Massa wins again, Hamilton makes history again at Spanish GP

By Jens Marx May 13, 2007, 16:31 GMT

L) British Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton and Spanish Formula One driver Fernando Alonso of McLaren Mercedes spray the customary champagne on the podium after the Spanish F1 Grand Prix at the Montmelo circuit near Barcelona 13th May 2007. Hamilton finished second and Alonso third. EPA/CARMEN JASPERSEN COLOR

Barcelona - Felipe Massa held off an early challenge from Fernando Alonso to win the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, while second-placed Lewis Hamilton made more history in the sport as the youngest championship leader.

The Ferrari driver Massa stood his ground when Alonso attacked from second place on the grid in a McLaren-Mercedes going into the first turn, winning his second race from the pole in a row and fourth overall.

Alonso had to settle for third in the end behind Massa and Hamilton, which according to F1 officials allowed his team-mate Hamilton to become the youngest championship leader at the age of 22 years five months, a record held until then by his team's founder Bruce McLaren.

Hamilton has 30 points after his fourth career race in which he has made the podium on each occasion, with only a race win missing.

The two-time defending champion Alonso has 28 and Massa 27 points early in the 17-race season. Kimi Raikkonen, who was tied for the lead with Hamilton and Alonso going into Sunday's race, remained on 22 points after retiring with electronic problems early on.

'I keep saying I am living my dream,' said Hamilton, naming the top spot 'incredible.'

Hamilton's top spot and Massa's win were partly made possible through Alonso's risky manoevre early on in front of a record 140,000 fans came to the Circuit de Catalunya.

Massa was undeterred that the start was delayed as Jarno Trulli encountered problems after the warm-up lap in his Toyota, forcing him to start from the pit lane while all others went on another warm-up lap which cut the race distance by one lap to 65 laps.

Alonso tried to overtake the Brazilian on the outside going into the opening right turn, but Massa stood his ground, Alonso rode out into the gravel in the next left turn after the cars briefly touched and lost two positions, with Hamilton and Raikkonen moving ahead.

'It was a little tight from both of us. I was inside and went for it. The corner is important, I didn't want to lose first place like in Malaysia. There was small contact and I was afraid about my car,' said Massa.

The subdued Alonso said: 'It was very tight. Iwent outside and was in front but unfortunately he didn't think so.'

'If you are fourth after the first corner the race becomes very complicated. You can try as hard as you can,' he said, eventually glad to make the podium at all due to the retirement of Raikkonen.

Hamilton beat Raikkonen at the start and was the swept to second when Alonso rode out, but said about Alonso that 'he almost hit me when he came back' on the track.

Watched by Michael Schumacher, who attended the first race for Ferrari since retiring last season, Massa led by almost 10 seconds before his first pit stop in the 19th lap which went without problems even though some flames burst out of the Ferrari when he left.

Massa could take it easy in the end of a lonely race in front to lead an unchanged race top three in 1 hour 31 minutes 36.230 seconds. He beat Hamilton by 6.8 seconds, with Alonso 17.5 seconds off the pace.

'The most difficult part was the start. Afterwards I made sure that nothing happened. I had the race in my hand,' said Massa.

Poland's Robert Kubica placed fourth for BMW, while team-mate Nick Heidfeld met disaster at the first pit stop to drop out of contention when a front wheel wasn't properly fixed. He had to return to the pits and eventually retired in the 48th lap.

Veteran David Coulthard got the first points of the year for Red Bull in fifth place, Niko Rosberg was sixth in a Williams, Heikki Kovalainen seventh in a Renault and Takuma Sato got the first ever championship point for Super-Aguri in eighth place.

The next race is the famous Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo on May 27.