STONE COLD; Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen extends championship lead in Spain.(Competition)

Byline: NIGEL ROEBUCK

Defending Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen handled the post-Spanish Grand Prix press conference as he always does: unemotionally and with a complete lack of hyperbole. He does not try to use words to impress; intimidation games are unnecessary when you are as quick as Raikkonen. In a way, therefore, the flatness of his delivery was all the more chilling for his rivals.

"For sure,'' he said, rubbing his bleary eyes, "we could have gone quite a bit faster, but there's no point when you don't need to.''

Later, in response to a slightly different question, he went a step further. "We could have gone much faster,'' he said. It looked that way.

Was the race boring, then? Raikkonen just smiled and shrugged, leaving onlookers to draw conclusions, which were simple enough: Ferrari has a quantifiable advantage, and no one with any sense would bet against Raikkonen retaining his title, even if the 18-race season is just four events old.

Raikkonen started from the pole and never lost the lead, except momentarily after his first pit stop, and he was shadowed, at a certain respectful distance, by teammate Felipe Massa. In the closing laps, Lewis Hamilton moved his McLaren-Mercedes to within a couple of seconds of Massa, but there was never any question of threatening the Ferrari, and Hamilton knew it.

Hamilton dominated the opening race, in Melbourne, but that feels like a long time ago. In Barcelona qualifying, he was happy with his quick laps, commenting afterward that the car felt extremely well balanced. "Actually,'' he said, "I'm quite surprised we're not higher up the grid.'' "Shocked'' would be a better word.