The Complete 2008 Turkish GP Review

Since he first turned up there with a Ferrari at his disposal, Felipe Massa has been impossible to beat in Istanbul.

The track saw his first pole and first victory in 2006, and he hasn't been off the front of the grid or the top step of the podium in Turkey since then, adding a third straight win this weekend.

"It's just fantastic - I think I can get a passport here now," said Massa.

But while celebrating his increased reputation as a circuit specialist, he argued that he didn't only excel at a limited handful of tracks such as Sakhir, Istanbul and Interlagos.

"I have good feelings at many circuits," Massa insisted. "It doesn't mean that because I won here, that I cannot win at other tracks. For sure, it's a fantastic circuit and I always feel happy to come here, but I think I can be competitive at many tracks."

His race engineer Rob Smedley agreed, describing Massa's tally of two wins and a second in the last three Grands Prix as "world champion material."

With a long gap now before the championship returns to any of the circuits regarded as Massa's 'banker' tracks, the Brazilian has plenty of opportunities to prove the doubters wrong and show that he can win anywhere.

Despite his string of Turkish GP wins, Massa has never held a huge margin over the competition at Istanbul, always winning by a relatively tight margin. That was true again this year, as a resurgent Lewis Hamilton made exemplary use of a three-stop strategy that may or may not (depending on if you were listening to McLaren or Bridgestone) have been enforced by tyre concerns.

Hamilton had been terse and downcast immediately after qualifying. Uncomfortable with the soft tyres, he had stayed on hards for Q3 and only managed third, a place behind his lighter teammate Heikki Kovalainen.

His displeasure became more understandable when the three-stop plan was revealed next day. McLaren's simulation suggested Hamilton would struggle to achieve a top five on that strategy, so a near-victory was a remarkable result, and one that revitalised the young Briton just as his title hopes seemed to be fading.

But McLaren's star driver in Istanbul was arguably the man who finished 12th. Two weeks after a crash that looked set to sideline him for at least one race, Kovalainen returned in style by flying in practice then claiming his first front row grid slot.

His early brush with Kimi Raikkonen and the subsequent puncture possibly cost him a win, McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh reckoned.

"If Heikki had not made that stop, he would have run longer than Felipe at the first stop and if he could have been close to Massa, which I think he could have been, he would have been able to take him at the first stop, and thereafter, the race would have played out differently," Whitmarsh suggested.

"I've never known him as disappointed as this. He really felt he could win this race and as the race panned out, I think he knows he could have won it - and it eluded him. And that's disappointing.

"He put himself in a position to win a race and he will win races this year and in the future and he really deserves to. He's an extraordinary chap."

Amid Massa's hat-trick of victories, McLaren's improvements, Kovalainen's outstanding recovery, and peripheral storylines such as the absence of Super Aguri, Rubens Barrichello's record-breaking 257th start and even stray dogs interrupting the GP2 race, the current championship leader went largely unnoticed.

But, just as he did in Bahrain, Raikkonen emerged from a difficult and frustrating weekend with a podium finish.

His lead may be down to seven points, but since Melbourne he's produced a masterclass in how to win a title. When things aren't going well, Raikkonen still salvages a podium and a fistful of points. When all in right in his world, he leaves the rest of the field standing.

That approach earned Fernando Alonso two championships, and it still - despite his muted Turkish weekend - looks like bringing Raikkonen a second crown.

Practice

Practice one - Friday am

The weekend began with 40 minutes of inactivity while the track dried - not because of morning rain, but because of late circuit cleaning that had left large damp patches around much of the Istanbul Speedpark.

Equally bizarre was that Giancarlo Fisichella managed to earn a three-place grid penalty before the weekend had officially begun. The Force India driver was slightly too keen to begin his installation lap, and left the pit lane a few fractions of a second before the green light came on.

When the running finally commenced, Kimi Raikkonen played little part in it, as a gearbox failure sidelined him after three slow laps.

But there were no such problems for his Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa, who started his bid for a third successive Turkish GP win by leading the opening session, 0.133 seconds ahead of Heikki Kovalainen, as the McLaren driver made a fine return following his Barcelona accident.

Massa was one of many drivers to indulge in a quick spin or two as the harder Bridgestones struggled in the unusually cold temperatures. All rejoined without damage.

