The 2008 Bahrain GP Review

With Felipe Massa mounting another victorious comeback after a run of errors, BMW and Robert Kubica taking another step closer to victory, and McLaren stumbling in dramatic fashion, the Bahrain Grand Prix provided just enough story lines to distract from the furore over the FIA president's alleged Saturnalian pursuits.

While the paddock talked of little but scandal, Massa took charge of proceedings early in Friday practice and never really relinquished his grip on the race weekend. Just as he had a year ago, the Brazilian shook off the doubts that had crept in after his poor start to the year and proved that when on form he is capable of utterly dominating a Grand Prix and outshining his world champion teammate.

The winner admitted that he desperately needed this result after his scruffy start to 2008, and that thoughts of his Sepang spin had haunted him for much of the distance.

"For sure I have not had very easy weeks, but that's life," Massa said. "It's not the first time and it won't be the last.

"The race was pretty difficult because I didn't want to make any mistakes. I didn't push as much - just tried to bring the car home and control the pace. I had a lot of time to think about what happened in the last race, but now it's in the past."

The result hasn't quite relaunched Massa's title bid - championship leader Kimi Raikkonen is still nine points in front - but it has restored his confidence and given him some momentum. Raikkonen was underwhelmed by second place, but given his discontent with his car's set-up all weekend, it was a fine damage limitation run that could prove critical in the title fight.

The question now is whether that title fight will be against McLaren or BMW. Despite McLaren's outward calm, alarm bells must be ringing in the Technology Centre after a second consecutive race in which they were the third-fastest team and suffered various disasters.

Ferrari certainly aren't ruling their arch-rivals out, though.

"The others will not sleep," said team boss Stefano Domenicali. "I'm expecting McLaren to be back again and up to standard in Barcelona, so what we have to do is work very hard and keep the feet on the ground."

For now it's BMW who lead the constructors' standings by a point over Ferrari - and while their aim for this year remains a few race wins rather than a title challenge, the squad's ever-improving performances are raising expectations with every event. Kubica's celebrations over third place couldn't quite hide his annoyance at losing second to Raikkonen.

"It's very good to be on the podium for a second time in a row but I think without the problems on the second lap we would maybe have been able to fight with Kimi," said the Pole, who is starting to emerge as his team's leading light, albeit only narrowly over Nick Heidfeld.

"If there is the opportunity we will fight for the championship, but our goal is to win races and make consistent progress. But it's also true that most probably if I had finished the race in Australia I would be right there on top (of the points)..."

It's worth noting that BMW are the only team to take a podium in every race this year. They may still be the underdogs in the top three battle, but not for long. McLaren will just hope that BMW's rise does not come at their expense.

Practice

Practice one - Friday am

After dawdling in the pits while the midfielders cleaned the dusty track, Ferrari quickly stamped their authority on the Sakhir weekend in first practice.

And it was the under-pressure Felipe Massa rather than dominant Sepang winner Kimi Raikkonen who ended the morning on top. The Brazilian's 1:32.233 lap beat Raikkonen by 0.117 seconds, as the Finn had to abandon his first run after going off the road at the final corner.

Unusually most of the quick times were set in the opening 40 minutes, before the main contenders settled into long runs. The only late change near the top came when Williams' Nico Rosberg shot up to third, ahead of the McLarens, in the final few minutes. His teammate Kazuki Nakajima was a similarly eye-catching sixth.

Practice two - Friday pm

Massa took charge of second practice even more emphatically, swapping the top spot with Raikkonen a few times before throwing in a late 1:31.420 to ensure he ended the day a commanding 0.9 seconds in front.

While Massa was lighting up the timesheets, Hamilton was climbing from a very broken McLaren, having slammed sideways into the barriers after a high-speed spin exiting Turn 7.

"I was just pushing and sometimes these things happen," said Hamilton, who was still classified fourth behind teammate Heikki Kovalainen. "I am absolutely fine, and hopefully the damage to the car is not too bad..."

Unfortunately for McLaren, it was bad enough to require a late night building up Hamilton's spare chassis for the rest of the weekend.

The other notable incident of the session was far less damaging, as a moment of confusion between Fernando Alonso and Adrian Sutil at Turn 1 saw light contact and a synchronised spin.

Robert Kubica ended the day fifth for BMW - 12 places and 1.2 seconds ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld, who was having issues with single-lap speed.

