The Complete 2006 Turkish GP Review

They said he was too wild, and that he couldn't even drive in a straight line. They said he owed his place in Formula One to nepotism, as he happened to have a well-connected manager (no lesser figure than Nicolas 'son of Jean' Todt). They said he was just keeping the Ferrari seat warm until a more deserving driver was available.

Felipe Massa has had more than his fair share of detractors since arriving in F1 as a virtual unknown in 2002. But having taken his first Grand Prix win in beautifully calm, controlled and commanding style, the Brazilian can feel thoroughly vindicated.

There was some truth among the criticisms. Massa had some distinctly erratic moments in his debut season (his countless spins at a wet Silverstone in 2002 being particularly memorable), and was probably given more second chances than others might have received.

This year hasn't been flawless either - punctuated by blips like the Bahrain spin, the Melbourne first corner mess, the Monaco qualifying crash, and occasional costly slumps during races, notably in France.

But the manner of Massa's first win overshadowed all the past hiccups and reminded everyone that his sheer speed has never been in question.

On this weekend's evidence, Massa looks like the best number two that Michael Schumacher has ever had - fast enough to beat the master on occasion and to step into the breach when Schumacher falters, but also an extremely loyal team player and very aware of the demands of his position.

Logically, Massa should only have been second this weekend, following Schumacher home for another Ferrari one-two. Quite why that didn't happen will leave Schumacher with a furrowed brow from now until Monza.

The seven times world champion had a comfortable margin over the rest of the field in final practice and Q2. He was such a clear favourite for pole and victory that only a wild optimist would have put money on anyone else.

Two small slips cost Schumacher the race, and he can only hope that they don't cost him the title.

Pole would surely have been his had he not run wide at Turn 1 on his first attempt, and then - in response - been too conservative there later in the session.

That would have put him ahead of Massa when the safety car came out, and therefore left his number two to queue and lose places.

Even after this delay, a win was still on the cards until he lost four seconds running off the road at Turn 8 on lap 28. Had Schumacher passed Alonso during the last round of pitstops - and he was only a second behind when he exited the pits - Massa would clearly have pulled aside for him.

But the excursion made the crucial difference between leaving the pits in third behind an obstinate Renault or second behind a compliant teammate. What could have been a six-point gain on Alonso became another two points lost.

This wasn't what Schumacher needed on a weekend when questions about his future started swirling around the paddock with increasing urgency - and meeting an increasingly impatient response from his team and management.

But while Schumacher's right to privacy and space must be respected, so must the effect that his decision will have on all of motorsport.

For over 12 years, F1 has been all about Schumacher. If he wasn't winning, the story was about how or why he was being beaten. Never has one driver held such a stranglehold on the sport for so long. When he stops racing, the face of F1 will change in an instant.

That's why the quizzing has been so incessant, and that's why Ferrari's long-standing promise of an announcement at Monza is so eagerly anticipated.

Would Massa's first win have meant so much had he not beaten such an illustrious team leader?

Would Alonso's second place have been so heroic had he held off anyone other than Schumacher?

And would this year's breathtaking title fight be quite so tense if Schumacher wasn't an integral part of it?

Surely not.

So whatever is announced at Monza (if anything), and whatever happens in 2007, the next four races will be a spectacle to treasure.

Practice

Are BMW Sauber the most astute talent-spotters in the Formula One paddock today? Or do they just run the most aggressive Friday strategy? Or are modern F1 cars so easy to drive that anyone with a few Formula Three miles under their belt can look like the new Schumacher?

Those were the sort of questions being asked after 19-year-old German novice Sebastian Vettel announced his arrival in F1 by putting the third BMW on top of the Friday afternoon timesheets, a tenth faster than Felipe Massa.

In fact, all the signs suggest that F3 Euroseries title contender Vettel is a genuinely hot prospect, as his double win on his World Series by Renault debut in July hinted. Consider also that one of his fingers was all-but-severed in a horrific WSR crash at Spa four weeks ago.

Fast, brave and clearly a quick learner, Vettel's presence in the BMW line-up for at least the forthcoming test and the Monza weekend may cause Nick Heidfeld to glance a little nervously over his shoulder.

