By lap 38 Massa was right with Raikkonen, with the 2007 champion suffering a broken exhaust pipe and losing as much as 50-60bhp, and as the backmarkers began to close onto the back of the ailing
Ferrari, Massa was released, with the bodywork on Raikkonen's car beginning to burn up and the main question now being whether the 28-year-old could make the chequered flag – or else face the agony of three consecutive DNFs.
Behind the scarlet duo, the battle raged on between Trulli and Kubica for the final podium position, the Pole now less than a second behind, whilst a brave move around the outside of the Adelaide hairpin, cutting back to the inside on the exit, saw Kovalainen steal sixth spot away from Webber and set off after fifth-placed Alonso. The latter, indeed, pitted shortly afterwards to go onto the softer tyres – for a full 28 laps – and rejoined, once again, just in front of Hamilton…
The
McLaren dived past down the inside of the Adelaide hairpin with 23 laps left to run, whilst Kovalainen in the sister MP4-23 was closing onto the back of the flagging Trulli, just seven seconds now separating the pair following Kubica's second pit-stop.
Raikkonen, meanwhile, seemed to have found a way to manage his exhaust problem, stabilising his pace just a few tenths adrift of that of the chasing Trulli. The Italian was in fact next to pit and, following a superb job from his
Toyota crew, rejoined comfortably in front of Kubica, though with the charging Kovalainen still to make his stop with 19 laps left to run.
A quick second stop from the McLaren boys enabled Kovalainen to leapfrog Kubica to gain fourth place, and leave the Finn with 17 laps remaining to chase down and pass Trulli for the final rostrum position – on the same track where the former Monaco Grand Prix winner so famously gave away third place to
Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari in the race's final corner back in 2004…in the process effectively giving away his
Renault contract for the following year too.