Raikkonen's problems aside, the only other driver to lose time was Robert Kubica, whose BMW developed a rear suspension problem and managed just seven laps.

Practice two - Friday pm

His gearbox fixed, Raikkonen rebounded by going fastest on Friday afternoon - yet remained frustrated and felt he had yet to perfect his set-up. "Not the best of Fridays," the champion mused.

Lewis Hamilton was second, just 0.036 seconds behind Raikkonen despite a massive slide in Turn 8 on his best lap, with Massa third.

The session had to be stopped after half an hour when Mark Webber ran wide exiting Turn 6 and spun back into the opposite barrier, deranging the front of his Red Bull.

"100 percent my fault," he acknowledged. "I didn't respect the green Astroturf that sits on the outside of the track enough."

Timo Glock had the session's only other notable incident, running off the road at Turn 4 in the closing moments and breaking his front wing on the kerbs as he rejoined.

Practice three - Saturday am

The final session also started with drivers twiddling their thumbs in the pits while the track dried - although at least this time the cause was actual rain rather than inexplicably late track washing.

Within 20 minutes the circuit was offering enough grip for competitive lap times, and a frantic period followed as drivers made up for lost time. In the end it was Webber who emerged on top, a great effort given his loss of mileage on Friday, with Fernando Alonso second ahead of David Coulthard in the second Red Bull.

The usual 'big four' played it cool, as had been their habit on Saturday mornings throughout 2008 so far, with Massa taking fifth behind Williams' Nico Rosberg.

Qualifying

Part one

Super Aguri's demise actually made life harder for the midfield teams in qualifying, with only the top 15 henceforth making it through to Q2 - guaranteeing that at least one driver from the usual leading eight teams would be sidelined early on.

In fact this time there were two 'giants' eliminated. Williams' Kazuki Nakajima and Renault's Nelson Piquet both simply failed to put a good enough lap together and ended up 16th and 17th. While Nakajima could consider himself slightly unfortunate having only lapped 0.180 seconds slower than teammate Nico Rosberg, Piquet trailed his teammate Fernando Alonso by 0.732 seconds.

"Nelson had shown very equal pace to Fernando all morning," said Renault's engineering director Pat Symonds. "But that is what qualifying is all about; it's very competitive and it's necessary to produce the goods at the right time."

Sebastian Vettel was the member of the likely back four who made sneaked through to Q2 - ending his run of poor qualifying performances to make the cut by 0.105 seconds. But his teammate Sebastien Bourdais was 0.179 seconds slower in 18th and raging at the Force India drivers for delaying him.

"I don't know what those guys were doing on their out-laps," he complained.

Whatever they were doing, it did little for Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil's pace as they ended up 19th and 20th. Fisichella was half a second quicker than the surprisingly happy Sutil, but would start behind thanks to his penalty from practice.

Part two

Q2 was less nerve-wracking than usual, with the eliminated quintet settled in a fairly straightforward manner. The only big name who had cause for concern was Nick Heidfeld, as the BMW driver's first run left him outside the cut in 11th.

But he recovered to take ninth with his second lap - continuing an unbroken run of Q3 appearances that began in August 2006 - and knock Rosberg back to row six.

"I thought we could get into the top ten but it wasn't possible as there were a couple of things on the car I was not completely happy with," said the Williams driver.

The other disappointed potential top ten contender was Toyota's Timo Glock. He was certain he was on course for Q3 (at teammate Jarno Trulli's expense) until it all went wrong at Turn 9.

"I braked and suddenly I felt a problem with the front right wheel," Glock explained. "It's a shame because it was a good lap and I think it would easily have been good enough to make the top ten."

The Hondas took 12th and 13th. Rubens Barrichello had hoped to celebrate his record 257th Grand Prix start from somewhere higher than row six, but did at least out-qualify teammate Jenson Button, who couldn't get the softer tyres to work and had to qualify on hards.

Vettel was also eliminated in Q2. A top ten place would have been a remarkable way for the 2007 Toro Rosso chassis to bow out, but he was very satisfied with 14th on the grid.

Part three

Massa's stranglehold on the Turkish GP has also included qualifying, and after topping Q1 with a lap no-one could match in the second segment, he went into Q3 as a hot favourite for a third straight pole.