The result of first practice had been a surprise, too - with Kimi Raikkonen fastest in a session that McLaren rarely bother participating in.

It was back to business as usual by Saturday morning, when Michael Schumacher unleashed an unnerving sequence of fast laps to lead the crucial final session.

His title rival Fernando Alonso was 0.7 seconds slower in second, but at least looked better than he had on Friday, when Renault took the unusual step of running a heavy fuel in an attempt to provoke tyre graining and test the limits of the Michelins. The state of Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella's rubber at the end of the session indicated that those limits had been discovered and exceeded...

Alonso also managed to get involved in another on-track dispute with Red Bull tester Robert Doornbos, although this time there were no official repercussions after their "chicken game" (Doornbos's assessment) and subsequent clash of wheels at Turn 12.

Hungarian Grand Prix winner Jenson Button underlined Honda's resurgence by running solidly in the top six throughout practice, but teammate Anthony Davidson suffered an engine failure on Friday morning.

As a third driver, Davidson did not receive any form of penalty for this, unlike Ralf Schumacher and Christijan Albers, who both needed new Toyota V8s during practice and would therefore go into qualifying facing 10-place drops - for the third consecutive race in Albers' case.

Practice round up

Sorted by total laps from all three sessions

Qualifying

Part one

Until the final seconds of this segment, it looked like the opening third of Turkish GP qualifying would be fairly routine - with the Midlands, Toro Rossos and Super Aguris all bound for an early exit.

But then Christijan Albers sprang a surprise on his final lap and jumped from 17th to 15th, ensuring that at least one reasonably big name would be eliminated.

Given that Albers's penalty ensured that whoever he bumped out would still start ahead of the Midland, this only had symbolic significance. But that was little comfort to David Coulthard as he ended up 17th, having lost ground on his last lap when Takuma Sato slid off ahead of him at Turn 8.

That incident - and the chassis problem that contributed to it - left Sato last of all, and behind teammate Sakon Yamamoto for the first time. Now all the rookie had to do was complete a racing lap...

Concentrating on race set-up, Tiago Monteiro was only 20th, behind the two disgruntled Toro Rosso drivers - Scott Speed and Tonio Liuzzi struggling for speed on the way to 18th and 19th, despite being positive about their chances after practice.

As expected, the Ferraris led overall, with Felipe Massa marginally quicker than Michael Schumacher.

Part two

It looked like Albers's mild heroics in Q1 had been to little avail, as he finished Q2 16th and preparing to drop to last due to the engine penalty. But Midland were still satisfied, with team boss Colin Kolles highlighting the "minuscule" gap (0.2 seconds) to Nico Rosberg's Williams.

This was less pleasing for Rosberg, who had switched to teammate Mark Webber's set-up on the eve of qualifying and lagged seven-tenths behind the Australian, who had cruised through to Q3.

Williams weren't the only team to see large gaps between their drivers. Troubled by poor balance, 14th placed Rubens Barrichello was a worrying 1.4 seconds away from Jenson Button. Ralf Schumacher was 0.9 seconds faster than Jarno Trulli (13th), and Kimi Raikkonen beat Pedro de la Rosa (12th) by 0.6 seconds, although Trulli and de la Rosa felt that their strategy choices - particularly their tyre options - had played a role.

Eager to advertise his abilities to potential 2007 employers, Christian Klien briefly nosed into the top ten until Robert Kubica's late improvement pushed him back to 11th. The Austrian was still very pleased with a sixth row spot, though.

The real interest in Q2 was the quite staggering display that Schumacher produced to top the times - his 1:25.850 lap an incredible 1.022 seconds quicker than nearest 'challenger' Button.

Part three

Given his commanding form in every preceding session, Schumacher should have been a very, very safe bet for pole position.

But instead it was his understudy Massa who knocked Giancarlo Fisichella off provisional pole with four minutes to go, while Schumacher had to abandon his first flying lap having run wide at Turn 1 - an error that he had also made during the fuel burning period.

