Hamilton's cause was aided as Webber became the first man to blink – entering the pit-lane absolutely on the ragged edge and almost on the grass – and as Massa came in next time around, Raikkonen was handed his chance.
In a scene not unlike that witnessed in Magny-Cours last year, the Finn immediately got the hammer down, setting a new fastest lap on Massa's in-lap before blitzing the first two sectors of his own. With the Brazilian – who had rejoined the fray behind Kovalainen – suffering a tardy out-lap, almost seven tenths of a second slower than Raikkonen's, the reigning world champion's efforts would
just prove enough as he exited the pit-lane narrowly ahead of his team-mate. Job done.
That promoted Kubica into the lead with the McLarens second and third, but when Hamilton made his own stop disaster struck as there was a problem removing the right front wheel, and more than ten additional seconds were lost in the process. The 23-year-old rejoined the action sandwiched between Webber – another big loser in the first round of stops – and Heidfeld on the outer fringes of the points-scoring positions.
Ahead of the trio, Kovalainen was one of the main beneficiaries of the stops, jumping not only his team-mate but also Trulli and Webber to move into fourth, whilst Alonso failed to run as long as many had expected him to, the
Renault slipping back outside of the top ten following his first pit visit.
Trulli's surprise form continued as the Italian homed in on Kovalainen, whilst up at the front, Raikkonen was now moving away from Massa at a considerable rate. Even more unnervingly for Maranello's competitors, the only man remotely close to the scarlet machines' pace was Rosberg – all the way down in 17th spot.
