Felipe Massa races to first victory of season in Bahrain
Apr 06, 2008
The third round of the 20078 Formula One World Championship began in earnest at the Grand Prix of Bahrain on Sunday, with the tribulations of qualifying over and just 57 laps of the 5.411 kilometre (3.37 mile) circuit standing between the field and the chequered flag.
BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica began the race on pole for the first time in his career but came under increasing pressure from the start of the race and was soon swamped by the Ferrari of Felipe Massa.
The Brazilian demonstrating the form that saw him dominate the time sheets throughout the weekend and soon stretching out an impressive gap at the head of the pack.
Kubica conceded second place to Kimi Raikkonen on lap three, with the Ferrari 1-2 at the front untroubled for the remainder of the day.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was forced to pay the price for a poor display in qualifying that saw him down the order, with a poor start compounding the Englishman's woes and leaving him languishing in tenth on lap 1.
Hamilton then re-ignited his long running feud with former team-mate Fernando Alonso after running into the back of the Spaniard's Renault soon after.
The 23-year-old was then forced to pit to have a replacement nose-cone fitted and that effectively ended his chances of retaining the championship lead - after a frustrating afternoon in heavy traffic saw him finish in 13th.
'Quick Nick' Heidfeld gave yet further evidence of the rapidly improving pace of the BMW Sauber by setting the fastest lap of the race and hung onto the back of his team-mate to cement fourth place.
McLaren rookie Heikki Kovalainen was unable to effectively reduce the gap to Heidfeld, despite snatching the lap record of the German driver late on, and despite his best efforts unable to produce a sufficient challenge due to the inferior pace of the McLaren machinery.
In the end Massa held on to cross the line with a 3.339 seconds leading margin from team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, with BMW Sauber claiming third and fourth with Kubica and Heidfeld in third and fourth respectively.
Kovalainen was fifth.
Toyota's Jarno Trulli grabbed sixth from Red Bull's Mark Webber and Williams' Nico Rosberg, who completed the points scorers.
The result allowed Raikkonen to move to the top of the points standings with 19 points, ahead of Heidfeld on 16 and Hamilton, Kubica and Kovalainen all on 14.
Massa clearly delighted to receive the kick-start his season so badly required.
Massa's sixth career win and the first of the 2008 season after retirements in the opening two races of the new campaign and finally allowing him into the championship hunt with 10 points.
In the constructors' standings BMW Sauber lead with 30 points, ahead of Ferrari by a single point with Mclaren also a point further back with 28.
Results
1. Felipe Massa, Brazil, Ferrari, 57, 1 hour, 31 minutes, 6.970 seconds, 202.974 kph.
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Ferrari, 57, 1:31:10.309.
3. Robert Kubica, Poland, BMW Sauber, 57, 1:31:11.968.
4. Nick Heidfeld, Germany, BMW Sauber, 57, 1:31:15.379.
5. Heikki Kovalainen, Finland, McLaren, 57, 1:31:33.759.
6. Jarno Trulli, Italy, Toyota, 57, 1:31:48.284.
7. Mark Webber, Australia, Red Bull, 57, 1:31:52.443.
8. Nico Rosberg, Germany, Williams, 57, 1:32:02.859.
9. Timo Glock, Germany, Toyota, 57, 1:32:16.470.
10. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Renault, 57, 1:32:24.151.
11. Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, Honda, 57, 1:32:24.832.
12. Giancarlo Fisichella, Italy, Force India, 56.
13. Lewis Hamilton, Britain, McLaren, 56.
14. Kazuki Nakajima, Japan, Williams, 56.
15. Sebastien Bourdais, France, Toro Rosso, 56.
16. Anthony Davidson, Britain, Super Aguri, 56.
17. Takuma Sato, Japan, Super Aguri, 56.
18. David Coulthard, Britain, Red Bull, 56.
19. Adrian Sutil, Germany, Force India, 55.
Drivers Championship Standings:
1. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Ferrari, 19 points.
2. Nick Heidfeld, Germany, BMW Sauber, 16.
3. Lewis Hamilton, Britain, McLaren, 14.
3. Robert Kubica, Poland, BMW Sauber, 14.
3. Heikki Kovalainen, Finland, McLaren, 14.
6. Felipe Massa, Brazil, Ferrari, 10.
7. Jarno Trulli, Italy, Toyota, 8.
8. Nico Rosberg, Germany, Williams, 7.
9. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Renault, 6.
10. Mark Webber, Australia, Red Bull, 4.