Schumacher did grab the spot with his second attempt, beating Massa by 0.023 seconds, but this proved insufficient when the Brazilian found three-tenths on his own final lap and deposed the seven-time champion.

"It's a fantastic moment for me and it's much more important than all the others will be, because when you get your first pole you feel it much more," said Massa. "It's quite a surprise, so I'm really, really happy."

Unlike his slightly muted team leader...

"I had a good car and for whatever reason, I couldn't really translate all of our performance," said Schumacher. "I took it a bit cautiously as I had to abort the first run. I wanted to make sure I got a reasonable lap in.

"If I could have made up the three tenths Felipe made? I'm not sure, honestly."

Third place changed hands three times in a few seconds as drivers completed their final flying laps, with first Kimi Raikkonen, then Ralf Schumacher holding the place before Fernando Alonso rebounded to grab the crucial spot on Ferrari's tail - which Renault admitted was as much as they could hope for at present, at least in qualifying.

Fisichella bumped Ralf Schumacher back to fifth a few seconds later, although this would become 15th after the Toyota's engine penalty.

BMW were thrilled with Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica's sixth and ninth places, while the other top ten occupants were relatively nonplussed with their positions, as Button, Raikkonen and Webber took seventh, eighth and 10th respectively.

Qualifying results

The Race

"We know overtaking these days in Formula One is probably just pitstops and the start, so if you have a chance it's not good to lose it," mused Fernando Alonso after qualifying.

And given that Alonso's legendarily fast-starting Renault was on the clean side of the track while title rival Michael Schumacher's second place put him off the racing line, the start was a golden opportunity for the points leader to take control of his own destiny.

Sure enough, Alonso surged alongside and slightly ahead of Schumacher as the lights went out, despite the Ferrari immediately sweeping left to try and cover the gap.

For a brief moment Alonso found himself between the two Ferraris as they began to pincer together under braking. Realising that this was an unwise place to be, he backed out and conceded second to Schumacher.

But as Alonso did so, his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella had to brake sharper than he planned to avoid ploughing into his sister car. The number two Renault's rear brakes locked, sending it spinning into Nick Heidfeld's path and leaving both cars with broken front wings.

Behind, two separate accidents were already unfolding. Kimi Raikkonen's start had been rather middling, with Robert Kubica and Mark Webber attacking him from both sides and the Williams ending up on the grass as Raikkonen gave Kubica room without seeing Webber.

Raikkonen's headaches continued at Turn 1, where Christian Klien dived up the inside with his front wheels locked. The Finn escaped that near-miss too, only for the similarly late-braking Scott Speed to spear into the back of the McLaren a few moments later. The Toro Rosso spun to a halt, as did Raikkonen when his damaged rear tyre gave way at the bottom of the hill.

While simultaneously avoiding all this and recovering from a close call with Rubens Barrichello, Jarno Trulli slewed across the front of teammate Ralf Schumacher, breaking the latter's wing and tagging Trulli into a slide which was only arrested when he made contact with Takuma Sato. That sent the Super Aguri into Tiago Monteiro's Midland, causing heavy damage to both, while Trulli - ironically - continued completely unharmed...

So at the end of the first lap Ralf Schumacher, Fisichella, Heidfeld, Speed, Raikkonen and Sato were all crawling to the pits in various states of disrepair, while Monteiro's mangled Midland was abandoned at Turn 1.

With several drivers having to take to the run-off to avoid the miscellaneous spinners, the order behind Massa, Schumacher and Alonso was thoroughly shuffled.

Webber had grabbed fourth while Jenson Button was driving around a broadside Renault, while Nico Rosberg made amazing progress to move from 14th to seventh - a leap surpassed only by Vitantonio Liuzzi's move from 17th to eighth.

Robert Kubica, Klien, Pedro de la Rosa, David Coulthard, Sakon Yamamoto, Trulli and Christijan Albers completed the intact runners.

At first, Massa simply cleared off into the distance, leading Schumacher by 3.6 seconds after seven laps.

