29/04/2008 09:44

Natalie Le Clue

The first European race of the season proved a drama-filled encounter even though Kimi Raikkonen's victory looked no more taxing than a leisurely Sunday afternoon stroll.

To the naked eye, several aerodynamic additions could be spotted on the cars. The Renault's were sporting a similar engine cover to the Red Bull team. Some referred to it as a shark fin, Alonso thought it looked more like the main sail on one the America's Cup contenders. There were no great revelations in practice, but one Mr Alonso was saving the surprises for qualifying.

In the Thursday press conference Renault boss Flavio Briatore stated that he thought his team would be quicker than the BMW-Sauber in Spain; a statement that was dismissed by many as false bravado.

After Saturday's qualifying session, however, the dismissal of that statement would prove quite embarrassing. There are only ever a handful of moments that define the legend of a driver; moments of sheer brilliance that separate champions from pretenders. Fernando Alonso provided another one of those moments on Saturday. In exactly 1:21.904 Alonso drove probably the best qualifying lap of his life.

Snatched pole

It wasn't about fuel strategies; it wasn't even about the car. It was about a double world champion outperforming his car and leaving the entire F1 fraternity in awe. It was about a man who was standing up to be counted. That is the best way to answer the critics: on the track.

Regrettably, their was no stopping Raikkonen as the reigning world champion crossed the line to snatch pole position, shattering the euphoria of the Spanish fans in the process. Even so, nothing could upstage that performance from 'El Nano'. Unquestionably the day belonged to the man that all the Spaniards worship, Fernando Alonso.

The scenes around the track, on Sunday, depicted mostly Alonso's fans, which are recognised by the light blue and yellow Asturias flags, the region in Spain that he hails from; the atmosphere coming across as one more expected at a soccer match than a Grand Prix.

Safety car

The start of the race saw Raikkonen maintain the first position while Alonso lost out to Felipe Massa off the line. A fast-starting Lewis Hamilton, for the second race in succession, found himself staring at the rear-wing of a Renault.

An incident involving Force India's Adrian Sutil resulted in the safety car being deployed on the very first lap, great news for anyone who was on a slightly lighter fuel load. Raikkonen however led comfortably from his teammate, seemingly in a class of his own.

On lap 22 Heikki Kovalainen suffered a failure of his left-front tyre pitching the McLaren off the track at close to 240km/h straight into the tyre wall of turn nine which resulted in the car having to be dragged out of the barrier before the driver could be freed. This worrying crash was closely monitored by all under a lengthy safety car period. But all ended well.

During the safety car period Nick Heidfeld knowingly incurred a penalty when he entered the pitlane, while closed, to refuel. Unfortunately, the German was caught between a rock and a hard place; he was either to incur the penalty or stay out on track and run out of fuel.

Shockingly easy

Two retirees suffered engine failures; one of them being Nico Rosberg and the other, Alonso. As soon as Alonso was spotted on the side of the track the fans were like a moth to a flame, all of them running towards the fence to catch a glimpse of their hero.

As this season progresses, Raikkonen appears to be getting more and more dominant, with Sunday being no exception. From the moment he set foot in Spain, Raikkonen appeared extremely confident and with good reason too. The Finn, his usual ice-cool self, claimed the pole and race win in a shockingly easy fashion.

Raikkonen got a clean start, handled the safety car periods, and quite honestly blew the rest of the field out of the water. And most ominous of all, it seemed like a breeze. After securing a second consecutive one-two finish for the Ferrari team ahead of teammate Massa, Raikkonen jumped out of the car, looking fresh as a daisy, and claimed the winners' trophy.

Hamilton finished in a solid third place and moved into second place in the drivers' standings, nine points behind Raikkonen and just one point ahead of Robert Kubica.

Leading the world championship by nine points early in the season is unknown territory for Kimi as he's always been the one to play catch-up. A few warning clouds should be starting to gather at McLaren right about now as they need an answer for Raikkonen and Ferrari... and they need it yesterday.