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Kimi Raikkonen dominated the Spanish Grand Prix from start to finish with some supreme driving reminiscent of another Ferrari great, Michael Schumacher, and extended his lead in the World Driver's Championship to nine points.

The Finn started on pole and never looked back despite having to negotiate two safety car periods, completing his victory without, it seemed, ever pushing himself or the car to their maximum capacity. In a stunning performance the world championship leader barely put a foot wrong over the race's 66 laps, finishing a comfortable three seconds in front of his team mate Felipe Massa.

Raikkonen's excellence, however, was overshadowed by the horrific accident suffered by McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen. As Kovalainen approached the fast turn nine at around 150mph he appeared to get debris lodged in the rim of his front left tyre, the rubber exploding dramatically leaving Kovalainen a mere passenger as his car shot off the circuit and embedded itself in a tyre wall. At first there were great concerns for the driver's safety as it took ten minutes to extricate him from the battered shell of his McLaren-Mercedes. However, as the young Finn was stretchered into an ambulance he was seen to give a 'thumbs up' to cameras, it later being revealed by medical staff that the driver had got away with only minor concussion and was going to a Barcelona hospital for precautionary check-ups only.

The accident aside, it was an encouraging day for a McLaren team which has been worryingly off the pace in the last two races in Malaysia and Bahrain. Lewis Hamilton, who started from fifth on the grid, got a fantastic start, overtaking Robert Kubica at the first corner and quickly establishing a quick pace, albeit not quite matching the speed of the two Ferraris. What Hamilton can be most pleased with from this weekend is the fact that the McLaren was competitive again. Although he was never going to catch Massa or Raikkonen at the head of the field, he seemed to increase his pace in the latter stages of the race. The McLaren driver set the fastest first sector time of the race and held off a brave fight from Kubica to claim a third place which keeps the young Briton in touch with Raikkonen in these early days of the race for the title.

McLaren were not the only team to come away from the weekend pleased to see improvements from their cars. Renault, complete with a new aerodynamics package, were truly competitive over a whole weekend for the first time this year. Spanish hearts were broken when their hero Fernando Alonso retired from fifth place after 34 laps, but the Spaniard was upbeat later saying, 'Qualifying was quite OK, and in the race we were close to BMW so I can enjoy racing again.' These comments will most certainly please Renault high command after the two-time world champion had made clear that he was deeply unhappy with the cars performance this season up until now. There had been fears that Alonso would move on again in the summer, but those rumours will probably disappear again until the end of the season if Renault can consistently challenge for points. Jenson Button also had cause for celebration, guiding his much-improved Honda to an impressive sixth place. The car from the Japanese constructors gave the team their best showing since 2006, Button even being the fastest driver on the track in the latter stages of the grand prix.

With Raikkonen now nine points clear of Hamilton, Lewis will know how important it is for him to get at least one win from the next two races. With the next race, Turkey, being a happy hunting ground for Ferrari and Felipe Massa in particular, Hamilton will hope he can force his way into the top three there and then go to Monaco where he really impressed last year, and beat Raikkonen to the top step of the podium.

1. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:38:19.051
2. Felipe Massa (Brz) (Ferrari) +3.228
3. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes +4.187
4. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber +5.694
5. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault +35.938
6. Jenson Button (GB) Honda +53.010
7. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota +58.244
8. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota +59.435
9. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber +1:03.073
10. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari +1 Lap
11. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota +1 Lap
12. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault +1 Lap
13. Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda +1 Lap
R Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 41 laps
R Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 34 laps
R Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 34 laps
R Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 21 laps
R Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 8 Laps
R Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7 Laps
R Nelson Piquet Jr (Brz) Renault 6 Laps
R Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 0 Laps
R Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 Laps