Alonso had tagged on to Schumacher initially, only to lose three seconds with an error in sector one on lap three, and then struggle with front tyre graining. This left the Renault nearly 10 seconds behind Massa and seemingly out of contention, especially once Schumacher began setting fastest laps and hacking away at his deputy's lead in a charge that would probably have resulted in a change of position, perhaps in a subtle pitstop shuffle.

Then, on lap 12, Liuzzi - who had been rapidly shuffled back to 13th as faster cars recovered - spun and stalled at Turn 1, stopping on the racing line and prompting a safety car.

It was a fairly banal incident, yet it would prove to be one of the pivotal moments of the race, and perhaps the championship.

The majority of the field pitted, but Schumacher had to queue behind Massa for 12 seconds, allowing Alonso to split the Ferraris as they rejoined the track.

Schumacher's pace all weekend suggested that Alonso's second place would be short-lived. Yet when racing resumed after a three-lap pause, both Massa and Alonso began to leave Schumacher behind.

Fuel loads played a part - the top two being four laps lighter - but Schumacher was also struggling with blistered rear tyres and a lack of balance in the already infamous Turn 8. A lurid moment at this corner on lap 28 cost Schumacher a further four seconds, although with plenty of run-off to play with he was easily able to rejoin the track.

By lap 35, Massa led Alonso by 7.6 seconds and Schumacher by 15.8 seconds. Just how hard all three were pushing was then underlined when first Massa, then Alonso, then Schumacher all set new fastest race laps on the same lap!

Both Massa and Alonso pitted on lap 39, allowing Schumacher to take the lead and set a couple of fastest laps before his own stop on lap 43. It wasn't quite enough to leapfrog Alonso, but it brought Schumacher a lot closer, and set the stage for the most enthralling denouement of the year so far.

Just one second split Alonso and Schumacher as they crossed the line with 14 laps to go, and there was more than a single position at stake, for if Schumacher could reach second place, Massa would surely dutifully relinquish his lead.

"I'm really open to help Michael to win the championship, that's not news," Massa admitted.

All Schumacher had to do was get his clearly faster Ferrari past Alonso's Renault, which looked particularly vulnerable in the crucial braking areas and slow corners.

But conversely, Schumacher simply could not hang on to Alonso through Turn 8, which meant that he spent the subsequent corners regaining the lost ground and was only just getting back on to the Renault's tail when they reached the crucial Turn 12.

Indeed, Alonso was cannily varying his revs so that he had maximum engine performance in the corners building up to that passing zone, then reverted to a conservative setting elsewhere.

"I concentrated on that part of the circuit," he explained. "Maximum revs in that part and minimum revs in the other parts. I was quite confident that I would take the position."

He still had a few scares, notably on lap 48 when he locked up in the Turn 4 complex and allowed Schumacher to get alongside at Turn 7, where he just managed to fend the Ferrari off.

Schumacher made a slip of his own on lap 54, running a touch wide in Turn 8 and losing crucial ground.

When they began the final lap, Schumacher seemed too far behind to mount a challenge, but that didn't stop him taking an optimistic look down the inside as they braked for Turn 12 for the 58th and final time.

Alonso defended, which meant he got a slow exit from the tight complex, allowing Schumacher to draft alongside on the final charge to the line, missing out on second by less than a tenth of a second.

By that time, Massa had already begun celebrating. The intensity of the title rivals' dice for second somewhat overshadowed the Brazilian's first F1 victory - which was a shame, as he had driven an immaculate race.

"It's just fantastic," said Massa, wiping away joyful tears. "I've been working so hard through my whole career to get to this moment.

"It's like a dream come true. These two guys have had it before, but this is my first. It's very special."

While the focus was inevitably on the top three, given the tightly poised title battle, there was some outstanding racing taking place elsewhere in the field.

None of it involved Button, however. In a distinct contrast to his victorious Hungary run, Button barely saw another car all afternoon in Turkey. Fast enough to just about keep the leaders in sight, and a class apart from the rest of the field, he retook fourth from Webber on lap two and owned the position for the rest of the race.

The real action came in the next group. Between the vagaries of qualifying, the first corner carnage, and divergent strategies under the safety car - with some staying out and others pitting - there always seemed to be a group of displaced drivers battling their way through traffic in spectacular style, with Turn 12 in particular seeing an excess of overtaking.