Practice three - Saturday am

Rosberg continued his fine form by going quickest in final practice, but until the late mass switch to soft tyres and qualifying fuel loads, Massa had been in control once again.

Ferrari played it very cool: only wandering out after 37 minutes had already elapsed, and then immediately taking the top spot with Massa's first flying lap.

A frantic final three minutes of qualifying simulations saw virtually every position change, but when the dust settled, Massa remained second, 0.205 seconds behind Rosberg.

That was significantly better than any of the other title contenders. Raikkonen explored the run-off areas again and was ninth, while Kovalainen and Hamilton were only 10th and 18th as they focused on Q3 strategies.

Red Bull teammates Mark Webber and David Coulthard appeared in third and fifth, split by Toyota's Jarno Trulli.

Qualifying

Part one

Although David Coulthard had been in the top ten throughout practice, he had never been especially happy with his Red Bull's balance - and that proved costly when it counted in qualifying, as two "bad runs" made him the highest profile Q1 departure at Sakhir. A late improvement by Rubens Barrichello pushed Coulthard down to 17th, as he missed the cut by 0.018 seconds.

He was joined near the back by Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel. For the first time this season Vettel found himself trailing new teammate Sebastien Bourdais, as he struggled with his set-up and ended qualifying in 19th, while Bourdais headed for Q2 for the first time.

"We still haven't found the right set-up," Vettel admitted. "It was more a case of the car driving me than me driving the car."

The two Force Indias and the two Super Aguris were also eliminated. Locking brakes caused frustration for Giancarlo Fisichella, who had to abandon his first lap and only managed 18th with his second, but Adrian Sutil felt he had finally made a breakthrough with the team's new car despite being just 20th-fastest.

Takuma Sato caused a brief interruption to the session after running wide at the final corner and spinning back across the track into the pit entry barrier. His Super Aguri only sustained light rear end damage, but a red flag was required while it was collected.

The incident left him last, 1.6 seconds slower than teammate Anthony Davidson in 21st.

Part two

Coulthard's teammate Mark Webber also found himself on the wrong end of a tight qualifying pack in Q2, as he missed out on a top ten place by just 0.009 seconds.

"We weren't quick enough to go through," shrugged Webber, who had briefly reached ninth before Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button pushed him down the order.

Button was one of the stars of Q2, as he earned the recovering Honda team's first top ten appearance of the season. Teammate Rubens Barrichello's last lap was disrupted by a gearbox glitch, and he had to settle for 12th.

Row seven pairing Timo Glock (Toyota) and Nelson Piquet (Renault) both confessed to less-than-perfect laps after failing to match their teammates Jarno Trulli and Alonso's progression through to Q3. Williams also had a car on either side of the cut-off, with Kazuki Nakajima only 16th and 0.8 seconds slower than eighth-placed teammate Nico Rosberg.

Bourdais was relatively satisfied with 15th on his first Q2 appearance, although he admitted that he had hoped he might get as high as 12th.

"Clearly the gap is too big," he said. "We did the best with what we had."

Part three

Felipe Massa's domination of practice had continued through the first two-thirds of qualifying, where he maintained a 0.5-second margin over the rest of the field.

The Brazilian therefore began Q3 as an overwhelming favourite to repeat his 2008 Sakhir pole, but it soon became clear that he wasn't going to have it all his own way. Although he hit the top with his first flying lap, it was only 0.011 seconds faster than BMW's Robert Kubica.

Both were then beaten by Lewis Hamilton, as McLaren found the pace they had so far lacked. His 1:33.292 effort put him 0.047 seconds ahead of Massa, but with the Brazilian and Kubica still on flying laps, Hamilton's time in front was short-lived.

Kubica thought he had blown it when he flat-spotted a tyre at Turn 9, but he managed to keep his momentum and grab provisional pole with a 1:33.096.

Moments later, Massa crossed the line with a time 0.027 seconds slower, allowing Kubica to claim his, BMW Sauber's and Poland's first ever F1 pole position.

He kept his celebrations characteristically under control - casually summarising his pole lap as "quite good" - but was pleased to have atoned for the error that cost him a similar result in Melbourne qualifying.

He was also realistic, but not pessimistic, about his race prospects: "I think Ferrari was clearly the fastest but in the race anything can happen."

Massa was frustrated to be second, blaming traffic for interrupting his hitherto flawless weekend.

