Massa Completes Turkish Hat-Trick
Hamilton and Raikkonen Rounds up the Podium
Felipe Massa completed his hat-trick for the Turkish Grand Prix. Hamilton and Raikkonen rounded up the podium in second and third respectively.
With his victory in the Turkish GP, Felipe Massa became the first man to win the same Grand Prix three consecutive times since Michael Schumacher (Spanish GP ‘01-’04, Canadian GP ‘02-’04). It was also the third consecutive time Massa converted his pole position into victory in Istanbul Racing Circuit since the track’s inauguration four years ago. Massa’s win maintains Istanbul Park’s distinct characteristic as a track wherein the pole-sitter always ends up being the winner of the race (The first ever winner for the Turkish GP was then McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen who also won from pole position in 2005). The result vaults the Brazilian into second overall in the Drivers standings with 28 points tied with Lewis Hamilton (the Brazilian winning the tie-breaker by virtue of more race wins so far this season) this season.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton breaks Ferrari’s streak of 1-2 finishes by finishing second. It was a brilliant drive from Hamilton with his three pit-stop strategy to edge out Kimi Raikkonen for the position by roughly over a second.
Mclaren however still lost out on rivals Ferrari and BMW-Sauber in the constructors’ standings when Heikki Kovalainen failed to score points after a puncture in the first lap threw the second McLaren driver out of contention early on the race. As it stands, Ferrari leads the constructors’ standings with 63 points, BMW-Sauber remains second with 44 and McLaren still in third with 42.
Kimi Raikkonen managed to make the most out of his slightly damaged front wing to come away with third position. The damage came during the first lap when he and Kovalainen touched entering into turn one. Kovalainen was defending his position from Raikkonen who benefited from a better start. The minor incident caused Raikkonen to drop down to sixth while Kovalainen headed straight away to the pits to change a punctured tire.
Raikkonen’s third place means that he still leads the drivers’ standings with 35 points.
Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld finished fourth and fifth respectively for BMW Sauber. Although the team is now lagging slightly behind Ferrari and McLaren in terms of pace, BMW-Sauber benefits with their consistency and reliability this season thereby maintaining their second place in the Constructors’ standings.
Fernando Alonso put a brilliant effort to will his Renault into sixth place. The French based squad has seen better days and continues to struggle to get back to its World Championship form of ’05-’06. With the engine freeze ruling,
Mark Webber finished seventh in his Red-Bull while Nico Rosberg rounded up the top ten for Williams-Toyota.