Webber and Rosberg held fifth initially, until split by the charging Kubica. Klien tagged along behind, soon under pressure from de la Rosa and Trulli, who had been making assertive progress past the other Red Bull owned cars.

The safety car changed everything, as most of this group stayed out, only Webber and Kubica pitting and falling from fifth and sixth to 11th and 12th. It also allowed first corner victims Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher to sidle up to the rear of the lower top ten gaggle, and to bring the one stopping de la Rosa right into contention.

The McLaren took sixth from Klien shortly after the restart, and then picked up fifth when Rosberg slowed with a water leak on lap 24 - a very sad end to a very promising drive.

De la Rosa managed to retain fifth right to the end, shrugging off a variety of challengers. Barrichello set some extremely quick laps, but ultimately his two stop strategy left him behind one-stoppers Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher, who had benefited so much from the safety car, and then went on an overtaking spree when it withdrew.

Fisichella closed right in on de la Rosa in the closing laps, and came within 0.6 seconds of making it into the top five. He was justifiably proud of the result.

"The safety car helped, but I overtook a lot of people out there this afternoon," said Fisichella.

Schumacher couldn't keep up with the Renault's pace, but was pleased to fend off Barrichello for seventh at the flag.

The second Toyota finished outside the points, as the two-stopping Trulli lost ground to the one-stoppers and felt that his over-conservative tyre choice left him ill-equipped to fight back.

He still beat Webber, who swapped places with Kubica twice in the middle of the rest as both tried to recover the positions they had relinquished by pitting under yellow. While Webber struggled for rear grip in his long middle stint but found more pace later, Kubica had terrible graining problems in the final stint and tumbled down the order.

Webber's 10th place came under threat from Coulthard, who had jumped teammate Klien during the last pit stop sequence, until the Red Bull suffered a late gearbox failure. Klien therefore took 11th, ahead of the struggling Kubica, with Speed 13th. The safety car had hauled him back to the midfield group, but he lacked the pace to get fully amongst them.

It would have been really intriguing to see where Albers emerged. The Midland had pitted under the safety car then kept up with the big names until his second stop on lap 38. At one stage Albers was as high as ninth - close behind Fisichella, and ahead of both Toyotas!

A troubled final stop dropped Albers away from the group, and he subsequently crashed out after running wide exiting Turn 8 - finally reaching the inside barriers some distance down the following straight.

A few delayed stragglers completed the field. Heidfeld's BMW limped to a distant 14th - the first corner damage impossible to fully repair during the race.

Super Aguri did their best to get Sato's car back into one piece, and he rejoined for extra testing mileage after a 25 minute pit stop, leaving him too many laps behind to be classified.

Sato's teammate Yamamoto completed a racing lap for the first time, and actually set a quite respectable pace until spinning into the gravel at Turn 1 on lap 24.

The final retirement was the man who dominated at Istanbul in 2006. Raikkonen had dragged his McLaren back to the pits and rejoined a lap down following repairs, but only reached Turn 4 before lurching into the barriers, leaving the car thoroughly mangled and the Finn with a jarred back.

Race results

58 laps;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1h28:51.082
 2.  Alonso        Renault              (M)  +     5.575
 3.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              (B)  +     5.656
 4.  Button        Honda                (M)  +    12.334
 5.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  +    45.908
 6.  Fisichella    Renault              (M)  +    46.594
 7.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +    59.337
 8.  Barrichello   Honda                (M)  +  1:00.034
 9.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +     1 lap
10.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth    (B)  +     1 lap
11.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  +     1 lap
12.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber           (M)  +     1 lap
13.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)  +     1 lap
14.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber           (M)  +     2 lap
15.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  +    3 laps

