Team mate Kimi Raikkonen, the world champion who won at Magny-Cours last year, led from pole but was overtaken by
“I didn’t expect that, sometimes you need a little bit of luck,” said
“The championship is still 100 percent open and we still have many races to go.
“It’s nice but my dream is not to lead the championship, it is to win the championship. And I’m going to do my best to achieve that.”
Raikkonen could not hide his disappointment but, with his car almost stopping in the closing stages, accepted the second place.
“I’ll take the eight points and it looks much better in the championship,” he said.
Italy’s Jarno Trulli gave Toyota, mourning the recent death of former team principal Ove Andersson, their first podium finish since the Australian Grand Prix of April, 2006, after holding off McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen in a thrilling chase to the line.
The two cars came close to banging wheels on the penultimate lap as Kovalainen tried in vain to pass.
“I don’t think we touched, just wheel-to-wheel like we did in go-karting,” said the Italian, whose last podium finish was with
“I’d love to fight every race like that.”
Poland’s Robert Kubica, the championship leader for BMW-Sauber before yesterday’s race after winning in Canada, finished fifth with Red Bull’s Australian Mark Webber sixth.
Renault’s Brazilian rookie Nelson Piquet finally took his first point in Formula One, at the eighth attempt, with seventh place ahead of team mate and double world champion Fernando Alonso in eighth.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who had been level with Massa in second place, finished 10th after starting 13th due to a 10-place penalty on the grid incurred for colliding with Raikkonen in the Canadian GP pit lane.
The 23-year-old Briton suffered a further blow when he picked up a drive-through penalty after 13 laps that dropped him from ninth to 16th place.
Honda’s Briton Jenson Button was the only driver to retire from the race. – Reuter
Stoner regains form to win British GP
LONDON:
Stoner, who started on pole for only the second time this season, crossed the line ahead of championship leader Valentino Rossi.
The Italian’s nearest rival, Dani Pedrosa of
The Australian, riding a Ducati, never looked in danger of surrendering his advantage and finished 5.789 seconds ahead of Rossi to take his first chequered flag since the season opener in
Rossi extended his overall lead over Pedrosa to 11 points while Stoner moved ahead of Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo into third place, 45 points behind the four-times champion after eight races.
Earlier, Briton Scott
The rookie also recorded the first home win at the
Riding in only his eighth grand prix, Redding started on the outside of the front row and steadily chipped away at Andrea Iannone's early lead before passing the Italian with 10 of the 25 laps remaining.
Mike di Meglio of
