Hamilton was next of the frontrunners to make his first stop, coming in two laps after Heidfeld. He received quick service from the efficient
McLaren crew, rejoining in fourth, but appeared to have been dealt a bum hand as the safety car made its first appearance of the afternoon almost immediately,
Adrian Sutil having planted his Spyker squarely into the wall at turn four and scattering debris across the road.
Alonso and Rosberg took the gamble of pitting at the end of the lap, before the field picked up the pace car, rejoining in seventh and eighth. However, the pair came under immediate investigation as it was alleged that they had contravened this year's new safety car rules, a necessity caused by being nearly out of fuel.
The pit-lane officially opened two laps later, once the field was stacked up behind the Mercedes pace car, and leader Massa took full advantage ducking in for his stop. Such was the pace of
Ferrari's turnaround that the Brazilian and others were ready to rejoin before the snake had cleared turn one, with Massa and Fisichella appearing to pass the red light at the end of the pit-lane in their haste. Behind them, Kubica underlined their error by waiting for the all clear, precipitating a scramble down the exit road as the queue behind attempted to sort itself out.
The Pole was instrumental in the next turn of events, and not in a nice way as he barrel-rolled his way out of turn nine as the field raced towards the chicane on its first flying lap after the restart. Quicker than
Jarno Trulli's
Toyota into the quick left-hand kink, the
BMW appeared to break its wing on the back of the red-and-white machine, leaving Kubica with insufficient downforce to make the turn. Hitting a bump on the grass, he was airborne by the time he hit the retaining wall - fortunately low enough to avoid clearing it and meeting those exiting the hairpin - rebounding into the pack before contact with tarmac launched him into a roll. The BMW continued its trajectory towards the outside wall before ending up on its side in the run-off area at turn ten.
