Massa leads Ferrari 1-2 in Turkey

Hamilton had been on course for third, close behind the Ferraris, until his right-front tyre failed shortly before his second pitstop.

The consequent delay dropped him behind his McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso - who had lost ground with a poor start - and BMW's Nick Heidfeld.

Neither McLaren got away well at the start of the race, with Hamilton immediately losing second to Raikkonen and Alonso dropping to sixth behind the two BMWs.

Although the world champion managed to re-pass both Robert Kubica and Heidfeld during the first pit sequence, Alonso had already fallen 14 seconds adrift of the leaders by this time.

He proceeded to match Hamilton's pace, but could not gain any ground and would not have bettered fourth place if his teammate's race had run trouble-free.

The Ferraris ran in very close company throughout the race, with Raikkonen often appearing to have more pace than Massa. But the Finn stopped one lap earlier at each pit top, and the additional lap on low fuel made all the difference, as Massa managed to stay ahead of Raikkonen at both stops.

The closest they came to a change of position was when Massa locked up and ran wide into the final complex as Raikkonen put him under heavy pressure just before the final stops, but the Brazilian was able to regain his momentum before Raikkonen could pounce.

Having emerged behind Massa again after his last stop, Raikkonen then backed off in the closing stages, before proving a point by setting the fastest lap with two laps to go. It was to no avail, as Massa repeated his 2006 Istanbul victory with a 2.2 second winning margin.

Hamilton closed in on the Ferraris by running longer in his first stint, and was set to do likewise at the second stops. But the puncture cost him two places, and with the flailing rubber having damaged the McLaren's front wing, all Hamilton could do was nurse the car home in fifth behind Alonso and Heidfeld.

The result brings Alonso to within five points of Hamilton in the standings, with Massa still 15 points behind.

Renault's Heikki Kovalainen drove a strong race to sixth place, and even led briefly thanks to a late first pitstop. He closed in on Hamilton in the final laps, but could not get near enough to try a pass.

Kubica's strategy of making early pitstops cost the BMW driver dear, as he fell behind Alonso, Heidfeld and Kovalainen in the first sequence, and then lost out to Williams' Nico Rosberg at the final stops. He chased the Williams to the flag, but Rosberg managed to fend him off and secure seventh.

Giancarlo Fisichella tapped Jarno Trulli into a spin at the first corner of the race and then lost time avoiding the rotating Toyota. He recovered to ninth, ahead of David Coulthard. Mark Webber was running in company with his Red Bull teammate early on, before suffering another hydraulic failure.

The delayed Trulli could only make it back up to 16th, while his teammate Ralf Schumacher came through from 17th on the grid to 12th, behind Alex Wurz.

Jenson Button made better progress than his Honda teammate and back row partner Rubens Barrichello, as they finished 13th and 16th respectively, split by Vitantonio Liuzzi and Anthony Davidson.

Liuzzi had run as high as ninth after a fine start and by avoiding the first corner incident but later fell back, while Davidson lost ground off the line and could not turn his superb qualifying result into a top ten finish.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Turkish Grand Prix
Istanbul, Turkey;
58 laps; 309.396km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1h26:42.161
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  +     2.275
 3.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +    26.181
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  +    39.674
 5.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +    45.085
 6.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  +    46.169
 7.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  +    55.778
 8.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  +    56.707
 9.  Fisichella    Renault              (B)  +    59.491
10.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  +  1:11.009
11.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota      (B)  +  1:19.628
12.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Button        Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     1 lap
15.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
18.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     1 lap
19.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
20.  Yamamoto      Spyker-Ferrari       (B)  +    2 laps
21.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari       (B)  +    4 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:27.295

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)    10


World Championship standings, round 12:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Hamilton      84        1.  McLaren-Mercedes     148
 2.  Alonso        79        2.  Ferrari              137
 3.  Massa         69        3.  BMW Sauber            77
 4.  Raikkonen     68        4.  Renault               36
 5.  Heidfeld      47        5.  Williams-Toyota       22
 6.  Kubica        29        6.  Red Bull-Renault      16
 7.  Kovalainen    19        7.  Toyota                12
 8.  Fisichella    17        8.  Super Aguri-Honda      4
 9.  Wurz          13        9.  Honda                  1
10.  Rosberg        9       
11.  Coulthard      8       
12.  Webber         8       
13.  Trulli         7       
14.  R.Schumacher   5       
15.  Sato           4       
16.  Vettel         1       
17.  Button         1       
       
All timing unofficial