On that lap alone, the
Renault managed to take six-tenths out of the leader's advantage, but the gap stabilised again as the pit-stops loomed. As expected, the Toyotas were among the first in, their qualifying performance confirmed as little more than a touch of showboating on
Honda turf, but Massa, too, was an early caller, stopping on lap 13, along with
Ralf Schumacher. Fisichella went just a lap more than the Brazilian, with Alonso in on lap 15, posing the question of just how much further could the leader run - and how impressive had his front row qualifying effort been.
As it turned out, Schumacher went another two laps into the race before making his first stop - only
Kimi Raikkonen, from eleventh on the grid and therefore with free rein on strategy, went longer among the frontrunners - and was able to rejoin with his advantage over Alonso unchanged. With Raikkonen yet to stop and holding fourth, the Finn eventually called in on lap 22, to top order appeared positive for
Ferrari, with Massa in third, and the two Toyotas ahead of Fisichella.
Button held the final points position, having ceded his gained place to Fisichella on lap five, while
BMW Sauber completed the top ten,
Nick Heidfeld ahead of
Robert Kubica. Further back, Pedro de la Rosa continued to struggle in the second
McLaren, mired in 13th behind the two Williams-Cosworths, while
Scott Speed headed the now customary
Red Bull train in 14th, having taken advantage of Toro Rosso team-mate Tonio Liuzzi's early spin to nip ahead of
David Coulthard.
The train had been split into two two-car groups by the impressive Christijan Albers, who again pushed his Spyker higher than expected in the early stages. Once again, however, the Dutchman's efforts - and those of a fired-up Spyker M
F1 team - came to nought, as a failure at the rear of the car caused a lot of damage under braking for the chicane on lap 21. Despite the amount of debris on the track, however, no safety car was called, allowing Schumacher to maintain his advantage over Alonso at around five seconds as the race headed for its halfway point.
