Schumacher, meanwhile, could have lost his point as the
Toyota's lap times suddenly rose by a matter of seconds in the closing stages, giving brief hope to team-mate Trulli and
Renault rookie Kovalainen, who rounded out the top ten in the closing laps. In contrast to Hamilton, the Finn endured a torrid first appearance, qualifying poorly and then going on to drive a ragged race, including one high-speed spin at turn one which allowed Massa into points. A handful of grassy moments thereafter hampered Kovalainen's recovery and he had to settle for tenth.
With Button going backwards as his
Honda succumbed to worsening understeer and a drive-thru' penalty,
Rubens Barrichello upheld some sort of honour for the Brackley team, although coming home ahead of Sato's
Super Aguri was small potatoes in consolation to not scoring a point. The Brazilian had complained of being held up by his team-mate in the early stages, and the rate at which he pulled away once free seemed to prove the fact, but the RA107 seldom looked like a pointscorer, with Barrichello eventually salvaging eleventh.
That put him one place ahead of Sato, who pace was good if not good enough to capitalise on his fifth row start. The Japanese driver will probably make as many column inches for his involvement in Hamilton's race as for the encouraging performance of the new - if already protested - SA07, and twelfth will probably come as some disappointment to the minnow team, especially as team-mate
Anthony Davidson was unable to add anything to the cause after his car suffered a 'getaway' problem.
The Briton, making his fourth appearance in a grand prix with his third different team, struggled to get off the line at the start and had similar problems at his two pit-stops, leaving him towards the tail of the field. A clash with fellow newcomer
Adrian Sutil on lap two also did little to help his afternoon, although Davidson will take some comfort in finally getting to see the chequered flag after three previously thwarted attempts.