"I did incredible laps during the whole weekend and the car was just perfect all the time, and Q3 was the only time that I was behind cars all the time," he said.

Despite missing the front row again, McLaren were not unhappy with third and fifth for Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen after trailing Ferrari in practice.

"I think inevitably if it was a perfect lap, we probably could have had pole but I think we have a good strategy and tomorrow will be quite interesting," said Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen was less content after ending up fourth.

"The balance of the car was not perfect right from this morning and I struggled a bit to be as quick as I would have liked to be and could have been," he said.

"I think that tomorrow in the race, when points are up for grabs, I will be very strong. I think we might have made different choices in terms of strategy."

While one BMW claimed pole, the other had to settle for sixth, as Nick Heidfeld continued to struggle slightly.

"I'm quite happy with my position, especially after the trouble that I had this weekend," he said. "It was nothing serious on the car, I just didn't get it right over one lap."

Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg continued their sparkling weekends by filling the fourth row, just 0.021 seconds apart and both within one second of pole.

"We are exactly where we want to be," said Trulli, who had been second in Q1, while Rosberg was delighted to be back on the pace after Williams' Sepang tribulations.

Button and Alonso completed the top ten. For Honda, the Briton's ninth was another reassuring sign that they were climbing back towards respectability. Alonso was relieved to reach Q3, having been pessimistic about his chances after some poor practice times, but 10th place in a car no heavier than the rest of the Q3 participants was less than ideal.

Qualifying results

Pos  Driver       Team                 Q1        Q2        Q3       Laps
 1.  Kubica       BMW Sauber           1:32.893  1:31.745  1:33.096  12
 2.  Massa        Ferrari              1:31.937  1:31.188  1:33.123  12
 3.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     1:32.750  1:31.922  1:33.292  13
 4.  Raikkonen    Ferrari              1:32.652  1:31.933  1:33.418  12
 5.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes     1:33.057  1:31.718  1:33.488  12
 6.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber           1:33.137  1:31.909  1:33.737  15
 7.  Trulli       Toyota               1:32.493  1:32.159  1:33.994  19
 8.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota      1:32.903  1:32.185  1:34.015  22
 9.  Button       Honda                1:32.793  1:32.362  1:35.057  17
10.  Alonso       Renault              1:32.947  1:32.345  1:35.115  17
11.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault     1:33.194  1:32.371            12
12.  Barrichello  Honda                1:32.944  1:32.508            12
13.  Glock        Toyota               1:32.800  1:32.528            15
14.  Piquet       Renault              1:32.975  1:32.790            15
15.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:33.415  1:32.915            15
16.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota      1:33.386  1:32.943            15
17.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Renault     1:33.433                       7
18.  Fisichella   Force India-Ferrari  1:33.501                       5
19.  Vettel       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:33.562                       9
20.  Sutil        Force India-Ferrari  1:33.845                       6
21.  Davidson     Super Aguri-Honda    1:34.140                       9
22.  Sato         Super Aguri-Honda    1:35.725                       5

The Race

It took less than one second for Felipe Massa to get over the minor irritation of losing pole position and resume his domination of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.

As pole-sitter Robert Kubica floundered with wheelspin, Massa's Ferrari flew straight past the BMW and into the lead.

But while Kubica's getaway had been slow, it was lightning compared to third-place qualifier Lewis Hamilton's, as the McLaren crawled away from the grid and fell to 10th place.

"I didn't hit the switch early enough and therefore had not engaged the correct engine setting, and the anti-stall kicked in," Hamilton explained.

His teammate Heikki Kovalainen had swerved around him off the line and arrived at Turn 1 wheel to wheel with Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari, taking the place on the outside. But his advantage would be short-lived, as Kovalainen ran wide at Turn 4 and allowed his compatriot to slip back past again. Kovalainen then gave himself a further headache by locking up at Turn 8, flat-spotting a tyre in the process.

"It vibrated so much that I was worried something would fall off the car," said the Finn.

He could not keep up with the top three and soon came under pressure from slow-starter Nick Heidfeld, who had already passed Jarno Trulli's Toyota for fifth. The BMW then moved up to fourth when the struggling Kovalainen ran wide again on lap three.

By that time Hamilton's recovery drive had gone thoroughly awry. As he tried to line up a move on ninth-placed Fernando Alonso, he ran into the back of the Renault on the exit of the first complex, pitching the front of the McLaren into the air and swiping off its front wing.