Sure enough, his first flying lap put him half a second clear of the rest of the pack, while McLaren looked to be in real trouble - or extremely fuel heavy - as both Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen lapped over a second off Massa's pace.

They recovered well at the second attempt, though. Hamilton found just over a second and closed to within 0.027 seconds of Massa's provisional pole, but Kovalainen did even better: improving on his first lap by 1.406 seconds and usurping Massa by a little under a tenth of a second.

For a moment, the Finn looked like he would mark his post-accident comeback with an unexpected maiden pole. However it didn't last, as Massa also found time on his second run and snatched pole back by 0.191 seconds.

Kovalainen could still celebrate his first front row spot, though, much to his delight.

"It has been a rollercoaster the last couple of weeks," he admitted. "The first lap was a bit all over the place, not very clean, but the second lap was much tidier and everything came together. Hopefully tomorrow we can do a good race from this position."

His teammate was visibly frustrated to be third, especially as it would later turn out that Kovalainen was running heavier. Hamilton was another driver to struggle with the soft tyres, so had qualified on hards - a decision he initially rued, before taking back his criticisms after checking the data.

An out of sorts Kimi Raikkonen didn't really feature in the pole battle and took fourth, just 0.013 seconds behind Hamilton and a comfortable three tenths clear of Robert Kubica's BMW.

Red Bull got both cars into Q3 for the first time in 2008. While Mark Webber equalled his season-best starting position by taking sixth, teammate David Coulthard settled for 10th. The Scot had used all his softer tyres getting through the first sessions, so carried very heavy fuel in part three.

Fernando Alonso continued Renault's promising form by taking seventh, ahead of a slightly underwhelmed Jarno Trulli, and Nick Heidfeld - the BMW driver feeling an error in the third sector had cost him three of the five tenths of a second that separated him from teammate Kubica.

Qualifying results

Pos  Driver       Make                 Q1        Q2        Q3       laps
 1.  Massa        Ferrari              1:25.994  1:26.192  1:27.617  16
 2.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes     1:26.736  1:26.290  1:27.808  16
 3.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     1:26.192  1:26.477  1:27.923  15
 4.  Raikkonen    Ferrari              1:26.457  1:26.050  1:27.936  17
 5.  Kubica       BMW Sauber           1:26.761  1:26.129  1:28.390  17
 6.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault     1:26.773  1:26.466  1:28.417  17
 7.  Alonso       Renault              1:26.836  1:26.522  1:28.422  18
 8.  Trulli       Toyota               1:26.695  1:26.822  1:28.836  20
 9.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber           1:27.107  1:26.607  1:28.882  20
10.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Renault     1:26.939  1:26.520  1:29.959  16
11.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota      1:27.367  1:27.012            13
12.  Barrichello  Honda                1:27.355  1:27.219            13
13.  Button       Honda                1:27.428  1:27.298            14
14.  Vettel       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:27.442  1:27.412            15
15.  Glock        Toyota               1:26.614  1:27.806            15
16.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota      1:27.547                       9
17.  Piquet       Renault              1:27.568                       7
18.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:27.621                       8
19.  Fisichella   Force India-Ferrari  1:27.807                      10
20.  Sutil        Force India-Ferrari  1:28.325                       9

The Race

Heikki Kovalainen had admitted after qualifying that starting on the dirty side of the grid might not be ideal - and sure enough both the McLaren driver and fourth-placed starter Kimi Raikkonen trundled slowly off the grid while clean-side qualifiers Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton blasted into first and second.

Robert Kubica also got a good run from fifth on the grid, and the BMW, Raikkonen and Kovalainen went three-abreast into Turn 1. While the Pole swept right around the outside, slight contact was made between the two Finns' cars as Raikkonen tried to tuck in behind, damaging Kovalainen's left rear tyre and Raikkonen's front wing. The world champion then lost another place as Fernando Alonso capitalised on his loss of momentum to power ahead through Turn 2.

Behind the Ferrari, Mark Webber, Nick Heidfeld and the fast-starting Nico Rosberg led David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli, who lost several positions as he was crowded out at the first corner. The Hondas were next up, Jenson Button passing Rubens Barrichello as they accelerated away.

There was carnage further back as Giancarlo Fisichella ploughed into the back of Kazuki Nakajima and flew right over the top of the Williams. The Italian suggested that Sebastien Bourdais - who admittedly moved from the outside to the inside under braking - was to blame.

