Ten laps in, and with five cars already out, the race already appeared Massa's to lose, the Brazilian easing away from the pack in the manner of his former team-mate, watching from the
Ferrari garage. Massa was 13secs up on Alonso by lap 16, as the first round of pit-stops loomed and, as predicted, the Ferrari was among the first in. Massa was joined on pit-road by Alonso, the two front row men clearly having adopted similar fuel loads, and rejoined ahead of the Spaniard, but not before suffering his own moment of drama as the fuel hose stuck and then sprayed its flammable fluid on the exhausts. Massa took off with flames spreading down the right-hand side of his car - something he later claimed to have been unaware of - before the conflagration extinguished itself without causing too much damage.
Alonso, meanwhile, followed his pre-race plan of fitting the harder Bridgestones for the middle portion of the race, confident that the MP4-22 had the set-up to maintain its pace and save a set of softer rubber for the run to the flag.
Massa pitting, of course, allowed Hamilton to lead for the fourth race in a row, and the Briton ran all the way to lap 22 - three more than his team-mate - before fitting his second set of medium-spec tyres. His fellow countrymen were again enduring mixed fortunes, with Coulthard running in the points, but having to avoid the crawling Liuzzi as he made his stop. The Italian had suffered a mechanical problem and was returning to the garage, forcing DC to jink left as he caught the Toro Rosso at the most inopportune moment.
Jenson Button had risen to seventh when he stopped a lap before Lewis, but contrived to wipe his nose off on the back of
Honda team-mate Barrichello as he rejoined, ending any hope of a points finish.
Anthony Davidson, meanwhile, was again running a long first stint, rising as high as eighth before finally pitting a few laps short of half-distance.
