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Given McLaren's recent form I had steeled myself for another bad result and up to the start it looked like it was just as well. McLaren had been on top all weekend and had a front row lock-out, Massa qualified third and with overtaking notoriously difficult at this circuit this is how it looked it would finish. Kimi seemed to be continuing to cruise to his pension and had qualified way down in sixth. Hamilton was cocksure, full of bounce and confidence, acting like he was "the man". There was even a bit of strutting and I hate strutters. Ron Dennis oozed smugness, Ferrari looked hopeless, so we Tifosi ground our teeth and anticipated yet another frustrating and depressing race. Then, at the start, joy of joy, Kovalainen got away badly and Massa, on the same side of the grid as Hamilton, closed up right behind him, jinked out of this slip-stream and outbraked him into the first corner. He then lurched his Ferrari in towards the McLaren so fiercely he had to steer it out again; thus forcing Hamilton to back off. Ahead and on the outside line, Massa had enough speed to stay there. Yesss!! Hamilton had made a token effort at defending but could not risk any contact, knocking one of of the miriad of tiny, twiddly aero bits off can hobble a car. Hamilton looked like he thought the race was won before it started and all he had to do was drive off down the middle of the road and majestically cruise to victory. He looked so complacent he had not even contemplated any alternative and consequently was stunned by and had no answer to Massa's naked aggression - but I may just be projecting my vision. Anyway, it was delightful to see and payback for Hockenheim. By contrast Raikkonen was jumped by Alonso and dropped a place to seventh. Massa quickly pulled out a lead on Hamilton and these two soon dropped the rest. Massa pitted first, how much more fuel had Hamilton got in? One lap only and he re-joined behind Massa! The pundits thought Hamilton had taken on three or four laps more fuel, so could Felipe pull out sufficient a gap to stay ahead at the next stop? Meanwhile, we noted that Timo Glock's fifth place in qualifying was genuine as he stopped at the same time as the others. There was a puzzling epidemic of re-fueling fires, fortunately without serious damage to man or machine. Massa gradually extended his lead until he had five seconds over the second-placed Hamilton and it looked like he could do enough to retain the lead, so where was McLaren's advantage now? Then there was a shot of Hamilton off the track. A puncture, time to put the kettle on as the race was surely as good as over. Massa got through his second pit stop OK and reeled of the remaining laps, maintaining a comfortable lead over Kovalainen in second. Then, just three laps from the end, tragedy, as Massa's engine exploded, gifting the win to Kovalainen and the Grey Empire. This must have given older Tifosi a painful nostalgic twinge as for many years an underachieving Scuderia would occasionally find one of its cars unexpectedly in the lead, hopes would soar, only to be dashed as its overstressed engine expired in a cloud of smoke and steam. I've often been told this tale by older Tifosi, but wonder how many times it did actually happen, rather than seem to. I wonder if these occurrences have been exaggerated in the tortured minds of a generation more accustomed to failure? I suspect that it may be folklore, because whenever they tell you about this happening, it was always a V12 and always Alesi/Berger driving and you could always see the anguish in their eyes as they pushed their goggles up off their oil-blackened faces. [Quite correct - Ed.]. The difference for us newer fans is that we are used to Ferrari winning and expect them to do so more often than not. Hence we have less resilience than the old codgers and find races like Britain and Germany more depressing. However, we went into this race expecting Ferrari to be beaten, so Massa's magnificent performance was an unexpected bonus and, more significantly, Ferrari again had the race pace to match the Maccas. Raikkonen eventually got past Alonso in the pits to finish third, behind Timo Glock, who took a superb second place for Toyota on merit; an achievement made more remarkable by the fact that it was his first meeting after his big shunt at Hockenheim. Renault finished fourth and sixth, with Hamilton coming home fifth. The Bimmers were off the pace but Kubica managed to salvage the final point. This race sees the end of first half of the season, which has signalled in recent years the time at which Scuderia Ferrari has pulled itself together and thereafter ground the opposition down. This time last year Raikkonen was 20 points behind Hamilton, who was in the lead of the title chase; this year it's only five points. Let's hope they can do it again. However, like the Editor, I am worried about Raikkonen, he seems not to try unless the car is quick, though it did look awkward from the in-car camera. I acknowledge the view that a driver can no longer make up for deficiencies in the car, so why bother trying? But Massa's bravery and aggression meant that he could well have snatched an unexpected victory. Also, how come Raikkonen managed to set the fastest race lap on 61 of 70? Did his car suddenly get better, or did he find some last-minute motivation?
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