As Massa took advantage of the clear air in front of him to edge away, Raikkonen had his hands full fending off a feisty Hamilton, with
Robert Kubica and
Nick Heidfeld fourth and sixth and
Giancarlo Fisichella in a
BMW sandwich in-between the pair.
Having dispatched
Nico Rosberg in quick measure,
Fernando Alonso lay seventh – though a gaping ten seconds adrift of the lead after only four laps – with Button and team-mate
Rubens Barrichello among the principal beneficiaries of all the opening lap shenanigans as they completed the top ten from twelfth and 13th on the grid, the latter backing up a train comprising
Ralf Schumacher,
Mark Webber, a grip-less
David Coulthard,
Takuma Sato and Alex Wurz.
A racy-looking Alonso then set about dealing with Heidfeld ahead of him, though a supremely brave move into Lycée hairpin following a mistake from the former at Château d'Eau would come unstuck when the Spaniard ran wide again on the exit and Heidfeld stole back through.
Hamilton was the first to blink when it came to the initial round of pit-stops, coming in at the end of lap 16, with team-mate Alonso in just seconds afterwards, seeming to confirm
Ferrari's superior pace this weekend. Massa was in next, with Raikkonen seizing his opportunity at the head of the field to make hay, setting fastest lap as he endeavoured to close the gap on the Brazilian.
Although he would slip back down to second once more following his own pit-stop, it nevertheless marked Raikkonen's first laps in the lead since Bahrain all the way back in April and cemented Ferrari's dominant position in proceedings.
Fisichella was probably the biggest loser from the first stops, slipping back behind Heidfeld and almost immediately finding his mirrors filled by an extremely aggressive-looking Alonso, who had a jab at getting past around the outside on the run down to Adelaide. Fisichella staunchly braked late and stood his ground, but the world champion was not to be denied as he swept down the inside at the same place next time around and set off in pursuit of Heidfeld once more.
