It was sufficient to shake-up the order behind the leading trio, however, with Heidfeld the man to miss out. The German had run fourth for the majority of the race, and was even up to third for a while as Alonso recovered from his lengthy stop, but it all went wrong at the penultimate corner.
Jenson Button's move for position was a good one, the Briton capping his own comeback by passing de la Rosa and Barrichello in the space of a lap and then boxing Heidfeld in behind one of the lapped Super Aguris as they approached the turn 14 hairpin.
The Briton thus annexed fourth, but his team-mate got a little over-ambitious in trying to pass the
BMW Sauber for fifth at the same corner. Braking on the damp tarmac offline, Rubens only succeeded in running into Heidfeld, dislodging his own nose in the process and delaying the German enough for de la Rosa to squeeze through. Barrichello crossed the line with his front wings in sixth place, with Heidfeld recovering with time in hand to fend off
Mark Webber at the line, who scored
Williams' first point since the Nurburgring in May.
David Coulthard had been in line to take eighth place for
Red Bull, but a late-race collision with Massa left the Scot querying his steering. At the same turn 14 trap that caught the Brazilian out in similar fashion to Barrichello, DC ran wide enough to let 2007 RBR team-mate Webber up a place, and was left chasing the Australian to the flag. Massa, meanwhile, retired, his left front askew, joining Raikkonen, Tiago Monteiro and both Toyotas on the sidelines.
Massa's exit, coupled with Fisichella's podium closed the battle for third in the championship, allowing the Italian to take something away from an otherwise disappointing outcome. Two cars on the podium also allowed
Renault to reclaim the advantage in the constructors' championship, but Alonso now shares top spot in the individual standings with nemesis Schumacher, and even has to give best to the German when it comes to countback, as Shanghai provided a seventh win of the year for the multiple champion.
