Formula One news
Massa joins title fight with Bahrain victory
06 April 2008 / Results / PhotosFelipe Massa took a determined and much-needed victory at Bahrain today to kick-start his season ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and the two BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld in a race that had plenty of early action. Raikkonen takes the lead of the drivers' championship after Lewis Hamilton failed to score.
Robert Kubica lined up on pole for the first time ahead of Massa, Hamilton and Raikkonen but the Pole's glory was short-lived as Felipe Massa clean beat him off the line to take the lead in turn one. There was action behind though as Hamilton slipped down to tenth and Kovalainen challenged Kimi Raikkonen for third throughout the first three corners, eventually yielding to the Ferrari.
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As Massa kept his nose clean at the front, Lewis Hamilton found himself behind former team mate Fernando Alonso and clipped the rear of the Renault, destroying his front wing. Hamilton pitted at the end of lap three, rejoining at the back of the field just as Kimi Raikkonen blasted past Robert Kubica in turn one to set up a Ferrari one-two.
As the order shook out on lap 4 Massa led Raikkonen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Trulli, Rosberg, Webbe, Alonso and Glock.
Massa built a four-second lead over Raikkonen during the next 12 laps while Robert Kubica managed to hold on to within 1.5s of the rear of Raikkonen's Ferrari. Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton seemed to be struggling with his McLaren's handling and was not making any progress down in 18th.
Kubica was the first frontrunner to pit on lap 17 and ran wide in turn 11 on his outlap, losing a couple more seconds. As Ferrari continued at the front of the field, at the back, Jenson Button lost control down the inside of the hairpin and slid into the side of David Coulthard, losing his front wing and pushing them both temporarily off track. Button pitted for repairs but eventually retired with too much damage to continue.
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Kimi Raikkonen pitted from second place on lap 20, followed in by team mate and race leader Felipe Massa on the following lap. The pit stops made little difference to the running order with Massa still leading Raikkonen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Trulli, Webber, Rosberg, Glock and Alonso.
Lewis Hamilton made it up to fourteenth as everyone else pitted around him and on lap 31 overtook Fisichella for thirteenth in turn one, only to have to make his second and final stop of the afternoon at the end of that lap.
At the front Kimi Raikkonen found some pace and began to cut down Massa's lead from five seconds on lap 32 to just 3.6s on lap 35. The Finn was first to come in for his second pit stop on lap 38, just as Massa responded with a new fastest lap of the race, pitting on the next lap and comfortably resuming the lead.
Behind Ferrari, the two BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld were sitting pretty in third and fourth with Kubica making his final stop on lap 41 and Heidfeld following in on lap 44.
Massa went on to take a much-needed victory and ten points that puts him right back into the title fight. Kimi Raikkonen settled for second place, not quite having the pace of his team mate on this occasion, but having just enough to finish ahead of the two BMWs of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld.
Heikki Kovalainen ended up fifth for McLaren, taking a mere four points for the team while ahead of another good run for Jarno Trulli taking sixth for Toyota. Mark Webber claimed another two points for Red Bull in seventh ahead of Nico Rosberg, getting Williams back into the points with eighth.
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