Given that the tangle had occurred under acceleration - and with the paddock all-too-aware of Alonso and Hamilton's chequered history - there were immediately suspicions that Alonso had abruptly slowed to trap Hamilton. But both parties dismissed this.

"I was behind him, and I moved to the right, and he moved to the right and that was it - a racing incident I guess," said Hamilton.

"I think we were running too close and maybe he didn't realise how close we were," reckoned Alonso. "(The brake test rumour) is totally rubbish."

Ron Dennis also absolved Alonso of blame, describing the clash as "a rare mistake" on his own driver's part, while Renault's Pat Symonds suggested that the incident was more an indication of Renault's very poor corner exit speed than any form of foul play.

By the time Hamilton had pitted for a new front wing, he was a minute behind the leaders and down in 18th place - only saved from tumbling right back to last because several other drivers had already hit trouble, and each other, on a bruising opening lap.

A mass outbreak of wheel-banging saw Sebastian Vettel parking his wounded Toro Rosso, and David Coulthard (Red Bull), Jenson Button (Honda) and Adrian Sutil (Force India) all crawling back to the pits with punctures, wing damage or both.

The first lap also saw a significant amount of oil dropped throughout the middle sector by an unknown car. This sent both Kazuki Nakajima, who had already fallen back with a start little better than Hamilton's, and Nelson Piquet into spins, and also hampered the leaders.

Massa and Kubica both ran wide on the slippery track, but while the Ferrari continued unabated, Kubica assumed he had picked up a puncture having hit debris at Turn 1 moments earlier. Only when he reached the oil-free final corner did he realise the truth, and by that time Raikkonen was already lining up a pass.

"Honestly I didn't have a clue about the oil," Kubica said. "I was 100 per cent sure I had punctured a tyre on the debris."

He determinedly defended the inside line at Turn 1, but Raikkonen had the momentum on the outside, and after some very close racing through the first few corners, Kubica had to relinquish second place.

The Pole wasn't going to let Ferrari run away with this race, though. Massa quickly established a four-second advantage, but Raikkonen and Kubica - running one to two seconds apart - stabilised that gap, the top three turning very similar lap times throughout the first stint.

Kubica was the lightest, pitting on lap 17, while the Ferraris stayed out three (Raikkonen) and four (Massa) laps longer. BMW opted for a much longer middle stint, fuelling Kubica for 24 laps while the Ferraris took on fuel for 18 laps apiece. This strategy might have paid off for Kubica had he not rejoined right behind Timo Glock's late-stopping Toyota, which did not pit until lap 24. In any case, graining and heavy tyre degradation took the edge off Kubica's speed even in clear air.

That left Raikkonen as the only realistic challenge to Massa's authority, and the champion certainly kept his teammate on his toes in the mid-stages - trimming the gap to three seconds with a string of new fastest laps. But still uncomfortable with his set-up and aware that Massa would have the later final stop, Raikkonen held out little hope of vaulting his teammate in the pits for a second consecutive race.

"Of course you always try to overtake but when you stop first there's a very small chance," he said. "I was just pushing as normal and tried to get close to him."

Massa had the situation under control.

"Kimi was behind but I could manage to keep the gap to him and the strategy was perfect," he said.

When Raikkonen rejoined amid traffic after his final stop, the race was settled firmly in Massa's favour. Kubica's later second pit visit brought him back within range of Raikkonen, but the Finn did just enough to maintain a safe gap over the BMW.

As the Ferrari duo went into car preservation mode in the closing laps, the gaps withered until only four seconds covered the top three as they crossed the line. But despite BMW's superb progress, this was a slightly deceptive reflection of a race that Massa never really looked like losing.

"I didn't push completely to the limit because I could see the gaps increasing," he said. "During the race I was able to save the car a lot. It was responding fantastically."

His joy at this vindicatory victory was in notable contrast to Raikkonen and Kubica's resigned demeanours. Although neither man is renowned for their expressive podium nature, it was clear that Raikkonen's satisfaction at taking the points lead was tempered by irritation at Massa's weekend-long speed advantage, while Kubica was simultaneously delighted to take another podium and slightly irked that he wasn't one - or two - steps higher.

If anything his teammate Heidfeld was more satisfied with fourth place. A very late second stop allowed the German to lead four laps and close in on Kubica by the finish.