Fastest lap: M.Schumacher, 1:28.005

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Albers        MF1-Toyota           (B)   46
Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)   41
Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth    (B)   23
Yamamoto      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)   25
Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)   12
Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes     (M)    1
Monteiro      MF1-Toyota           (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 14:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso       108        1.  Renault              160
 2.  M.Schumacher  96        2.  Ferrari              158
 3.  Massa         62        3.  McLaren-Mercedes      89
 4.  Fisichella    52        4.  Honda                 58
 5.  Raikkonen     49        5.  Toyota                28
 6.  Button        36        6.  BMW-Sauber            26
 7.  Montoya       26        7.  Red Bull-Ferrari      16
 8.  Barrichello   22        8.  Williams-Cosworth     10
 9.  Heidfeld      19        9.  Toro Rosso-Cosworth    1
10.  R.Schumacher  18
11.  Coulthard     14
12.  de la Rosa    14
13.  Trulli        10
14.  Villeneuve     7
15.  Webber         6
16.  Rosberg        4
17.  Klien          2
18.  Liuzzi         1

Team-by-Team

Alonso and Fisichella secure the second row in qualifying. The champion nearly splits the Ferraris off the line but has to back out of it and is almost collected by Fisichella, who selflessly spins in avoidance and is clouted by Heidfeld. He suffers a broken front wing, but the safety car brings him back into the midfield pack.

Some great overtaking and good strategy allows Fisi to recover to sixth by the end, right behind de la Rosa. Alonso also benefits from the safety car, taking second from Schumacher. He can't keep up with Massa but manages to fend off the Ferrari number one in a supremely tense final stint showdown.

Verdict: Not a victory, but an impressive and deeply significant achievement nevertheless.

Underwhelming qualifying sees Raikkonen eighth and de la Rosa 12th. Raikkonen's race is a disastrous non-event - he is hit by Speed at the start and then crashes out a few corners after pitting for repairs. De la Rosa avoids the mayhem and makes excellent use of a one stop strategy to advance to fifth.

Verdict: Reasonable salvage job by de la Rosa, but they're running out of time to get a win in 2006.

Massa surprisingly beats practice pacesetter Schumacher to pole. They hold a commanding one-two in the early laps, but Alonso gets between them when the leaders pit under yellow. Schumacher loses ground with tyre graining and a slight error in the middle stint, then comes back at Alonso aggressively at the end. But the Renault fends off all his attacks, and Schumacher ends up third. Massa is peerless - controlling the race and earning a superb first victory.

Verdict: Massa was supreme on a weekend when his team leader had a few shaky moments - which could prove costly.

Schumacher qualifies fifth then has to drop ten places due to an engine change penalty, while Trulli struggles to 13th. A touch between them as they try to avoid the first corner carnage leaves Schumacher with a broken front wing, but the safety car brings him back into the hunt. The German's one stop strategy then works rather better than Trulli's two stop, allowing Schumacher to take seventh while Trulli ends up a low key ninth.

Verdict: Two points a reasonable return from a race that could have seen both cars out at Turn 1.

Webber qualifies a strong 10th, Rosberg is only 15th. Both come through the early mayhem successfully and run fifth and sixth initially. Pitting under the safety car spoils Webber's late stopping strategy and drops him into the pack. Doesn't have the pace to come back through and ends up a disappointing 10th. Rosberg stays out and runs fifth until a water leak stops him on lap 24.

Verdict: Really should have got at least one car in the points after dream start.

Button qualifies seventh, moves up to fourth after the first lap, and holds it until the end - not quite quick enough to race Alonso and the Ferraris, but comfortably faster than the rest.

Barrichello is only 14th fastest in qualifying, but is much quicker in the race. Has to fight his way through after losing yet more ground in the Turn 1 tangles. Two stop strategy doesn't work as well as the one stop plans employed by other displaced frontrunners, but he takes eighth.

Verdict: Back down to earth, but still significantly better than their early summer tribulations.

Delayed by a wayward Sato, Coulthard is only 17th in qualifying, while Klien takes an impressive 11th. They end up in close company by halfway through the race, with Coulthard getting ahead in the final stops only to drop out of 11th with a late gearbox failure. Klien therefore takes the place.

Verdict: F1's most exuberant team is being quite anonymous on track at present.

New test driver Vettel leads second practice, while race drivers Heidfeld and Kubica both appear in the top five on Saturday morning. This promise is maintained into qualifying, where they go sixth and ninth quickest respectively.

