Even before the white machines had limped in for attention, however, the race recorded its first retirement,
Nico Rosberg misjudging a passing move on the entry to the stadium and slamming into the barriers. Heidfeld would soon join his fellow German on the sidelines, the tyre problem having caused more damage than initially suspected, while Sakon Yamamoto's
Super Aguri debut reprised that of predecessor Franck Montagny in last but a handful of laps, the Japanese succumbing to a broken driveshaft after starting from pit-lane.
Pedro de la Rosa made it four early exits, as his
McLaren ground to a halt on lap three, but team-mate Raikkonen was still in front, albeit heading a
Ferrari 2-3 as the rest of the field faded into the distance. In their wake, however, Button showed the improved performance of his
Honda by passing Fisichella to reclaim fourth and head the pursuing pack.
Raikkonen had built up a three-second advantage over Schumacher by lap eight, but had only two more tours to go before being forced in for fuel. To make matters worse for the Finn, a sticky right rear wheel nut delayed his exit from the pits to 15.2secs, dropping the McLaren to eighth and casting some doubt over its podium potential.
Raikkonen and McLaren would have been surprised to see no-one else stopping as early as they did, with everyone else opting for a two-stop strategy. Six laps passed before the next 'frontrunner' stopped, with Button calling in to the Honda garage, but, with Ferrari easing away at the front, the two different gameplans at least promised to add some intrigue to the afternoon.
Massa was the first Scuderia runner to call in, stopping on lap 19, one ahead of Schumacher, but both returned to the track in the same position as they had left it, setting the tone for the rest of the day. And any hope
Renault may have had of having qualified with more juice on board evaporated when Fisichella and Alonso mirrored Massa and Schumacher in the timing of their stops.