"Bourdais closed the door and I couldn't stop my car," Fisichella protested. "I don't think it was my fault."

Nakajima, who also had to retire, was just certain he wasn't to blame.

"I didn't change line and I don't know what happened," he said. "Suddenly I just felt a shunt from behind."

Timo Glock and Nelson Piquet both lost ground avoiding the mess, while more contact further around the lap left Sebastian Vettel with a puncture and Adrian Sutil with a broken wing.

The latter duo pitted for repairs under the safety car that followed. Ferrari decided Raikkonen's wing damage was sufficiently minor that they would lose less time if he just drove around the problem, while Kovalainen reckoned his car had survived the touch intact - only to detect his puncture just as the safety car withdrew. He had to pit as the rest of the field resumed racing, and fell to last, 30 seconds behind the leaders.

After the restart, the top two swiftly pulled away from Kubica, who soon had Raikkonen tucked up behind him as the Ferrari wasted little time in drafting past Alonso on the long back straight.

Massa did his best to shake Hamilton off but to no avail, with the McLaren matching him lap time for lap time. With Hamilton running hard tyres and Massa on softs, the Brazilian started to wonder if his tyre choice was incorrect, so was relieved when his pursuer pitted on lap 16, three laps before the Ferrari's stop.

But to Massa's surprise, his additional light fuel laps did not extend his advantage over Hamilton at all, and the Briton was closer than ever once the pit sequence was complete. The penny soon dropped for Massa.

"He was there straight away, so I thought maybe he had put less fuel in," Massa said.

Indeed Hamilton was on a three-stop plan, but for tyre conservation reasons rather than in a strategic attempt to ambush Ferrari, for Bridgestone was concerned that the combination of Hamilton's driving style and the high loadings of Turn 8 would lead to a repeat of his 2007 Istanbul tyre failure.

"Therefore, they made us do a three stop as it was the safest route to go," Hamilton said. "Unfortunately for us, that put us in not such a strong position to win the race."

Bridgestone argued that its instruction hadn't actually been that dramatic.

"We suggested a (two stop) strategy of 20 laps, 18 laps, 20 laps, but finally they decided on a three-stop strategy," said its motorsport director Hirohide Hamashima.

Either way, it set up an extremely exciting contest, as the lighter McLaren rapidly caught and hounded the Ferrari in their second stints.

On lap 24, after several laps of heavy pressurising, Hamilton got a run down the backstraight, then squeezed through a narrow gap under braking to snatch the lead into the final complex - in the first dry weather on-track pass for the lead in a very long time.

"I was trying to go a little bit on the inside but then I saw him going almost on the gravel, so I didn't risk going more to the left as it would not have been fair and maybe we were going to crash," Massa said.

"Then when I saw him on my inside I said 'okay go' and we will see at the next stop how it is going to be."

Hamilton proceeded to sprint away from Massa, lapping up to a second per lap quicker and establishing an eight-second lead before he pitted for the second time on lap 32.

He rejoined three seconds behind Raikkonen, who had jumped Kubica for third at the first stops then left the BMW behind, and 13 seconds adrift of Massa.

Victory seemed to be out of the question for Hamilton, but Raikkonen's second place was within his sights, as the Finn continued to struggle slightly with his wing damage (although he still managed to set fastest lap) and would be pitting slightly sooner.

Ultimately only two laps separated Raikkonen's second and Hamilton's third stops, but that was enough for the McLaren to get ahead. Hamilton also managed to close significantly on Massa, who had stopped for the final time five laps earlier, and going into the final 12 laps just six seconds covered the top three.

However there would not be a spine-tingling final showdown, for Hamilton now had to use the soft tyres, which he was still uncomfortable with, while Massa could finish his race on the more popular hard compound.

The Brazilian did just enough to edge away and secure a third straight Turkish GP victory, as Hamilton fended off Raikkonen to secure a very reassuring second place, in McLaren's most competitive performance since Australia.

Meanwhile Kovalainen was demonstrating what might have been with a scintillating comeback drive. McLaren added slightly more fuel during his puncture pitstop, extending his first stint to lap 26 and then allowing the Finn to stay out until lap 50 before pitting for a final 'splash and go'.

