As Hamilton sped on to take the chequered flag an incredible 66 seconds ahead of Heidfeld – thereby ticking off another box on his ‘to-do’ list, having already triumphed in the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this year – Honda’s audacious roll of the dice paid of with interest as Barrichello held onto third place to seal an unhoped-for rostrum finish for
Honda and his first podium since 2005, with all three drivers visibly emotional at the result.
With Hamilton having lapped all bar Heidfeld and Barrichello at the close, Raikkonen ultimately came home a lonely fourth, followed by a disappointed Kovalainen and Alonso, as Trulli drew on all of his experience to expertly nip past Nakajima on the very final tour for seventh place. Rosberg, the luckless Webber, Bourdais, Glock and Massa – an unlucky 13th and last – rounded out the classified finishers.
As the crowd was left to go home happy, fans have also been left with a mouth-watering prospect for the second half of the campaign – with Hamilton, Raikkonen and Massa all tied on points atop the drivers’ standings, and post-Montreal leader Kubica a scant two markers adrift in fourth place. It’s game on!
To see the race results in full,
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