Background Going into the race,
McLaren driver
Lewis Hamilton led the Drivers' Championship by three points from teammate
Fernando Alonso and
Scuderia Ferrari led the Constructors' Championship by 57 points from
BMW Sauber after the exclusion of
McLaren from the Constructors' Championship following the
Ferrari/McLaren spy saga. Otherwise McLaren would have been leading the Championship. The race also marked the 100th race start for Australian
Red Bull Racing driver
Mark Webber.
Practice Ferrari tried the new traffic light system for the first time.
Qualifying The usual drivers were eliminated in the first qualifying session—
Adrian Sutil and
Sakon Yamamoto went out in the
Spykers along with
Takuma Sato and
Anthony Davidson in the
Super Aguris,
Rubens Barrichello in the
Honda and
Sebastian Vettel in the
Toro Rosso. The second qualifying session was unusual as six drivers in six different cars were eliminated—
Alexander Wurz of
Williams,
Vitantonio Liuzzi of Toro Rosso,
Jenson Button of Honda,
David Coulthard of
Red Bull Racing.
Giancarlo Fisichella of
Renault and
Ralf Schumacher of
Toyota. Fisichella was later relegated right to the back of the grid after changing his engine after qualifying. This left seven different teams in the top 10.
Heikki Kovalainen qualified tenth for Renault, just behind
Jarno Trulli in the Toyota. Ahead of them were
Mark Webber's Red Bull and
Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber.
Nico Rosberg did very well in the Williams to qualify on row 3 alongside
Robert Kubica in the second BMW Sauber. However, the Pole was given a ten place grid drop for an engine change. Once again,
McLaren and
Ferrari occupied the top four places.
Fernando Alonso pipped McLaren teammate
Lewis Hamilton to 3rd place, but Ferrari dominated, with
Kimi Räikkönen beating
Felipe Massa to get his 14th career pole and lock out the front row for the Italian team. Due to FIA rules about the order in which penalties are applied, Kubica's penalty was applied first. This left him 15th and behind Fisichella. Then the Italian's penalty was applied, so Kubica ended up 14th. This meant Coulthard, Button and Liuzzi all gained two places as both drivers had been ahead of them.
Race The order from the start remained fairly unchanged with the
Ferraris of
Kimi Räikkönen and
Felipe Massa led away from
Fernando Alonso and
Lewis Hamilton, although there was a lot of pushing between the
McLarens as Hamilton attempted to pass around the outside of turn one, but Alonso pushed him wide onto the tarmac on the outside of the corner.
Giancarlo Fisichella's
Renault suffered a suspension failure on lap 2, making him the first retirement of the race. He had been running last. Also on lap 2,
Alexander Wurz spun in the
Williams, slipping to the back of the field.
Sebastian Vettel soon suffered a handling problem, probably caused by a collision, which eliminated his
Toro Rosso from the race on lap 9. Massa briefly took the lead on lap 16, but Räikkönen reclaimed it a lap later after his pitstop.
David Coulthard suffered a hydraulic failure in his
Red Bull on lap 30. He was quickly followed with a fuel pressure problem for Wurz, who was still last, on lap 35, and the
Honda of
Jenson Button, which dropped out on lap 37 with another hydraulic failure. Massa once again led for just one lap during Räikkönen's second stop, but he retook it the following lap. Räikkönen finally came home to win from Massa, clinching the World Constructors Championship for Ferrari. Alonso, Hamilton,
Nick Heidfeld in the
BMW Sauber,
Nico Rosberg's Williams,
Mark Webber in the Red Bull and
Heikki Kovalainen's Renault rounded up the top eight. The only changes from the starting top eight were Heidfeld and Rosberg swapping places and Kovalainen passing
Jarno Trulli's
Toyota to take eighth. The race was overshadowed by the death of former
World Rally Champion Colin McRae in a helicopter crash during Saturday's qualifying. ==Classification==