Fisichella – running a solitary fourth, not close enough to challenge Massa ahead but equally under no threat from Heidfeld and Rosberg behind – was the first to blink, diving into the pitlane at the end of lap 23 for the first of his two scheduled stops. He would rejoin just behind Heidfeld, while Rosberg – who stopped shortly afterwards – was not so fortunate, slipping out of the top ten and down to 12th position, from where he would never really recover.
Alonso made his stop at the end of lap 26, with Massa doing likewise and switching to Bridgestone’s soft tyres for his middle run. With most drivers choosing to save the softer compound until the shortest final stint, Ferrari’s decision would ultimately prove fatal to any slight hopes the Brazilian may have harboured of challenging for the win, as he slipped further and further away throughout the middle stages of the race.
Raikkonen by this point had finally broken into the top ten, but merely by virtue of drivers ahead of him having made their stops, while back at the front Hamilton was pushing for all he was worth, well aware that by running longer he had a golden opportunity to steal the lead. The problem for Lewis was, although he would set the fastest lap leading up to his stop, Alonso on a full fuel load was only a tenth of a second slower.
The gap between the leading McLarens following the stops remained therefore pretty much as it had been, to the tune of some four seconds – close, but not close enough if Lewis was to truly challenge for the victory and maintain his undefeated record around the Principality’s narrow, tortuous streets. On the soft tyres, Massa’ threat had now evaporated as he slipped back to a full 30 seconds adrift and reduced the battle at the front to a two horse race, while Raikkonen at least had a different rear wing to stare at when Heidfeld rejoined from his stop in-between Button and the struggling
Ferrari, though the disgruntled Finn was still lapping a cavernous four seconds a lap slower than the front-runners.
