As Kubica edged away once more, the next action came when Fisichella got it all crossed-up and dumped his
Force India into the wall, though this time it was deemed by the race stewards that a safety car intervention was not necessary. Surprisingly, Massa, Kovalainen, Button and Webber all pitted again, putting Barrichello up in fourth place once more – now under pressure from Glock – and handing Coulthard some very welcome breathing space in the final prospective podium spot.
The Scot survived a minor scare as he ran slightly wide with twelve laps to go as his brakes got increasingly hot, whilst Rosberg and Kovalainen were pushing Vettel extremely hard in the battle over seventh place in the race’s closing stages. A grassy moment for Barrichello, meanwhile, allowed both of the chasing Toyotas past up into fourth and fifth, and left the Brazilian at the mercy of the charging Massa.
A side-by-side tussle between the defensive Vettel and Rosberg towards the end of the back straight allowed Kovalainen to power past the
Williams on the exit, and the pair would swap places a couple more times over an entertaining following lap.
Barrichello’s once highly promising race continued to fall apart as compatriot Massa found a way by too into sixth, and with Trulli ahead struggling with his brakes, the
Ferrari man clearly fancied a couple more places before the chequered flag fell. Rapidly closing down a five-second deficit, he would get past his quarry into turn two, as Glock got out wide on the marbles with three laps remaining and in correcting came across right in front of his team-mate, with the subsequent loss of momentum for Trulli allowing Massa to breeze by into fifth.
Further back, Vettel, a gripless Kovalainen and Rosberg were threatening Barrichello’s seventh position – making it look questionable whether the latter would even score any points at all from the afternoon.
