Rediff

Spain, Apr 28: Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen stretched his Formula One lead to nine points with a dominant win from pole position in the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.

Brazilian Felipe Massa sealed Ferrari's second successive one-two finish, and third win in a row, with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton third to revive his title challenge after a disappointing last race in Bahrain.

Raikkonen's 17th grand prix win left the Finn with 29 points, nine clear of closest rival Hamilton, and catapulted Ferrari back in front of BMW  Sauber in the constructors' standings.

While Raikkonen had an uneventful afternoon in the sunshine, his compatriot Heikki Kovalainen was flown to hospital with concussion after his McLaren plunged across the gravel and into a tyre wall.

Kovalainen had been leading at the time after both Ferraris and Hamilton had made their first pitstops.

"He banged his head in the accident and has concussion. As a precaution he is going to hospital to have more checks," McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh told reporters outside the circuit's medical centre.

Poland's Robert Kubica was fourth for BMW Sauber with Australian Mark Webber fifth in a Red Bull and Britain's Jenson Button sixth for Honda's first points of the year.

Japan's Kazuki Nakajima was seventh for Williams and Italian Jarno Trulli eighth for Toyota.

The first European race of the season ended with an entirely predictable result, with the Circuit de Catalunya setting a record as the track with the longest run of successive winners from pole position.

Raikkonen, the only driver to have won twice so far this season, was the eighth in a row to have triumphed in Barcelona from pole.