Kimi Raikonnen wins Spanish Grand Prix

Barcelona: Kimi Raikkonen won the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, leading Ferrari to a third straight Formula One win.

Raikkonen, the defending world champion, captured his 17th race after starting from the pole position. Teammate Felipe Massa, who was coming off a win at Bahrain three weeks ago, came second, 3.228 seconds behind.

''We didn't have the perfect start, but it was good enough to stay in front,'' Raikkonen said.

Lewis Hamilton of McLaren trailed Raikkonen by more than four seconds in third. Teammate Heikki Kovalainen was taken to hospital after a high-speed crash. The Finn was in stable condition.

Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber was nearly six seconds back in fourth and Mark Webber of Red Bull rounded out the top five.

Raikkonen, who won here in 2005, leads the overall standings with 29 points, nine more than Hamilton. Kubica is next with 19, one more than Massa.

Jenson Button of Honda was sixth, followed by Kazuki Nakajima of Williams and Jarno Trulli of Toyota in the final positions to earn points.

Raikkonen led from start to finish for the sixth time to record his second win of the season and 55th career podium. He won the Malaysian GP last month.

The 28-year-old Finn topped both of Friday's practice sessions before taking his 15th career pole. That makes it eight straight winners here to have won from the pole.

Ferrari's one-point effort at the season-opening Australian GP in Melbourne its worst start for 16 years is now a distant memory with the Italians winning all three races since.

''You know the chance to win is very small ... but I was pretty much sure that unless something happened, it would be very difficult to win the race,'' Massa said. ''It's very important to bring home eight points and make another step forward in the championship that we know is quite long.''

Ferrari also took over the lead in the constructors' championship with 47 points to BMW Sauber's 35. McLaren has 34.

McLaren said that a loss of pressure caused Kovalainen's front left tire to explode and send him skidding into the wall at turn No. 9. Stewards needed almost 10 minutes to pry his mangled car out.

The Finn was sent to a Barcelona hospital by helicopter after being evacuated from the track wearing a neck brace, but he gave a thumbs-up sign to spectators.

''Ron (Dennis) came on the radio halfway through and said he was OK, slightly concussed,'' Hamilton said.

In all, nine drivers retired due to mechanical problems or accidents. That stopped the Ferraris from pulling away with the field bunched back together on several occasions.

Hamilton, who finished more than four seconds back from Raikkonen, returned to the podium for the first time since winning the Australian GP.

''It's good to be back,'' Hamilton said. ''Obviously, when we qualified fifth we knew it was going to be tough to beat the Ferraris. It's good for the team.''

Two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Renault, who started second, retired with engine problems after 34 laps.

''The motor broke, I think,'' said Alonso, who won his home race two years ago. ''It's tough because we're here in Spain. But I think in the next race we can do a better performance.''

Alonso almost didn't make the start after running off the track while working his tires on the formation lap.

Alonso had to attack from the start to have any chance of victory in front of 132,000 spectators including Spain's King Juan Carlos. But Massa moved past Alonso on the straightaway leading into the first corner to leave Ferrari in control.

Hamilton passed Kubica into fourth place to trail Alonso, his former McLaren teammate, after being pushed up the inside.

''I just got inside of him ... and it was pretty much smooth sailing from there,'' Hamilton said.

All cars were immediately behind the safety car after Adrian Sutil of Force India and Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso collided. Vettel failed to finish one lap for the second straight race.

Sebastien Bourdais of Toro Rosso rammed into Nelson Piquet Jr. as the Renault driver tried an inside move. Both drivers retired after banging front wheels 10 laps in.

Alonso was the first of the grid leaders to pit after 16 laps and Hamilton moved into third. Massa was at least 10 seconds ahead, however.

The field was bunched after Kovalainen's accident with BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, who started ninth, moving up to fifth. But the German, who was second in the championship coming in, was forced to do a stop-and-go penalty after pitting to refuel with the safety car out.

Heidfeld was last in 14th place when he re-emerged, before eventually placing back where he started.