"I'm much happier than I was yesterday," said Heidfeld. "Finishing the race just one position behind my teammate, who started from pole while I was sixth, is a good result."

He had a comfortable margin over Kovalainen, whose understeering McLaren only came alive in its ten-lap final stint on the harder tyre. The Finn even managed to set fastest lap - although this was too little, too late with the Ferraris already half a minute ahead.

For the second race running, Trulli was 'best of the rest' behind the top three teams and spent the middle of the race on a McLaren's tail. The Toyota driver couldn't separate Kovalainen from fifth, but was still delighted with sixth.

He had little trouble escaping from the chasing Nico Rosberg early on, and the Williams driver then lost a place to Mark Webber's Red Bull in the first stops. Webber was relatively satisfied with seventh from 11th on the grid, but Rosberg had hoped for more than eighth place.

"We should have done better," said Rosberg, who felt a change of wind direction since Williams' superb Friday showing had proved costly.

Glock's long first stint allowed him to run as high as third, although he had to settle for ninth in the end. He had been frustrated behind Alonso's Renault early on, then came back under pressure from the ex-world champion as his gearbox wilted later. But by the closing laps Alonso was busy resisting the fast-closing Rubens Barrichello's Honda, so Glock had a quiet run to the flag.

Although Alonso's car was missing a chunk of rear wing after his incident with Hamilton, the Spaniard reckoned this was fairly inconsequential.

"The car was quite bad yesterday and it was quite bad today," he shrugged.

Barrichello had spent the opening stint behind Giancarlo Fisichella, who enjoyed a very promising run to 12th for Force India. He couldn't quite keep up with Barrichello after being passed by the Honda in the pits, but had no trouble staying ahead of the rest of the pack once the chasing Piquet had pulled out with gearbox failure.

Hamilton's early flight had damaged much more than the front wing, so he endured a fruitless, off the pace, run to 13th, passing Nakajima's Williams in the closing laps.

Sebastien Bourdais was a bored 15th after a very uneventful race for Toro Rosso, with Super Aguri achieving another double finish in 16th and 17th. They ran nose to tail for much of the distance, until a poor second stop for Takuma Sato allowed Anthony Davidson to get ahead and get away.

Button briefly held fastest lap as he attempted to charge back through the field, but his recovery drive ended with a dramatic tangle with Coulthard - the Honda clambering over the Red Bull at the hairpin. Button had to retire, but Coulthard dragged his Red Bull back on track and beat Sutil to 18th.

Race results

57 laps; 308.238km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  1h31:06.970
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +     3.339
 3.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +     4.998
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +     8.409
 5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    26.789
 6.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +    41.314
 7.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    45.473
 8.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    55.889
 9.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +  1:09.500
10.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +  1:17.181
11.  Barrichello   Honda                 (B)  +  1:17.862
12.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +     1 lap
15.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda     (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda     (B)  +     1 lap
18.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     1 lap
19.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Kovalainen, 1:33.193

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Piquet        Renault               (B)    42
Button        Honda                 (B)    20
Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 3:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Raikkonen     19        1.  BMW Sauber             30
 2.  Heidfeld      16        2.  Ferrari                29
 3.  Hamilton      14        3.  McLaren-Mercedes       28
 4.  Kovalainen    14        4.  Williams-Toyota        10
 5.  Kubica        14        5.  Toyota                  8
 6.  Massa         10        6.  Renault                 6
 7.  Trulli         8        7.  Red Bull-Renault        4
 8.  Rosberg        7        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      2
 9.  Alonso         6
10.  Webber         4
11.  Nakajima       3
12.  Bourdais       2

Team-by-Team

FERRARI

Massa dominates most of the weekend, while Raikkonen struggles to get his set-up working consistently. Being beaten to the fastest time in final practice and losing pole to Kubica are Massa's only slight blips, as he takes the lead at the start and controls the race throughout.

Raikkonen is a frustrated fourth on the grid, but passes Kovalainen and Kubica early on. He closes on Massa at half-distance but has to settle for second and the championship lead.

BMW SAUBER

A breakthrough weekend sees Kubica taking his and the team's first pole after a thrilling battle with Massa. The Ferrari jumps him at the start, and he then loses out to Raikkonen after mistaking the substantial sector two oil slick for a puncture. But once back up to speed, Kubica keeps the Ferraris under pressure, only dropping back temporarily with tyre issues in the middle stint.

