Kimi Raikkonen duly won the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona after an emphatic weekend of driving.

His team-mate Felipe Massa in the other Ferrari made it a one-two.

Lewis Hamilton, out of sorts this season, showed both class and courage to rise from fifth on the grid to third place in a fractious race.

He avoided another clash with arch-rival Fernando Alonso by patiently waiting for him to make a pit-stop in his under-achieving Renault.

Full results are:
1, K Raikkonen (Fin, Ferrari) 1hr 38min 19.051sec; 2, F Massa (Br, Ferrari) 1:38:22.251; 3, L Hamilton (GB, McLaren Mercedes) 1:38:23.151; 4, R Kubica (Pol, BMW Sauber) 1:38:24.651; 5, M Webber (Aus, Red Bull Renault) 1:38:54.951; 6, J Button (GB, Honda) 1:39:12.051; 7, K Nakajima (Japan, Williams Toyota) 1:39:17.251; 8, J Trulli (It, Toyota) 1:39:18.451; 9, N Heidfeld (Ger, BMW Sauber) 1:39:22.051; 10, G Fisichella (It, Force India Ferrari); 11, T Glock (Ger, Toyota); 12, D Coulthard(GB, Red Bull Renault); 13, T Sato (Japan, Super Aguri Honda) all one lap behind.

Championship positions
Drivers: 1, Raikkonen 29pts; 2, Hamilton 20; 3, Kubica 19; 4, Massa 18; 5, Heidfeld 16; 6, Kovalainen 14; 7, Trulli 9; 8, Webber 8; 9, Rosberg 7; 10, Alonso 6; 11, Nakajima 5; 12, Button 3; 13, Bourdais 2.

Constructors: 1, Ferrari 47pts; 2, BMW Sauber 35; 3, McLaren Mercedes 34; 4, Williams Toyota 12; 5, Toyota 9; 6, Red Bull Renault 8; 7, Renault 6; 8, Honda 3; 9, Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari 2.

It’s still all to play for this season, with Hamilton quite capable of overtaking a nine points lead. But McLaren will have to start matching the Ferrari’s current pace and power.

Kimi Raikkonen stole pole position from Fernando Alonso in the final moments of the qualifying session for tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona.

On the second row of the grid are Raikkonen’s team-mate Felipe Massa and the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica.

Lewis Hamilton is fifth, a far cry from his glory days last season.

McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen is in sixth, while the Red Bull of Mark Webber is in seventh with Jarno Trulli eighth in a Toyota.

The Bahrain Grand Prix turned into yet another self-imposed defeat for Lewis Hamilton — as was amply prefigured in the qualifying sessions.

Hamilton increasing resembles the nursery rhyme character who, “When she was good, she was very, very good. When she was bad, she was horrid”.

In Bahrain, Lewis Hamilton was horrid. What’s more he knows it.

Starting third on the grid, he appeared glued to it as other cars drove around him. Then he crashed into old antagonist Fernando Alonso in the Renault, before finishing out of the points in a dismal 13th place. There were strong suspicions that Alonso had brake-tested him, but the McLaren driver would not be drawn on that.

Felipe Massa, overcoming a barrage of criticism on his abilities, led a Ferrari one-two.

But Hamilton is the story yet again. Asked how disappointed he was, he replied, “It was a disaster. I let the team down today. It went badly from the beginning. As a professional you start off badly and you need to pick up the pieces and deliver points. I didn’t do any of that for the team.

“I had a collision with Fernando which cost the whole race. I am always the first to blame myself. That’s the right way to go.”

BMW now leads the Constructors’ Championship, continuing a very unpredictable season. Maybe Hamilton needs a spell in Max Mosley’s torture chamber.

Barcelona is next and could be make-or-break for the English driver.

After the racist taunts he suffered in Barcelona 10 days ago, Lewis Hamilton returned to Spain for more testing. In Jerez he drove before a well-mannered crowd of around 1000 — and clocked the fastest time.

With rival team Ferrari absent, the McLaren driver held off test driver Pedro de la Rosa by 0.2 seconds and BMW’s Robert Kubica by half a second.

Hamilton said, “It’s great to get back out on the track in Spain. We have another two days here and there’s a lot we need to get done.”

De la Rosa commented on the Barcelona furore, “The Spanish fans are educated and peaceful people. So much has been said about this issue. The important thing for me is that at this test it can be demonstrated that all drivers are treated with respect, which has always been the case.”

After one of the most fractious seasons in 2007, let’s hope his sentiments carry forward into 2008.