Felipe Massa got his title challenge back on track with his third consecutive victory in Turkey.
Felipe Massa beat all challengers to complete a hat-trick of victories in the Turkish Grand Prix. Starting from pole the diminutive Brazilian had the measure of both his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.
Massa led into turn one, followed by a fast starting Hamilton. Behind them Heikki Kovalainen and Raikkonen had a coming together, resulting in a puncture for the McLaren driver. Despite a spirited drive from the back of the pack by Kovalainen the Finn eventually finished out of the points in 12th. Raikkonen also found himself compromised by the incident, trailing Robert Kubica and Fernando Alonso with a damaged wing end-plate.
At the rear of the field Giancarlo Fisichella misjudged his braking at the first corner and the Italian’s Force India ploughed into the back of Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams, causing both drivers to retire. The safety car was deployed while the wreckage was cleared away.
At the restart Massa held his lead but was unable to build a significant gap between himself and the pursuing Hamilton. Ferrari were relieved when the McLaren driver stopped early as Hamilton adopted an aggressive three-stop strategy.
Massa emerged from his first pit-stop ahead of Hamilton but the Briton was soon past and pulled away. Meanwhile, Raikkonen had eased past Alonso and Kubica into third. Hamilton then made his second stop, emerging behind Massa. The Brazilian’s second and final stop saw him come out behind Hamilton but safe in the knowledge that the McLaren driver had to pit again.
With all of the leaders pit-stops completed Hamilton found himself ahead of Raikkonen, but the defending World Champion pushed him all the way to the line. Their battle was of little consequence to a delighted Massa who closed the gap to Raikkonen in the World Championship.
BMW Sauber were off the pace of the leaders in Turkey but still gained useful points. Kubica finished fourth with Nick Heidfeld fifth. In sixth came Alonso’s Renault followed by the Red Bull of Mark Webber. The final points position was claimed by Nico Rosberg for Williams. In his record-breaking 257th Grand prix Honda’s Rubens Barrichello finished a lap down in 14th.
Result
- Massa (Ferrari)
- Hamilton (McLaren)
- Raikkonen (Ferrari)
- Kubica (BMW Sauber)
- Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
- Alonso (Renault)
- Webber (Red Bull)
- Rosberg (Williams)
- Coulthard (Red Bull)
- Trulli (Toyota)
- Button (Honda)
- Kovalainen (McLaren)
- Glock (Toyota)
- Barrichello (Honda)
- Piquet (Renault)
- Sutil (Force India)
- Vettel (Toro Rosso)
- Bourdais (Toro Rosso)
- Nakajima (Williams)
- Fisichella (Force India)
Driver's Championship
- Raikkonen - 35
- Massa - 28
- Hamilton - 28
- Kubica - 24
- Heidfeld - 20
- Kovalainen - 14
- Webber - 10
- Alonso - 9
- Trulli - 9
- Rosberg - 8
- Nakajima - 5
- Button - 3
- Bourdais - 2
Constructor's Championship
- Ferrari - 63
- BMW Sauber - 44
- McLaren - 42
- Williams - 13
- Red Bull - 10
- Renault - 9
- Toyota - 9
- Honda - 3
- Toro Rosso - 2
