2007 Spanish Grand Prix

The 2007 Spanish Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Telefónica 2007 ) [ 2 ] was a Formula One motor race, the fourth race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship , won by Felipe Massa . It was held on 13 May 2007 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain.

Prior to the Spanish Grand Prix, the Circuit de Catalunya went through some circuit revisions to encourage overtaking and make the racing more exciting and also to improve safety standards. [ 3 ] The revisions included a chicane placed at the final two corners. "Although I have always really enjoyed the final two corners and their speed, the new chicane at the end of the track will hopefully lead to more overtaking during the race, which is great for the spectators," Fernando Alonso commented. [...

Just over a week before the weekend of the grand prix, there was an organised test session at the track [ 4 ] for four days, with primary focus on aerodynamic set-ups. However, due to heavy rain on the Tuesday, [ 5 ] many teams abandoned their initial test schedule and instead looked to focus on wet-weather set-ups. Both Ferrari and Red Bull took advantage of these conditions and scored first and second fastest times respectively on both Tuesday and Wednesday. [ 6 ] The wet weather eventually le...

The aerodynamic focus was evident in the unveiling of two new and radical front aero designs by both the Honda [ 8 ] and McLaren [ 9 ] teams. Both teams would be understandably reluctant to release figures to support their reasoning for using such radical winglets, although McLaren's consistent speed throughout the testing is noted by only having out-paced championship rivals Ferrari once. [ 7 ] Honda, however, ended up half a second down on the nearest car on the final day of testing where they...

It was the second McLaren one-two of the weekend as Hamilton took first ahead of Alonso in Saturday practice. Behind them, both BMWs were in front of both Ferraris. They were split by David Coulthard in the Red Bull . Anthony Davidson put in another good practice performance with eighth in his Super Aguri , with Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen rounding out the top ten. [ 18 ]

Fernando Alonso looked likely to take pole at his home Grand Prix. Alonso crossed the line at the end of Q3 to take pole, unaware that Felipe Massa still had one lap in hand. The Brazilian pipped pole from the home hero by three-one hundredths of a second.

The first start was aborted when Toyota driver Jarno Trulli stalled on the grid, forcing another formation lap and decreasing the race length to 65 laps. The race got underway shortly thereafter with both Felipe Massa and World Champion Fernando Alonso going into the corner ahead of their team-mates Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton respectively. This order was short-lived as Alonso and Massa touched briefly going into the first corner, sending Alonso over the gravel with him returning to the tr...

The first lap saw the first of eight retirements, that being Austrian Alexander Wurz as he was caught unaware by Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher braking suddenly to avoid Giancarlo Fisichella , as the Italian returned to the track after a minor off. [ 19 ] Six laps later, as Massa was building a lead over Hamilton, Australian Red Bull driver Mark Webber retired when the hydraulic problems that plagued him during qualifying returned. A lap later, Trulli, who had started from the pit lane after stal...

On lap nine the electrics on Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari failed, leaving him to coast to the pits from half way around the track. Scott Speed 's tyre failed spectacularly on the main straight shortly afterwards, leaving debris that remained there for the rest of the race.

As the first round of pit-stops took place, a fire briefly lit into full blaze on the back the remaining Ferrari of race leader Felipe Massa. The car was undamaged and after all the cars had stopped he was still some ten seconds ahead of Briton Lewis Hamilton. The remaining Toro Rosso of Vitantonio Liuzzi suffered similar hydraulic problems to those befell him in qualifying.

Italian Renault driver, Giancarlo Fisichella , battled with the Honda of Rubens Barrichello , passing the Brazilian after the second stops. While most drivers negotiated their second stops smoothly, BMW Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld lost a probable fourth position, which would have been his fourth in as many races, when his right front wheel was not properly secured during the pit stop. He coasted around the circuit for another stop and returned to the track more than a lap down.

Renault's day went sour after problems with the refuelling rig meant that both Fisichella and Kovalainen had to pit again forcing Heikki down to 7th of what would have been a probable 5th and pushed Giancarlo out of the points altogether. He still remained ahead of the Hondas of Button and Barrichello and the Super Aguri for Anthony Davidson.

Pole Robert Kubica made up for his team-mate's gearbox induced retirement by continuing the team's run of fourth-place finishes, while Aguri Suzuki 's Japanese Super Aguri team notched up their first ever points with an eighth place by Takuma Sato . "I just cannot describe how happy we are and a point means much more than anything else for us and this is an absolutely fantastic result" Sato went on to say. [ 21 ]

41°34′9.9″N 2°15′26.9″E  /  41.569417°N 2.257472°E  / 41.569417; 2.257472