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It was a great race.......Raikkonen drove like he was on a Sunday drive for most of the day(case in point....reeling off fast lap after fast lap after fast lap early on...... )

Other thoughts on the race.........
.......Honda finally scored points this year w/Button's 6th place finish; that has to be a bit of a confidence boost to the team
.......BMW-Sauber learned what the phrase "stuck between a rock and a hard place" meant w/Heidfeld's stop-n'-go for refuelling during a safety car; this may be comparing apples to oranges, but in the IndyCar Series if a driver's about to run out of fuel, race control will allow them to refuel w/just enough fuel to get through the caution...I'm a little surprised F1 didn't consider an exception such as that to the pit rules under a safety car period, but the rules are the rules.......
.......last word from Spain was that Kovalainen may have suffered a concussion(according to the SpeedTV broadcast) and a banged-up elbow; the reports are that it might've been a wheel failure of some sort(possibly a wheel rim failure, again going by what was said on SpeedTV)

Latest news on Kovalainen is that he is ok. He is undergoing precautionary tests at a nearby hospital.

Team by team summary following the Spanish Grand Prix (GMM)

FERRARI

Kimi Raikkonen proved true the statisticians' theory that the Barcelona pole sitter usually wins, but the top four - including his second placed teammate Felipe Massa - were covered by the meagre margin of just six seconds at the chequer (partly due to the two safety car periods). The Finn's pole lap seemed even more impressive when it emerged that Massa had in fact carried slightly less fuel in qualifying. Ferrari now leads both championships.

MCLAREN-MERCEDES

Lewis Hamilton finished third, mere seconds from the Ferraris, whose actual dominance is difficult to quantify given the two safety car periods and Raikkonen's control of the race. "It's comforting to know that we are relatively close to Ferrari," Hamilton said. The huge accident that has hospitalised the concussed Heikki Kovalainen, caused by an apparent failure of the wheel rim, occurred on lap 22 at the Campsa corner.

BMW-SAUBER

Robert Kubica in Spain continued his run of form, finishing just over a second behind Lewis Hamilton's third place, and less than six seconds off the winner. Nick Heidfeld's ninth place can be mostly blamed on the farcical safety car rules, because his need to stop for fuel when the pitlane was closed netted an undeserved ten second stop-and-go penalty that dropped him to the very back of the pack.

RED BULL-RENAULT

A skilful run to fifth for Mark Webber, cleverly coinciding with team owner Dietrich Mateschitz's visit to the grand prix. Woe for David Coulthard, though, after he picked up damage with a hit by Adrian Sutil, and then yet another in-race collision, this time as Timo Glock tried to pass him. He finished a lap down. "I'm sure his luck will change soon," said boss Christian Horner.

HONDA

Jenson Button's sixth place, approaching a minute behind the chequered flag, netted Honda its first points of 2008. Rubens Barrichello, during his record-equalling 256th race, dragged his broken front wing around the circuit for a full lap after a pitlane collision with Giancarlo Fisichella, and then retired.

WILLIAMS-TOYOTA

Kazuki Nakajima finished seventh, but the two points would have been teammate Nico Rosberg's if his FW30 had not erupted spectacularly in plumes of white smoke -- surely a Toyota engine failure. "We haven't identified the problem as yet," technical boss Sam Michael said.

TOYOTA

Jarno Trulli's single point should have been three, but he fell behind Jenson Button and Kazuki Nakajima when a "communication error" - a radio message intended for teammate Timo Glock - led to an unnecessary late pitstop. Glock was being called in after a crash, and he accused David Coulthard of closing the door as he tried to pass, which damaged his front wing and left him a lap down.

FORCE INDIA-FERRARI

Giancarlo Fisichella finished tenth out of the thirteen finishers, a lap down. Sutil had no-one to blame for his first-corner crash, which triggered the first of the two safety car periods. "Good and bad," technical boss Mike Gascoyne neatly summarised.

SUPER AGURI-HONDA

Takuma Sato finished last, and Anthony Davidson retired when a stone flicked onto the track by a Piquet off holed his radiator.

RENAULT

Fernando Alonso was indeed running light, but the Spaniard looked set for fifth place when his engine - the second Viry-built unit to expire this weekend - blew up. Nelson Piquet ran off the circuit and then retired after crashing into Sebastien Bourdais while trying to recover lost ground.


