F1: Massa Takes Third Straight Turkish Win

[leobold1]

FORMULA-ONE - F1: Massa Takes Third Straight Turkish Win - SPEEDtv.com

Written by: Cassio Cortes
RACER Magazine Racer Magazine - NASCAR, IndyCars, Champ Cars, NHRA Drag Racing, Formula 1
05/11/2008 - 06:52 AM
Istanbul, Turkey

No one but Felipe Massa has won or started from pole in Turkey since 2006, as the Ferrari driver took a somewhat tranquil victory at Istanbul Park ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and championship points leader Kimi Raikkonen. It was the Brazilian’s second 2008 win.

From P1 on the grid, Massa made a solid start while other drivers starting on the even side of the field – notably McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen in second and Raikkonen in fourth – struggled. It was a tumultuous beginning on the back of the field: Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella missed the braking mark and ran over the back of Kazuki’s Nakajima Williams, bringing out the safety car.

The SC went back in on lap three, and Kovalainen was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop due to a puncture, effectively ruining the Finn’s race. At the restart, Massa led Hamilton and BMW’s Robert Kubica, followed by Fernando Alonso’s Renault, Raikkonen, Mark Webber’s Red Bull, Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW and Williams’ Nico Rosberg.

Raikkonen didn’t waste recovery time and made his move on Alonso already on lap three. From then on the Finn’s life was harder, and he stayed behind Kubica for the first stint.

Alonsokicked off the first round of pit stops on lap 15, followed by Hamilton – who had stayed in touch with Massa throughout the first stint – one lap later. The Brit’s ultra-quick stop (less than six seconds), however, indicated that battling Massa for the win wasn’t on his cards: the McLaren man was going for a three-stop strategy.

Massa made his own stop on lap 19 and emerged ahead of Hamilton. On a lighter fuel load, the McLaren was quicker, and the sophomore managed to overtake the Brazilian on lap 24, with Massa offering some but not full resistance. The aftermath of the first round of stops thus had Hamilton leading Massa and Raikkonen, then Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Webber and Honda’s Jenson Button. On lap 26, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais retired after spinning off into the gravel.

Hamilton’s lead only lasted until lap 32, when he made his second stop. Two laps later, a great scrap between Toyota’s Timo Glock and Kovalainen resulted with the recovering Finn moving up to P13, still distant from the points-paying zone. One lap later, Renault’s Nelson Piquet worked hard to move past Button for P11, while Kovalainen swiftly followed, the Honda driver losing two positions with a few hundred feet’s space.

Leader Massa made his second and final stop on lap 40, with Raikkonen, effectively racing Hamilton, following three laps later. The McLaren driver came in on lap 46 and emerged just ahead of the Finn.

On the final laps, Raikkonen pushed hard to come within less than a second from Hamilton, but perhaps a move that would net him just two extra points seemed like too much of a risk for the Finn, who never put on a serious attack until the checkered flag on lap 58. Massa crossed the finish line 3.7sec ahead of Hamilton, with Raikkonen following just 0.4sec further back. The two BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld completed the top-five, with Alonso, Webber and Rosberg taking the remaining Turkish points.

"Today was a very difficult race," Massa reported. "Lewis was pushing me hard a lot for the whole race and I thought he was very light at the beginning because he was pushing me so heavily. And when I did my pitstop I thought he was straight away there so I thought maybe had less fuel, and the team told me he was on three stops and for sure that was a help.

"He was strong and I could not hold him on track so he passed me. I knew I still had a big chance to win the race as three stops was quite optimistic. But anyway I created a reasonable gap to be at the front after the pitstops.It was difficult but we made it and third time in Turkey was fantastic. I think I can get a passport here already," he joked.

Shaving points off Raikkonen's championship lead made Hamilton happy with second place: "I am thrilled," he admitted. "We knew it was going to be tough to challenge the Ferraris and were hoping to get points - a top five would have been great - but the balance was great. On hard tires I was able to keep up with Felipe and overtake him. I was able to keep pushing. At the end the softer tire was definitely the worse tire so I am much happier."

Raikkonen, who touched with Kovalainen at the start, felt third was the best possible result on a tough day: "We had a difficult weekend and I'm happy to be third," he said. "I didn't lose too many points. We'll see what we can do in the next few races. The next two last year were not so strong for us, so we will see what we can do."

The results at Istanbul Park tightened the championship battle considerably. Raikkonen still leads with 35, but Massa is now second with 28, tied with Hamilton but ahead for having two wins versus one. The 2008 F1 season resumes in two weeks’ time with the Monaco Grand Prix.

FORMULA-ONE - f1 - SPEEDtv.com

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I saw the race this morning and a replay of it is on Speed TV right now. GREAT RACE! Massa didn't dominate, but he definately outraced Hamilton and Raikkonen.

[Anth]

I saw the second half of the race and the battle involving Button and Heikki K was good.

Got Monaco next (May 25th) then Canada (June 8th). Robert Kubica will be hoping he actually finishes the Canadian race - last year he was lucky to come away alive.

[leobold1]

I remember Canada last year. I'm surprised he raced again. Just goes to show the safety that's gone into the car.