But it was old fashioned wheel to wheel racing rather than sharp strategy that paid off best for Kovalainen, as his recovery drive saw him embroiled in a series of outstanding side by side dices in the final complex. Piquet, Glock, Button and Rosberg in particular all put up gallant defences before having to concede to the McLaren, which reached eighth place before the last minute pitstop dropped Kovalainen to 12th - far less than he deserved.

The McLarens provided the majority of the excitement in the race, with the rest of the points positions largely settled after the first stops.

For BMW this race was rather reminiscent of 2007, with Kubica and Heidfeld (who gained several places with a long first stint) finishing a lonely fourth and fifth having comfortably beaten all their pursuers, but been unable to match Ferrari and McLaren's pace.

Alonso came under early pressure from Webber before edging away to take sixth place. While Alonso felt this result confirmed Renault's gradual progress back towards the front, Webber admitted that he was tiring of only ever scoring minor points.

Rosberg was pleased to complete the scorers, just ahead of Coulthard, who fended off the disappointed Trulli for ninth. Although he remained point-less, Coulthard was simply relieved to reach the flag intact after a bruising start to 2008.

"I've looked around my car and there's no damage, so at least we finished a race without colliding with anyone..." he joked.

Honda lacked pace all afternoon, and even switching to a one-stop strategy (partly in the hope that they could benefit from another safety car) failed to get them near the points. Button resisted the closing Kovalainen to take 11th, with Barrichello following fellow one-stopper Glock home in 14th.

Barrichello finished with Piquet right on his tail. The Renault driver charged hard to make up for his poor qualifying performance, but despite some determined overtaking moves, being a two-stopper amid a crowd of one-stoppers meant he was destined to return to the back of the queue.

At the very back, Sutil resisted the chasing Vettel to claim a morale-boosting finish in 16th. It was a poor day for Toro Rosso, with Vettel having to make an additional fuel stop due to a rig problem, and teammate Bourdais spinning into the Turn 12 gravel due to a failure at the rear of his car.

Race results

58 laps; 309.396km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  1h26:49.451
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     3.779
 3.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +     4.271
 4.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +    21.945
 5.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +    38.741
 6.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +    53.724
 7.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +  1:04.229
 8.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +  1:11.406
 9.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +  1:15.270
10.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +  1:16.344
11.  Button        Honda                 (B)  +     1 lap
12.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Barrichello   Honda                 (B)  +     1 lap
15.  Piquet        Renault               (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:26.506

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    25
Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)    1
Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 5:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Raikkonen     35        1.  Ferrari                63
 2.  Hamilton      28        2.  BMW Sauber             44
 3.  Massa         28        3.  McLaren-Mercedes       42
 4.  Kubica        24        4.  Williams-Toyota        13
 5.  Heidfeld      20        5.  Red Bull-Renault       10
 6.  Kovalainen    14        6.  Renault                 9
 7.  Webber        10        7.  Toyota                  9
 8.  Alonso         9        8.  Honda                   3
 9.  Trulli         9        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      2
10.  Rosberg        8
11.  Nakajima       5
12.  Button         3
13.  Bourdais       2

Team-by-Team

FERRARI

Massa remains imperious in Turkey, taking pole and winning the race despite a strong challenge from Hamilton.

Raikkonen's weekend is more complicated. Gearbox problems sideline him in first practice, and he's still not happy with his car even after topping the second session. A scrappy qualifying lap leaves him fourth on the grid, and he then sustains wing damage in a first corner brush with Kovalainen. Shrugs it off to finish third and maintain his points lead.

Kubica maintains his upper hand over Heidfeld as the team slip back a little from the top two. The Pole recovers from Friday morning suspension problems to qualify fifth, briefly run third, and then finish fourth, having occupied a no man's land between Ferrari and McLaren, and everyone else.

A Q3 error leaves Heidfeld ninth, but by the first pitstops he's up to fifth thanks to a good start, a long stint and quick in-laps. He duly finishes there.

No repeat of Alonso's Spanish heroics, but he is perfectly satisfied with seventh on the grid, albeit on the smallest fuel load of the Q3 runners. He gains several places with a rapid start, and although he is soon passed by Raikkonen and also loses out to Heidfeld at the first stops, he holds on to an encouraging sixth.

Piquet is a match for Alonso in practice then falls away. He can only qualify 17th, drops to the back avoiding the first corner tangle, and can only recover to 15th as his two stop strategy puts him behind a group of one stoppers he had battled past on the road.

