Maylander's prolonged presence on track then began to cause alarm bells among the tacticians, notably those at
McLaren, which had its two cars out front, but on a far lighter fuel load than its rivals. Although
Ferrari had demoted itself to the tail of the field - with only the late starting Tonio Liuzzi further back - a lengthy safety car involvement threatened to drop McLaren out of the pound seats if Hamilton and
Fernando Alonso were forced to refuel while the rest of the field continued to tour around at reduced pace.
Ferrari even moved to cover such a scenario by pitting both Raikkonen and Massa for another top-off of fuel on laps 14 and 15 respectively - coincidentally putting the Finn ahead should the race be called off - while others, notably Liuzzi, Sakon Yamamoto and Alex Wurz all followed suit in anticipation of a surprise result.
The first suggestion that 'racing' may be allowed to break out came when Liuzzi was allowed, under 2007 safety car rules, to unlap himself, the Italian having gone a lap down when he opted to pit before the start to change to the wet set-up spare car. When the Toro Rosso then produced a 'flying' in respectable time, Whiting decided that conditions were not as dangerous as initially considered and called the field to prepare for a rolling start at the end of lap 19.
Hamilton tried all he could to unsettle his team-mate as they toured through the twisting final section, slowing and accelerating in an effort to throw Alonso off his stride before flooring it onto the main straight. The tactic appeared to work as the Briton enjoyed a three-tenth gap across the line, and was able to take full advantage of the clear view ahead of him to continue extending the cushion.
Further back, however, the increased spray caused problems, with third- and fourth-placed
Nick Heidfeld and
Jenson Button getting together under braking for turn one, the German being delayed and Button losing his front wing - something that he chose to ignore for the next couple of laps while holding on to fifth place.