Heidfeld cannot avoid the spinning Fisichella at the first corner and loses his front wing. It gets lodged under the car and causes underbody damage, leaving Heidfeld to spend the rest of the race limping around a lap down.

Kubica dices with the Williams at first and holds sixth until pitting under the safety car. He falls back into the pack, then loses a lot of time with tyre graining in the last stint, dropping to 12th.

Verdict: Massive disappointment considering practice and qualifying pace.

Albers qualifies a strong 16th but has to take yet another engine change penalty. Drives a superb race, getting up with the main midfield pack and holding his own - running on Fisichella's tail in ninth for a while as differing strategies blur the picture mid-race. Loses ground with a slow final pit stop then crashes out on lap 46. Monteiro is outpaced in qualifying and takes 20th, then is taken out in the first corner incident.

Verdict: Sad end to the team's best race yet.

Both drivers are positive after practice but qualifying is a disappointment, with Speed and Liuzzi only 18th and 19th. Speed gets tangled up with Raikkonen at the start and loses his wing, but Liuzzi leaps to eighth. He loses a few places before spinning out on lap 13. Speed catches the pack thanks to the safety car but lacks the pace to progress further, taking 13th at the end.

Verdict: Not quick enough to race with the upper midfield at present.

Yamamoto outqualifies Sato for the first time as the team leader hits chassis problems. They still line up 21st and 22nd. Sato suffers damage at the first corner, but does rejoin 17 laps down to get some more mileage in the new chassis. Finishes the race, but is too far behind to be classified.

Yamamoto gets up to 12th at the start, and although he is rapidly overtaken by faster cars, he sets a promising pace. Unfortunately spins out on lap 24.

Verdict: Still firmly at the back, but Yamamoto's pace was not at all bad prior to his spin.

Lap-by-Lap

Pre-race: Rubens Barrichello, 13th on the grid, runs wide over the kerbs during one of his installation laps.

Lap 1: On pole position for the first time in his Formula One career, Felipe Massa gets away cleanly to beat team-mate and fellow front-row starter Michael Schumacher off the line.

Start mayhem at the Turkish GP © Reuters

World championship leader Fernando Alonso gets ahead of Schumacher on the run to the first turn, but Schumacher retaliates.

As Alonso eases up, the following Giancarlo Fisichella spins and provokes a chain-reaction accident that involves Nick Heidfeld, Kimi Raikkonen (who suffers a cut left-rear tyre and spins), Ralf Schumacher, Scott Speed (who spins), Takuma Sato and Tiago Monteiro.

Heidfeld, Raikkonen, R. Schumacher, Speed and Sato pit at the end of the lap. Sato remains there until lap 16. Monteiro retires.

Mark Webber vaults to fourth ahead of Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Robert Kubica, Christian Klien, Pedro de la Rosa, David Coulthard, Jarno Trulli, Sakon Yamamoto, Barrichello and Christijan Albers.

Lap 2: Button passes Webber for fourth. Kubica and Klien pass Liuzzi. Barrichello passes Trulli and Yamamoto. Trulli passes Yamamoto. Raikkonen rejoins but crashes heavily at Turn 4.

Lap 3: Massa leads by 3,2s. M. Schumacher is edging away from Alonso. Trulli repasses Barrichello.

Lap 4: Kubica passes Rosberg for sixth.

Lap 5: De la Rosa passes Liuzzi for ninth and Trulli wrests 11th from Coulthard.

Lap 6: Trulli passes Liuzzi for 10th.

Lap 7: Coulthard passes Liuzzi.

Lap 8: Massa leads by 3.4s. M. Schumacher is 6.0s clear of Alonso. Barrichello passes Liuzzi.

Lap 9: M. Schumacher posts a 1:29.356, fastest lap of the race so far, and trims 0.2s from Massa's lead.

Lap 10: M. Schumacher laps in 1:29.326 - the gap comes down to 2.8s.

Lap 11: M. Schumacher ups the ante again: 1:29.177. He trails by 2.5s.

Lap 12: And again: a 1:28.791 to Massa's 1:29.087 (a personal best). The gap is 2.2s.

