The safety car allowed Alonso to close again on Raikkonen, and the pair chose to pit at the same time. The race then came down to their respective crews, with Alonso getting marginally the better service and beating his rival back on track, now into the final scoring position. Webber, however, threw away his chances of opening an account for 2007 by not pitting until the safety car came in, dropping him from second to the wilderness outside the top ten.
With 16 laps to run, Hamilton held the upper hand over Heidfeld, with
Rubens Barrichello and Wurz next up, neither having made a second stop. Tonio Liuzzi, Trulli and Kovalainen headed Alonso, but the field was about to be brought under control once more, this time as Liuzzi caught Champions' Wall on lap 55. Before the Mercedes was deployed, however, one of those running its racing powerplants was in trouble, Alonso spinning again at turn one, allowing both Raikkonen and
Ralf Schumacher past.
Trulli, having pitted, added to the retirement list by finding the wall at pit exit while attempting to catch the back of the train, but was the last to drop out, leaving the rest to battle it out to the flag.
Hamilton was again away and gone and, with Barrichello giving up
Honda's first points with an essential second stop, Heidfeld was coming under pressure from Wurz, the
Williams driver still overcoming the damage to his rear wing. Many believed the Austrian to also need a splash-and-dash, but Wurz proved them all wrong, tailing Heidfeld into the final stages.
Alonso limited his hit by passing Schumacher for sixth, but both were to come under pressure from a fired-up Sato, who claimed the German's seventh place on lap 63 and then homed in on Alonso. Although the world champion made it hard for the
Super Aguri star, he did not resist in the braking zone, allowing Sato to sweep around the outside and into the team's best finishing position.
