lap 10 saw the first of the retirements with Mark Webber pulling into the pits. The Red Bull team still suffering with reliability as the hydraulics failing. The next moment in the race seem to come on lap 13 when Raikkonen closed right up on the back of Hamilton's rear wing and tried to overtake. Lewis's pace seemed to drop off and from this point it seemed to not pick up again compared to the top two. Kimi went to overtake at Brooklands but the door was firmly shut by the rookie driver. On lap 16 Lewis pitted and he made his first mistake. He went to leave the pit box too early making the pit crew and the mechanics on the fuel pump to shuffle over. Luckily Lewis instantly reacted and didn't cause a replay of what Albers did the week before taking the whole fuel hose with him. All this cost him precious seconds as Raikkonen set quick laps lap 17 being quickest of the race. Kimi pitted on lap 18 and rejoined ahead of Hamilton but not in the lead once the stops had Completed. Alonso had managed to stay out until lap 21 those 4 extra laps he was able to take the lead. But also Mclaren had decided to fuel Alonso for a shorted middle stint to get him ahead and in order to build a lead in clear air. At the Massa had also got himself some clear air and pitted on the same lap as Alonso showing he too was carrying more fuel. His stall had really cost him a big score it seems.

Alonso who was making his way through the traffic lapped Scott Speed and Alex Wurz as Alonso lapped Speed Wurz tried to take advantage into chicane Speed ended up with his front suspension getting heavily damaged. Speed was not impressed, "Alex decided to take a very optimistic move down the inside but he couldn't hold it and ran wide into me." Toyota's race went no where near as good as qualifying, Schumacher lost two places at the start and then eventually retired on lap 23. Trulli went backward complaining to his team the car had no grip eventually retiring on lap 45. The Renaults pace was unable to match the BMW's though they have clearly established themselves as 4th fastest team. Not where the reigning constructor champions want to be however. Alonso had managed to extend his lead to 5.5 seconds by the time of his stop. Now could Kimi repeat what he did in France and take the lead in the second stops. Kimi had two advantages. Firstly he was in clear air whilst Alonso had rejoined behind a que of cars Secondly being Kimi had 6 more laps of fuel to leap frog the Mclaren driver. Kimi was in the low 1 min 21 seconds bracket Alonso the mid 22s over the 6 laps Kimi was able to close down the gap and come out of the pits with a 2 second advantage. Hamilton by this stage had lost too much time to make a difference. At the end of the race Kimi Raikkonen won from Alonso with Hamilton 3rd Kubica a strong 4th Massa splitting the BMW's in 5th Heidfeld 6th with the Renaults of Kovalinen beating his teammate Fisichella in 7th and 8th. Kubica spent the last quarter of the race defending a recovering Massa and showed that the young pole can defend as well as attack.

Race Bits

• Two steps forward three back for Ferrari?
  Whilst this race showed Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari are back the team lost valuable points in the constructors championship without Massa's Stall the team could of easily scored a 1-3 or 1-2 Massa's pace was as quick as the sister Ferrari Even with 1st and 5th Mclarens 2-3 meant Ferrari lost 2 points in the title chaise.



• First mistake for Hamilton.
  So Lewis made his first mistake and it was in his first pit stop, His pace after his first stop was not on his teammates level. Interestingly Team Boss Ron Dennis said that they had realised early on The best Lewis would finish was 3rd and told him save the engine for the next race. Whether this was true or was Ron was protecting his driver? There may of also been a problem with the car it seems strange that they would halt his charge so early. Lewis however said he had failed to get the best out of his car "I made a wrong decision with the set-up I chose a different rear end to Fernando and I think it really caused me problems in the race." Refreshing to hear a driver admit it was him not the car.



• Christijan Albers gets the fine and the boot?
  Remember Albers mad pit stop in France? Well the team were fined $6,800 dollars by the FIA for the error which the team passed straight to its driver. There are also reports that Silverstone was the last race for the driver who has failed to live upto expectations. Though Spyker boss Colin Kolles when asked replied "No Comment"



• No points for Williams.
  Williams had a disappointing home race finishing 12th and 13th but Nico Rosberg was able to take positives in the race "I feel I have been on the pace all weekend. We have to look ahead now" which was true the team weren't to far behind and towards the end of the race they were the quickest cars on the track but it was a case of too little too late.



• Points points points!
  Even though Lewis Hamilton may of finished 3rd he racked up more points only losing 2 to his teammate Alonso meaning he still has a 12 point lead. What is interesting is this was a round where the perceived number 1 drivers took control. Kimi has leap frogged his teammate in the points Kimi now having 52 points to Massa's 51, Kimi is Also on 6 behind Alonso so if Lewis has a bad weekend or a run of bad luck there is could be a big change in the standings. Only time will tell.

Move of the race: Kimi Raikkonen, He showed his old self again and strung some brilliant laps together when it was needed to take the win.

Chump of the race: It's a hard one this time, Massa's stall or Wurz's rough pass on speed? Im going to give it to Wurz as Massa's stall may not of been his fault and at least he didn't end anyones race.