The Briton even led laps on his
Formula One debut, taking the point when Raikkonen pitted marginally ahead of the McLarens, and proved that his qualifying pace was genuine by stopping a lap after Alonso for his first tyre change and refuel. This, however, was partly where the race was decided, for Alonso's stop was longer as he took on a greater quantity of fuel for his second stint.
The Spaniard duly slotted in behind Hamilton, and quickly lost touch with the Briton as the confident debutant put the hammer down, grazing the walls in his eagerness to get away. Alonso, however, had five seasons of F1 experience to call on and was back with his team-mate towards the end of the stint, ideally placed to capitalise on any slip-up. Cool under pressure, however, it took someone else to thwart Hamilton, the Briton finding himself caught up behind
Takuma Sato as the pair attempted to pit at the same time on lap 43.
The initial hesitation allowed Alonso to close right up on the back of the #3 machine and, with Hamilton having to take on marginally more fuel to complete the race, the world champion hammered his next three laps to open up a gap that his shorter stop was able to exploit. The Spaniard returned to the track comfortably ahead of his rookie colleague, and enjoyed an eleven-second advantage at the flag as Hamilton eased back. Neither, however, could do anything about Raikkonen who, despite his own throttling back, still cruised to a seven-second win.
At half-distance,
BMW Sauber was poised to claim a brace of top five positions but, in the end, it was only Heidfeld who saw the chequered flag. The German's tactics had seen him fall behind team-mate
Robert Kubica as well as the top three after his early stop, but he remained in touch with the Pole and, when Kubica's
F1.07 succumbed to gearbox problems on lap 37, moved up to a lonely fourth place, even holding position through his second stop.
