Further back, Alonso pitted on the same lap, with the
McLaren mechanics converting the Spaniard over onto a two-stop strategy in an attempt to bring him back into play. Up front, though, there seemed to be no catching the Ferraris, and with two-thirds of the race completed and just over three seconds between the two scarlet machines, it seemed merely to be a question of which one of them would be standing on the top step of the podium. That issue was seemingly resolved following the second round of stops, when Raikkonen ran two laps longer than his team-mate and, courtesy of a lightning fast in-lap and less time spent in the pits, re-emerged in front.
Hamilton was by now effectively out of contention for victory, but seemed a dead cert for the bottom step of the rostrum, while frustratingly for Alonso both Heidfeld and Fisichella had jumped the McLaren once more following their respective second pit-stops, leaving the Spaniard with it all to do yet again. With just over 20 laps to go, Hamilton re-injected some life into proceedings by beginning to lap a second a lap quicker than Massa. His three-stop strategy, however, dashed any hopes he may have had of getting back on terms with the Ferraris.
While Kovalainen, Wurz and Friday practice star
Scott Speed all got together around the tight and twisty back section of the circuit – the latter pulling off the track just a lap later on the run down to Nürburgring – further up the order Button had successfully leapfrogged Rosberg to move solidly into the points as he sought to finally break
Honda's points duck in 2007.
With just 15 laps left to run, an increasingly ragged-looking Alonso – now on the hard tyres – was again right on the back of Fisichella for sixth place and still leaving his braking desperately late into the Adelaide hairpin, with Heidfeld just a couple of seconds up the road in fifth and the inspired Button behind lapping quicker than all three of them.
