When the order settled down, Massa enjoyed a healthy gap over Hamilton, with Raikkonen and Alonso already battling over third. Kubica and Heidfeld were next up, with
David Coulthard into seventh, having passed
Heikki Kovalainen at the start - something the Scot had claimed was important as he figure the Finn was running a heavy fuel load.
Nico Rosberg had broken into the top ten, while
Honda was enjoying the rarefied atmosphere of tenth and eleventh as
Rubens Barrichello and
Jenson Button made the most of the chaos. Fisichella and Sato followed, with
Scott Speed up from plumb last to run ahead of Toro Rosso team-mate Tonio Liuzzi.
Despite swarming over the back of Raikkonen, Alonso found an opening hard to come by, despite the suspicion that he was fuelled more lightly than his rival, and, out front, Massa was gradually extending his advantage by around half a second a lap over Hamilton, and a second a lap over the world champion.
The retirement rate continued to rise when
Mark Webber was advised to park the second
Red Bull after a recurrence of the hydraulic problems that wrecked his qualifying, and Trulli pulled into retire a TF107 that clearly wasn't running right after its startline drama.
A lap later, however, there was bigger news, as Raikkonen twitched and slowed on the back section. Although initial speculation pointed to suspension, the official line was electrics, but, whatever the diagnosis, the Finn was left to crawl back to the pits, barely reaching his garage without assistance. Scott Speed also joined those on the sidelines, adding a little more on-track drama as the Toro Rosso suffered its second blow-out of the season, this time, Mansell-style, to its left rear.