Heidfeld struggles for single lap pace throughout practice and is only sixth on the grid. He's much happier on race day, though, and early moves on Trulli and Kovalainen establish him in fourth. A long middle stint puts him in the lead for a while, and he eventually finishes fourth, close behind Kubica.

RENAULT

More frustration for Alonso, who is off the pace in practice and surprised to find himself as high as 10th on the grid. That's also his finishing position, as he loses out to Webber at the start and Glock in the pits, before fending off Barrichello to the flag. He also survives being mounted by Hamilton's McLaren on the second lap, escaping with only minor wing damage.

Piquet is close to Alonso in practice again but only 14th on the grid. He makes a good start, then loses places with a spin on the dropped oil before retiring with gearbox failure while chasing Fisichella for 12th.

Rosberg and Nakajima both fly in practice, with the German third on Friday morning and fastest of all in the third session. He's relatively satisfied with eighth on the grid, especially after his Sepang disaster, while Nakajima under-performs and is only 16th.

Race day is a comparative let-down, as Rosberg cannot match nearest rivals Trulli and Webber and comes home a frustrated eighth. Nakajima's anti-stall system contributes to a very slow start, and he then has an early spin on oil before using his one-stop strategy to come back through to 14th, being passed by Hamilton in the final moments.

The drivers believe top ten practice times could be a little misleading, and sure enough Webber and Coulthard manage only 11th and 17th on the grid respectively - both missing qualifying cut-offs by tiny margins.

Coulthard picks up a puncture in the first lap shoving then tangles with Button later on. Somehow he still reaches the finish in 18th. Webber has a much better race, gaining several places at the start and then beating Rosberg to seventh.

Another fine weekend for Trulli, who is second in Q1 and seventh on the final grid. He jumps to fifth at the start and only loses out to Heidfeld as the race progresses. The Italian even gets to put Kovalainen's McLaren under pressure again on the way to sixth, comfortably ahead of his upper midfield rivals.

Glock is a disappointed 13th on the grid but runs as high as third with a very heavy initial fuel load. He reaches the chequered flag for the first time this season in a promising ninth place, despite some gearbox issues.

A low-key midfield weekend for a team now eager to get their hands on a 2008 chassis. Bourdais has the edge on Vettel for the first time and qualifies and finishes 15th after an uninspiring race. Vettel is never happy with his set-up, starts 19th and retires on lap one with damage from first corner contact.

Button gets the team into the top ten in qualifying for the first time in 2008, only to sustain damage at the first corner. He rejoins after repairs but retires in a spectacular tangle with Coulthard.

A slight gearbox glitch in Q2 leaves Barrichello 12th on the grid. He loses a little ground at the start, then passes Fisichella in the pits before closing on 10th-placed Alonso. He finishes 11th.

Davidson out-qualifies Sato for the first time in 2008 after the Japanese driver spins into the barriers in Q1. They share the back row again, though.

Both get through the first lap chaos intact and make up several places, before being edged back as others recover. Sato narrowly leads Davidson until a poor second stop for the former swaps the order around. They finish 16th and 17th, collecting valuable data again but not showing the speed team boss Aguri Suzuki desired.

Q2 remains elusive for Force India, with locking brakes consigning Fisichella to 18th on the grid and Sutil only 20th - although the German feels he's made a breakthrough with the set-up after a poor start to 2008.

He sustains damage on the opening lap then incurs a further delay by making an unscheduled pit stop, finishing 19th and last.

But Fisichella has a much better race - progressing to 12th and only losing 11th to Barrichello's Honda in the pits.

Worrying times for McLaren, with Hamilton and Kovalainen not on Ferrari's pace in practice again and the former destroying his intended race chassis with a Friday afternoon crash.

Hamilton rebounds to qualify third, two places clear of Kovalainen. But a start procedure error sees Hamilton lose seven places off the line, and he then clips Alonso while trying to recover. Replacing the front wing only fixes some of the damage, and he trundles home 13th, losing the points lead in the process.

Kovalainen briefly holds third on the first lap before losing out to Raikkonen and Heidfeld. He drops back with a flat-spotted tyre early on and consigns himself to a distant fifth place, with fastest race lap only a little consolation.

Lap-by-Lap

Lap 1: On pole position for the first time in Formula One, Robert Kubica is beaten to Turn One by fellow front-row starter Felipe Massa.