TORO ROSSO-FERRARI

A hapless Sebastian Vettel had yet another early-race incident, and he criticised Adrian Sutil for becoming an unavoidable roadblock after a "far too optimistic" passing move. Bourdais, meanwhile, completed the team's very early bath and he similarly accepted no blame for being bumped out by the Piquet move.

The McLaren team have released the following Q & A with Heikki Kovalainen following his crash at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Q&A WITH VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES DRIVER HEIKKI KOVALAINEN

Following his accident yesterday during the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Heikki Kovalainen was taken to the Hospital General de Catalunya in Sant Cugat del Valles in Spain.
The team has established that Heikki’s speed was approximately 240km/h when the tyre deflated and about 130km/h when he hit the tyre barrier. He experienced a 27g deceleration.

CT scans at the hospital confirmed that Heikki had no head injuries and no broken bones but the Finn was kept in overnight for observation.

This morning Heikki underwent further tests and scans which all went positively and showed no problems. Consequently Heikki will be released from hospital later today. He will then stay in Spain for a few days relaxing before returning home to start a light training programme.

How do you feel at the moment?
“I have a slight headache and a stiff neck, but apart from that I am feeling well and in good spirits. My focus is on getting better as soon as possible so I can pass the FIA medical inspection required to allow me to race in Turkey.”

Do you remember anything from the accident?
“I don’t remember anything from the accident or what happened afterwards but would obviously like to thank all the circuit emergency staff, the FIA medical team at the track and the doctors at the hospital for all their efforts in looking after me. Also thank you for all the messages I have received – they all mean a lot.”

What do you think might have caused the accident?
“The team told me that the left front wheel rim might have broken which could have lead to the sudden deflation of the tyre. However we have to wait for further inspections to be able to confirm the exact cause. What is especially important is the fact that the monocoque withstood the heavy impact, so credit should also be given to everyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes for that.”

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This accident compares with that of Kubica in Canada last year. In that case Kubica was not allowed to drive at the US Grand Prix however those two races were back to back races.

Mixed emotions for me this weekend

Exciting to see Alonso do so well in qualifying but sad to see him retire.

The good news is that he seems to have a car that he can do something with.

His performance all weekend was superb, he is my driver of the day (it would great if he can be added to the list above )

I think Renault and Alonso surprised everyone with their recovery and I am sure there is more to come. This just shows how much Alonso can contribute to a team. On one hand McLaren are clearly struggling once Alonso left them and Renault are back on their way up once he joined them again.

Who would have imagined to see Hamilton in the McLaren chasing Alonso in the Renault in 2 of the 4 races so far this season

Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber were the other standouts this weekend.

Massa dissapointed me, I really expected him to shine. Kovalainen was unlucky and we won't know how much fuel he had
Coulthard comeon, when is this going to stop.
Piquet, this is a track that every driver should know blindfolded, how can he make such a mistake ????
And poor Vettel

JV I agree with you 99%. The only difference is i thought KR was DOTD. Flawless all weekend, you can't do more than that.

FA & MW were the others to impress, both totally dominated their teamate (Both are supposed to be very capable). The season would be a lot more interesting if both FA & MW were driving the BMW's. As good as BMW have been neither driver really has that special ability to take the next step at present (Kubica may in the future).

Kimi gets my driver of the day vote. Never looked troubled at any stage of the race. Good drive also from Webber. He would have finished in the points even without those in better cars retiring. Alonso was good and would have had a good points finish if it wasn't for his engine failure.

I hope that Kovalainen is as recovered from his nasty accident as reports are suggesting.

Heidfeld penalty was tough but all teams knew the rules and it was a gamble leaving it as late as they did to refuel him.

Bundy wrote:JV I agree with you 99%. The only difference is i thought KR was DOTD. Flawless all weekend, you can't do more than that.

FA & MW were the others to impress, both totally dominated their teamate (Both are supposed to be very capable). The season would be a lot more interesting if both FA & MW were driving the BMW's. As good as BMW have been neither driver really has that special ability to take the next step at present (Kubica may in the future).

Are you sure Bundy, 99% is pretty high

I agree about the BMW drivers, they seem to lack consistency, regardless though, Alonso and Renault will soon get ahead of them. Spain is always considered a benchmark of how good the car is and it is already very close to the BMW with Alonso driving.

Surpised that Jim hasn't made any comment on the Ice man winning the race ??