The Barcelona Grand Prix was the first race of 2007 that was full of incidents. There were breakdowns, there were pit stop mistakes, there were overtaking manoeuvres that didn’t go well, but mostly there were retirements.

In the first half of the race, there were 8 retirements and it wasn’t until after the second round of pit stops that things actually began to settle down and get into a rhythm. This made for a really interesting couple of hours.

The most important retiree of the race was Kimi Raikkonen in his Ferrari. For the last couple of years, Ferrari have been rock solid in their reliability, and Kimi was looking forward to having some stability after the breakdown-riddled McLaren. Perhaps it was Kimi who jinxed the breakdowns, rather than the car itself? He also left the circuit shortly after leaving the track, jumping into a car and presumably heading to the airport. This doesn’t seem like an attitude that Ferrari will take kindly too, as they are usually such a close and hard-working team. Raikkonen couldn’t even handle staying until the end of the race.

His team mate Massa did the business though, and took his pole position through to win the race. Alonso was next to him on the grid, and desperate to make a good impression in front of his home crowd, attempted an overtaking move that went wrong. He was pushed off the track and lost two places, and it’s only thanks to Raikkonen’s retirement that Alonso ended up on the podium at all.

Other notable drives were from Sato in the Super Aguri, as he finished in 8th and picked up the teams first ever point. This really shows how the team are moving forward and getting better as time goes by. Perhaps they rushed their entrance into the sport, perhaps they needed the practice, but it seems like it’s all coming together.

David Coulthard also pushed his Red Bull to the very limits and secured 5th place, his best result for a long time. Despite losing third gear in the closing stages of the race, Coulthard held off sixth place Rosberg to get his team some much needed points. Looks like the Red Bull has finally found some pace.

And, of course, Lewis Hamilton. The rookie kept his head when all about him were losing theirs and took his McLaren to second place. He is now leading the championship, ahead of both Alonso and Massa (who has now jumped Raikkonen in terms of points). It won’t be long before he wins a race.