Bridgestone motorsport wrap for 28th April

Raikkonen reigns in Spain to extend title lead

Defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen has extended his lead in the Formula One World Championship with a start-to-finish victory in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Raikkonen sprinted into the lead from pole, while teammate Felipe Massa got the jump on home-town hero Fernando Alonso to make it a Ferrari one-two in the early laps.

Raikkonen's strategy of starting on the medium-compound Bridgestone tyres paid dividends as he was untroubled throughout the race, with Massa keeping station behind him.

Third went to Britain's Lewis Hamilton, although the race headlines belonged to his McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen who speared off the track and into the tyre wall on lap 21 at an estimated 225km/h.

The Finn was conscious when removed from the car, and was taken to hospital for observation. Investigations are continuing into the cause of his accident, which is believed to have been the result of a wheel rim failure.

Alonso's P2 in qualifying was in vain after the Spaniard's Renault suffered engine problems midway through the race. Robert Kubica took fourth for BMW Sauber, while Australia's Mark Webber was delighted with fifth place for his third consecutive points finish.

Jenson Button demonstrated Honda's return to form with sixth place ahead of the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima and Jarno Trulli's Honda.

Raikkonen now leads the standings on 29 points, nine clear of Hamilton with Kubica and Massa on 19 and 18 points respectively.

"Raikkonen used his tyres very well to win quite a confusing race with the two safety car periods," said Hirohide Hamashima, Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development.

"The medium compound was the better tyre today with an obvious advantage of grip and better lap times, and this was because the circuit was much cleaner than yesterday. Most competitors started on the medium compound tyre, ran mediums in the middle stint before finishing on the hard compound and this was the correct choice. In terms of wear and tyre appearance, performance was good, but we expected this as we have tested here so many times."

The teams now prepare for the fifth round of the championship in Istanbul on May 11^th.