Nakajima sets some strong times in practice (and has a few spins), but under-performs in qualifying and is only 16th. A violent assault by Fisichella then takes him out of the race at the first corner.

Rosberg has a much better weekend - qualifying a slightly disappointed 11th then earning eighth in the race, thanks mainly to a strong start and a bold passage through the first corner traffic jams.

Webber crashes in second practice then is fastest of all in the third session, before following that performance with a strong sixth on the grid. He loses out to Heidfeld in the race and can't quite match Alonso, but still finishes seventh.

Coulthard returns to Q3 for the first time since Melbourne, but uses all his soft tyres getting there so runs a large fuel load and settles for 10th. He only gains one place in the race, fending off Trulli to take ninth.

Toyota's promising early races are becoming a distant memory. Although Trulli qualifies in the top ten yet again, taking eighth, he loses places on the first lap and finishes a very frustrated 10th, trapped behind Coulthard.

Glock breaks his front wing with a trip off the road in Friday practice, then suffers a wheel failure in Q2 and is left in 15th on the grid. More time is lost with a bad start and avoiding the Fisichella/Nakajima crash, and he eventually comes home 13th.

The 2007 car's final appearance provides little to smile about. Vettel rediscovers his qualifying form to take 14th on the grid, while Bourdais' fortunes move in the opposite direction. He accuses the Force India drivers of blocking after taking 18th.

Vettel has to pit with a puncture after a touch with Sutil on lap one, then loses more time with a fuel rig problem and makes another additional stop. He finishes right on the Force India's tail in 17th and last. Bourdais, who has the same pit problems but loses less time, would have been somewhere in their vicinity at the flag had a breakage in his car's right rear corner not deposited him in the gravel on lap 25.

After the promise of Spain, Honda endure a frustrating Turkish weekend brightened only by the celebrations for Barrichello's record-breaking 257th F1 start. Both drivers struggle with their cars, qualifying 12th (Barrichello) and 13th (Button).

They swap places off the line and soon find they are both short of speed in the race. A switch to a one-stop strategy makes little difference as Button resists Kovalainen to take 11th while Barrichello trails home in 14th.

With Super Aguri gone, Force India bring up the rear of the field. Fisichella beats Sutil to 19th in qualifying but already has a three-place grid penalty hanging over him for jumping the pit exit red light at the start of Friday practice.

It's all rather irrelevant though, for Fisichella crashes into the back of Nakajima at the first corner and takes both cars out.

Sutil also has yet another first lap tangle, this time breaking his front wing on Vettel's car. The safety car allows him to effect repairs without delay, and he reaches the finish in 16th, fending off Vettel in the closing laps.

A complicated but encouraging weekend for McLaren, with Kovalainen making a superb return following his Barcelona crash. Second place in first practice proves the Finn is fully fit, and he then takes his first ever front row grid slot, only just losing pole to Massa despite a relatively heavy fuel load.

Unfortunately a first corner touch with Raikkonen gives Kovalainen a puncture, and despite a hard-charging recovery drive, he can only get back to 12th place.

Hamilton is a disgruntled third on the grid (in a lighter car than Kovalainen) after tyre difficulties, and he has to run a three-stop strategy because of fears that his driving style will cause a repeat of his 2007 tyre failure. But he impressively pressures then passes Massa and pulls out a substantial lead, before his extra stop leaves him second, between the Ferraris.

Lap-by-Lap

Lap 1: Having maintained his 100 per cent record of Istanbul Park poles since joining Ferrari in 2006, Felipe Massa makes a clean start to lead Lewis Hamilton into Turn One.

The start of the Turkish Grand Prix © LAT

Robert Kubica comes up from fifth to third, ahead of front-row starter Heikki Kovalainen, and Kimi Raikkonen finds himself squeezed down to sixth, between the fast-starting Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.

Giancarlo Fisichella vaults over Kazuki Nakajima at Turn One: the Italian is out on the spot and Nakajima retires to the pits, minus rear wing. Safety Car deployed.

Nick Heidfeld lies eighth from Nico Rosberg, David Coulthard, Jarno Trulli, Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Vettel and Adrian Sutil (both of whom pit at the lap's end), Timo Glock, Sébastien Bourdais and Nelson Piquet.

