In the latest round of the Formula 1 circus, Felipe Massa has taken the chequered flag in the Turkish Grand Prix for the third straight year whilst also claiming Ferrari's fourth straight victory in 2008. The Brazilian was made to work though as Lewis Hamilton pushed him pretty hard but his three-stop strategy (due to concerns about the Bridgestone tyres' durability) didn't quite work out as opposed to the two stop ran by the Ferraris, Kimi Raikkonen completed the podium.
From the starting line Massa made a good start along with Hamilton who surged straight into second place ahead of his team-mate Kovalainen who made a relatively poor start along with his fellow countryman Raikkonen which culminated in a small collision between the Finns forcing Kovalainen to make an unscheduled early stop for tyres.
The three-stop strategy for Hamilton enabled the Brit to run a lighter car for the duration of the race which clearly helped his superb overtaking maneuver to pass Massa for the lead on lap 24, however the two-stop strategy of the Brazilian allowed him to keep his cool and comfortably retake the lead during the next round of stops. The third pitstop for Hamilton on lap 45 saw a heart stopping moment which saw the Brit only just retain second place ahead of Raikkonen who duly began to push him for the next few laps before finally settling for third position.
Behind the fight for podium places, the two BMW Sauber drivers drove a very lonely race with Kubica coming in 17 seconds behind Raikkonen and Heidfeld finishing a further 17 seconds behind.
The result now cuts Raikkonen's world championship lead down to 7 points ahead of Hamilton and Massa who share second place
Turkish Grand Prix, result:
1. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1 hr 26 min 49.451 secs
2. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren +00:03.779
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 00:04.271
4. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 00:21.945
5. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 00:38.741
6. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 00:53.724
7. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault 01:04.229
8. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 01:11.406
9. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull - Renault 01:15.270
10. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 01:16.344
11. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1 lap
12. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren 1 lap
13. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota 1 lap
14. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1 lap
15. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 1 lap
16. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India - Ferrari 1 lap
17. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 1 lap
r. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 34 laps
r. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams - Toyota 57 laps
r. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India - Ferrari 58 laps
(rank: r = retired, nc = not classified)
