By Elmar Dreher, DPA
Silverstone (Britain) : Kimi Raikkonen in a Ferrari Sunday scored back to back Grand Prix victories when he won the British Grand Prix.
The Finn made it look easy as he seemed in control of the race once he had taken the lead and he said afterwards that his car had been excellent throughout the weekend.
McLaren-Mercedes' Fernando Alonso was second, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton continued his impressive run of nine podium places in his ninth race with third place.
The start of the race had to be postponed for a few minutes after Massa, who was meant to start from fourth, developed engine trouble and called for assistance, forcing the drivers to embark on another warm-up lap, while his car had to start from the back of the grid.
As a result of the delayed start, the race was cut from 60 laps to 59.
Raikkonen, who secured his 12th career victory, needed one hour 21 minutes 43.074 seconds for the 59 laps for 303.319 km on the 5.141 km Silverstone track.
Hamilton, who started from pole, won the start, but failed to put any real distance between himself and Raikkonen in the opening phase of the race.
The Ferrari driver said that he was closing the gap on Hamilton quite easily. "But I knew that he would be going into the pits earlier, so I did not risk too much."
The Briton was the first to pit and made a small mistake when he tried to get away too quickly before the petrol nozzle had been pulled from the car. The mistake cost him first place as Raikkonen managed to come out in front of him after going into the pits.
"It was my mistake. I thought I could go, but obviously I was not ready. I am not sure how much time it cost me, but I am sure that it did," he said.
Raikkonen, who moved into first place after Hamilton's slip-up, however, lost it a few laps later when Alonso came in for a very short pit stop and entered the race ahead of Raikkonen and his teammate.
The Spaniard said that the short stop had not been planned. "We changed strategy during the race to allow us to keep the lead after the second stop.
"But it did not work as I hit traffic and in the six laps that the Ferrari had more fuel I could not go as fast as I needed to go."
Television footage showed Alonso shake his fist at Alexander Wurz and Scott Speed after overtaking him during this period, but he played the incident down.
"I think the blue flags for moving aside were not perfect, but I believe that in the race it always equals out, so I am very happy with my second place. I think today that was the maximum we could get."
Alonso's gamble failed to pay off as Raikkonen pulled ahead after the McLaren had refuelled and then needed only a 6.6 seconds stop himself, enabling him to come out nearly two seconds ahead of Alonso.
The two drivers then had no problems holding their huge lead from the chasing pack, with Hamilton continuing to lose time on the two leaders.
Robert Kubica in a BMW-Sauber was second, while Massa minimized the damage from starting at the back of the grid to finish fifth. Kubica's teammate Nick Heidfeld was sixth.
Renault's Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella were the last two drivers to finish in the points in seventh and eighth place respectively.
Raikkonen said he was particularly happy to have won the race. "It is a nice feeling to win the race as I have been close three times before, so it is special to finally get a win."
Hamilton retains the lead in the drivers' standings with 70 points from Alonso, who has 58. Raikkonen's victory sees him move into third place with 52 points, while Massa is one point behind.
McLaren kept their 25-point lead in the constructors' standings with 128 points, while Ferrari have 103.
The next race is the European Grand Prix in Nurburgring in Germany on July 22.