Massa heads Ferrari's Turkish delight
Ferrari on Sunday achieved what they set out to do, with an easy 1-2 win in the Turkish grand prix, Felipe Massa coming in ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.The Italian squad’s triumph was made sweeter by bad luck in the McLaren camp, where championship leader ...
Ferrari on Sunday achieved what they set out to do, with an easy 1-2 win in the Turkish grand prix, Felipe Massa coming in ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.
The Italian squad’s triumph was made sweeter by bad luck in the McLaren camp, where championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who had been heading for third place suffered a puncture on lap 43, relegating him to fifth. Team-mate Fernando Alonso was third and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld, fourth.
The result means Alonso has closed the gap on Hamilton in the driver standings to five points, but Ferrari managed to narrow the gap to McLaren by eight points to 11 in the constructors’ championships.
Massa is now in third place in the drivers’ championship, 15 points behind Hamilton.
The 58-lap race was held in very hot, dry and windy conditions which made set-up tricky temperatures. Ferrari started the race on the softer tyres while McLaren were on the harder ones. Indeed the grid was a mix of the two compounds.
Ferrari made a perfect start, with pole sitter Massa keeping his position while Hamilton, who started on the dirty side of the track, lost position to Raikkonen. Alonso in fourth, starting his 100th race, lost two positions to the BMWs.
Trulli (Toyota) dropped from ninth to 21st after a spin caused by a contact with Fisichella, (Renault) while Barrichello (Honda) jumped from last to 16th.
By the fourth laps Alonso, in sixth, was already six seconds behind the leaders while Hamilton was more or less on the same pace as the Ferraris. The champion initially fell back from the BMWs but then started to rein in Heidfeld.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber entered the pits and was pushed into the garage after 10 laps.
By lap 12 Alonso was attacking Heidfeld and Raikkonen was posting faster times than Massa but the Brazilian later replied in kind. Hamilton continued to keep up but further back Heidfeld appeared to be holding Alonso back (and ruining his race) with the gap from the leading trio growing.
Kubica (BMW) went in for his first pit stop from fourth on lap 13 and Heidfeld on lap 18, giving Alonso some clean air at last. Alonso went in a lap later and emerged in front of both BMWs.
Raikkonen went in on lap 18 as Massa set a fastest lap before going in a lap later, momentarily giving the lead to Hamilton but after the stops Massa remained in the lead followed by Raikkonen, Hamilton and Alonso now 18 seconds behind Massa. The Ferraris remained on the softer compounds and the McLarens on the hards.
The race became processional now, with Massa 2.5 seconds ahead of Raikkonen and Hamilton a further 2.5 seconds behind the Finn and Alonso not making any gains either.
By lap 38 as the second round of pit stops approached the Ferraris closed to under a second of each other. Will Raikkonen overtake Massa in the pits, as his did in France? The Finn came in for his second stop on lap 41 and emerged on the harder tyres behind some traffic. Massa came in a lap later and managed to stay ahead, with a backmarker between him and Raikkonen.
Disaster struck third placed Lewis Hamilton on lap 43 when his front right tyre collapsed, apparently after a lock-up and he proceeded slowly to the pits for a quick stop emerging fifth behind Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso and Heidfeld. Hamilton’s laps were slow however, his front wing had been damaged and Heikki Kovalainen (Renault) started catching up, egged on by his engineer on radio. Hamilton however upped his pace and retained fifth.
Massa won the race 2.2 seconds ahead of Raikkonen, who set the fastest lap, with Alonso third, Heidfeld fourth and Hamilton fifth, followed by Kovalainen, Rosberg (Williams), Kubica and Fisichella.
The Italian squad’s triumph was made sweeter by bad luck in the McLaren camp, where championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who had been heading for third place suffered a puncture on lap 43, relegating him to fifth. Team-mate Fernando Alonso was third and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld, fourth.
The result means Alonso has closed the gap on Hamilton in the driver standings to five points, but Ferrari managed to narrow the gap to McLaren by eight points to 11 in the constructors’ championships.
Massa is now in third place in the drivers’ championship, 15 points behind Hamilton.
The 58-lap race was held in very hot, dry and windy conditions which made set-up tricky temperatures. Ferrari started the race on the softer tyres while McLaren were on the harder ones. Indeed the grid was a mix of the two compounds.
Ferrari made a perfect start, with pole sitter Massa keeping his position while Hamilton, who started on the dirty side of the track, lost position to Raikkonen. Alonso in fourth, starting his 100th race, lost two positions to the BMWs.
Trulli (Toyota) dropped from ninth to 21st after a spin caused by a contact with Fisichella, (Renault) while Barrichello (Honda) jumped from last to 16th.
By the fourth laps Alonso, in sixth, was already six seconds behind the leaders while Hamilton was more or less on the same pace as the Ferraris. The champion initially fell back from the BMWs but then started to rein in Heidfeld.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber entered the pits and was pushed into the garage after 10 laps.
By lap 12 Alonso was attacking Heidfeld and Raikkonen was posting faster times than Massa but the Brazilian later replied in kind. Hamilton continued to keep up but further back Heidfeld appeared to be holding Alonso back (and ruining his race) with the gap from the leading trio growing.
Kubica (BMW) went in for his first pit stop from fourth on lap 13 and Heidfeld on lap 18, giving Alonso some clean air at last. Alonso went in a lap later and emerged in front of both BMWs.
Raikkonen went in on lap 18 as Massa set a fastest lap before going in a lap later, momentarily giving the lead to Hamilton but after the stops Massa remained in the lead followed by Raikkonen, Hamilton and Alonso now 18 seconds behind Massa. The Ferraris remained on the softer compounds and the McLarens on the hards.
The race became processional now, with Massa 2.5 seconds ahead of Raikkonen and Hamilton a further 2.5 seconds behind the Finn and Alonso not making any gains either.
By lap 38 as the second round of pit stops approached the Ferraris closed to under a second of each other. Will Raikkonen overtake Massa in the pits, as his did in France? The Finn came in for his second stop on lap 41 and emerged on the harder tyres behind some traffic. Massa came in a lap later and managed to stay ahead, with a backmarker between him and Raikkonen.
Disaster struck third placed Lewis Hamilton on lap 43 when his front right tyre collapsed, apparently after a lock-up and he proceeded slowly to the pits for a quick stop emerging fifth behind Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso and Heidfeld. Hamilton’s laps were slow however, his front wing had been damaged and Heikki Kovalainen (Renault) started catching up, egged on by his engineer on radio. Hamilton however upped his pace and retained fifth.
Massa won the race 2.2 seconds ahead of Raikkonen, who set the fastest lap, with Alonso third, Heidfeld fourth and Hamilton fifth, followed by Kovalainen, Rosberg (Williams), Kubica and Fisichella.