With about half the drivers electing to pit – amongst them Massa, Alonso, Hamilton and Heidfeld –
Giancarlo Fisichella paid the price for carrying on round as he lost his
Renault and was lucky to recover. In yet another bizarre twist, the new race leader – by some 19 seconds – was rookie Markus Winkelhock in the Spyker, stunning his home fans having started from the pits on intermediate rubber.
With the conditions worsening and little to no grip in turn one, even on the inters, Button flew off into the gravel on lap three, to be followed seconds later by Winkelhock's team-mate and countryman
Adrian Sutil,
Scuderia Toro Rosso duo
Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi – the latter almost collecting both the newly-deployed safety car and rescue digger in the process –
Anthony Davidson just stopping short of hitting the chippings in his
Super Aguri and, most notably of all, Hamilton.
The McLaren-Mercedes ace, however, had kept both his head and his engine running amidst all the chaos, and after being lifted out of the boonies by the digger was able to rejoin the fray à la
Michael Schumacher and live to fight another day, albeit a lap down and in 17th place. With Massa too almost losing it into turn one, the decision was wisely made to red flag the race, with it re-starting under clearer skies some 20 minutes later…but with rain once again threatening.
As the action got underway once more – with the first lap behind the safety car – fans watched the almost incredulous sight of Winkelhock on extreme wets leading the field around, ahead of Massa, Alonso,
Red Bull pairing
Mark Webber and Coulthard,
Heikki Kovalainen, Raikkonen and Alex Wurz, with Button, Rosberg, Speed, Liuzzi and Sutil all consigned to watching from the sidelines.