The field rounds the opening turn © Reuters

Lewis Hamilton briefly stalls in third place and is subsequently swamped. Kimi Raikkonen grabs third from Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno Trulli, Nick Heidfeld, Nico Rosberg, Fernando Alonso, Hamilton, Mark Webber, Nelson Piquet, Timo Glock, Rubens Barrichello, Giancarlo Fisichella, Sébastien Bourdais, Takuma Sato, David Coulthard, Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davidson. Sebastian Vettel pulls off to retire.

Jenson Button and Adrian Sutil pit for repairs after first-lap knocks.

Lap 2: Hamilton runs into Alonso and loses his nose. He pits at the end of the lap. Heidfeld passes Trulli. Piquet spins and drops from 11th to 16th. Coulthard pits for repairs.

Lap 3: Raikkonen passes Kubica. Heidfeld passes Kovalainen. Piquet repasses both Super Aguris.

Lap 5: Kubica sets fastest lap: 1:36.186. Nakajima passes Davidson.

Lap 6: Raikkonen posts a 1:35.393. He trails by 3.5 seconds.

Lap 7: Massa responds: 1:34.643. He leads by 4.3 seconds. Nakajima passes Sato.

Lap 10: Massa leads by 4.4 seconds. Kubica is 1.5 seconds adrift of Raikkonen, with Heidfeld a further 3.4 seconds back in fourth.

Lap 11: Piquet passes Bourdais for 13th.

Lap 12: Massa laps in 1:34.593.

Nelsinho Piquet spins his Renault © XPB/LAT

Lap 14: Raikkonen posts a 1:34.322.

Lap 15: The Finn ups his pace again: 1:34.281. He still trails Massa by 4.5 seconds, though.

Lap 17: Fastest lap to Raikkonen: 1:34.224. Kubica, Rosberg and Piquet pit.

Lap 18: Kubica runs wide at Turn 11 shortly after rejoining. Coulthard and Button collide at Turn Eight. Button pits for repairs.

Lap 19: Button pits to retire.

Lap 20: Raikkonen, Trulli and Alonso pit. Massa posts a 1:34.178.

Lap 23: Massa, Heidfeld and Kovalainen pit.

Lap 22: Webber, Fisichella and Barrichello pit. Hamilton passes Davidson.

Lap 23: Massa leads Raikkonen by 5.4 seconds. Bourdais pits.

Lap 24: Glock and Davidson pit. Hamilton passes Sato.

Lap 25: Sato pits.

Felipe Massa was never challenged for the lead © LAT

Lap 26: Sutil pits.

Lap 28: Approaching half-distance, Massa leads Raikkonen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Trulli, Webber, Rosberg, Glock, Alonso, Nakajima (yet to stop), Barrichello, Fisichella, Hamilton, Piquet and Bourdais. Sato, Davidson, Coulthard and Sutil are lapped.

Lap 31: Raikkonen laps in 1:34.068 to reduce his deficit to 4.0 seconds. Hamilton passes Fisichella - but then pits at the end of the lap.

Lap 32: Massa laps in 1:34.096, Raikkonen in 1:34.062. Nakajima pits.

Lap 34: Massa posts a best-yet: 1:33.852.

Lap 35: Raikkonen responds: 1:33.709. The gap is 3.6 seconds. Piquet pits.

Lap 37: Alonso pits. Piquet runs wide at Turn Six and drops to 18th. Sutil pits.

Lap 38: Massa laps in 1:33.600. Raikkonen and Bourdais pit.

Lap 38: Massa pits. Coulthard passes Piquet.

Lap 40: Rosberg, Coulthard and Piquet pit. The Brazilian retires.

Lap 41: Kubica pits.

Lap 42: Webber and Fisichella pit.

Lewis Hamilton overtakes the Force India of Giancarlo Fisichella © XPB/LAT

Lap 43: Trulli and Davidson pit.

Lap 44: Glock and Sato pit.

Lap 45: Heidfeld pits. Massa leads again.

Lap 47: Kovalainen pits.

Lap 48: Fastest lap to Heidfeld: 1:33.565.

Lap 49: Kovalainen beats that: 1:33.193.

Lap 53: Hamilton passes Nakajima for 13th.

Lap 57: Massa scores his first victory - and, indeed, points - of the season. He wins by 3.3 seconds from Raikkonen. Kubica is third ahead of Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Trulli, Webber and Rosberg.