Felipe Massa heads teammate Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso © XPB/LAT

Lap 13: Liuzzi spins at Turn 1 and ends up straddling the kerbs at the outside of the corner. The Safety Car is deployed.

Lap 14: Massa, M. Schumacher, Alonso, Button, Webber, Kubica, Albers and Yamamoto pit. M. Schumacher is stacked behind Massa and loses a place to Alonso.

Lap 15: Massa retains the lead behind the Safety Car. The lapped Heidfeld separates him from Alonso.

Lap 17: Restart. Alonso passes Heidfeld immediately. Massa streaks away to lead by 1.2s at the end of the lap.

Lap 18: Massa is 1.7s clear of Alonso, the latter 2.2s in front of M. Schumacher. Fisichella passes R. Schumacher for 13th and Speed moves up to 16th at Yamamoto's expense. Trulli and Barrichello are duelling fiercely for eighth.

Lap 19: Kubica and Fisichella move up to 11th and 12th by passing Webber.

Lap 20: Fisichella passes Kubica for 11th and makes it stick, despite stubborn resistance. R. Schumacher passes Webber.

Lap 21: De la Rosa passes Klien for sixth.

Lap 23: R. Schumacher passes Kubica for 12th.

Lap 24: Yamamoto spins off at Turn 1. Speed passes Albers for 15th.

Lap 25: Rosberg pits from fifth with suspected water-pressure problems. Trulli and Coulthard make scheduled stops. Coulthard almost collects the slowing Rosberg on his way in. The lapped Heidfeld pits, too.

Lap 26: Klien pits.

Lap 27: Barrichello and Speed pit.

Lap 28: M. Schumacher runs wide at Turn 8 and loses more than four seconds. Massa laps in 1:28.459 - a new benchmark.

Lap 29: Half-distance. Massa leads Alonso by 7.1s and M Schumacher by 15.6s. Button lies fourth from de la Rosa, Fisichella, R. Schumacher, Kubica, Webber, Barrichello, Albers, Trulli, Klien, Coulthard, Speed and Heidfeld.

Lap 30: De la Rosa and Fisichella pit.

Lap 32: R. Schumacher pits.

Lap 34: Kubica pits. M. Schumacher laps in 1:28.438.

Felipe Massa wins the Turkish GP © Reuters

Lap 35: Massa and Alonso beat M. Schumacher's previous lap time... then the German posts a 1:28.193.

Lap 37: Massa laps in 1:28.192.

Lap 38: Massa goes faster again: 1:28.123. Barrichello passes Webber for sixth. Albers pits. Speed passes Kubica.

Lap 39: Massa, Alonso, Button and Webber pit. M. Schumacher leads.

Lap 40: Kubica and Webber run wide at Turn 8. Webber passes the Pole.

Lap 41: The leader sets a new fastest lap: 1:28.106. Heidfeld pits.

Lap 43: M. Schumacher pits and rejoins third.

Lap 44: Massa leads Alonso by 10.8 seconds - and M Schumacher is only 0.9 seconds further adrift. Barrichello and Trulli pit.

Lap 45: M. Schumacher closes to within 0.4s of Alonso - and Albers is about to be lapped by both. Coulthard pits.

Lap 47: Albers pulls off to retire.

Lap 50: M. Schumacher launches a major assault on Alonso, but the Spaniard defends successfully. Massa's lead grows to 13.0s.

Lap 53: Alonso and M. Schumacher remain tied together. Barrichello is hassling the other Schumacher for seventh.

Lap 54: Alonso laps 1.007s faster than his pursuer.

Lap 55: Alonso and M. Schumacher are both in the 1:28s. The latter sets a new fastest lap: 1:28.005. Coulthard pits.

Lap 57: The title protagonists are just 0.3s apart with one lap to go.

Lap 58: Massa scores his maiden F1 victory, 5.5s clear of... Alonso, who crosses the line almost as one with M. Schumacher to extend his world championship advantage to 12 points. Button takes fourth from the distant de la Rosa, Fisichella, R. Schumacher and Barrichello.