Lap 2: Kovalainen pits for repairs after sustaining a puncture.

Lap 3: Restart. Massa leads Hamilton by 0.6 seconds. Raikkonen passes Alonso for fourth.

Lap 4: Massa posts a 1:27.786 and extends his lead to 1.1 seconds. Sutil runs wide at Turn 10.

Lap 7: Fastest lap to Hamilton: 1:27.427. He trails by 1.4 seconds.

Lap 9: Hamilton ups his pace again: 1:27.307. The gap, though, is 1.5 seconds.

Lap 10: The top two both set personal bests: Massa 1:27.291, Hamilton 1:27.162. The gap is 1.4 seconds. Kubica is 4.2 seconds further adrift.

Lap 11: Massa posts a 1:27.001.

Lap 12: Hamilton cuts that to 1:26.869. He trails by 1.1 seconds. Kovalainen passes Sutil.

Giancarlo Fisichella runs over Kazuki Nakajima © LAT

Lap 14: Another fastest lap to Hamilton: 1:26.742 - 0.007 seconds quicker than Massa.

Lap 15: Hamilton posts a 1:26.641 and closes to within 0.7 seconds. Alonso pits.

Lap 16: Hamilton pits and drops, temporarily, to sixth.

Lap 17: Kovalainen passes Vettel.

Lap 18: Webber pits.

Lap 19: Massa and Kubica pit.

Lap 20: The new leader Raikkonen laps in 1:26.506. Trulli pits.

Lap 21: Raikkonen pits, as do second-placed Heidfeld and Sutil.

Lap 22: Massa leads by 0.8 seconds from Hamilton, Raikkonen (7.7 seconds back) and Kubica. Vettel pits.

Lap 23: Hamilton closes to within 0.5 seconds of Massa. Coulthard, Bourdais and Vettel pit.

Lap 24: Hamilton passes Massa at Turn 12 to lead. Rosberg pits.

Lap 25: Hamilton leads by 1.8 seconds. Bourdais spins into the Turn 12 gravel.

Heikki Kovalainen overtakes Nico Rosberg © XPB/LAT

Lap 26: Kovalainen pits.

Lap 27: Hamilton leads by 3.8 seconds. Raikkonen trails Massa by 9.4 seconds. Barrichello pits.

Lap 28: Hamilton pulls another second clear. Behind Raikkonen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Webber and Button (yet to stop) complete the top eight.

Lap 29: Piquet pits.

Lap 31: Button and Glock are last to make their first stops.

Lap 32: Hamilton pits for the second time. He sticks with the prime tyres he's used from the start - a three-stop strategy beckons.

Lap 34: Massa leads Raikkonen by 2.7 seconds. Hamilton is third, a further 2.6 seconds in arrears. Kovalainen passes Glock, but is immediately repassed. He finally succeeds on the main straight.

Lap 35: Piquet passes Button for 11th.

Lap 36: Kovalainen passes Button.

Lap 37: Sutil pits.

Lap 40: Massa pits, as does Kubica. Raikkonen leads. Lap 41: Raikkonen leads Hamilton by 1.6 seconds. Massa lies third, another 11.8 seconds adrift.

Lap 42: Heidfeld pits. So does Vettel.

Lap 43: Raikkonen and Rosberg pit. Hamilton leads.

Lap 44: Webber pits.

Race Winner Felipe Massa © XPB/LAT

Lap 45: Hamilton pits. He rejoins second, ahead of Raikkonen. Coulthard and Piquet pit.

Lap 46: Massa leads Hamilton by 5.2 seconds. Raikkonen is third from Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Trulli, Webber, Rosberg, Coulthard, Kovalainen, Button, Glock and Barrichello. Piquet, Sutil and Vettel are lapped.

Lap 48: Trulli pits. Kovalainen passes Coulthard.

Lap 49: Kovalainen passes Rosberg, but the German retaliates immediately.

Lap 50: Kovalainen pits.

Lap 52: Raikkonen is applying pressure to Hamilton. The gap is about half a second.

Lap 54: Kovalainen passes Glock for 12th.

Lap 58: Massa maintains his unbeaten record as a Ferrari driver in Turkey, beating Hamilton by 3.7 seconds. Raikkonen is a close third. Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Webber and Rosberg complete the scorers.