The Complete 2007 Bahrain GP Review

A week after being embarrassed by a novice, Felipe Massa thoroughly redeemed himself with a very accomplished victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix, moving into the thick of the championship battle and staking his claim for equal number one status at Ferrari.

With a month-long break until the next Grand Prix, the Brazilian could not afford a third consecutive disaster, for with so much mulling time between races, regaining his momentum would have been substantially harder.

Instead he can go into the upcoming tests full of confidence, having demonstrated his actual potential in his first trouble-free race of 2007.

"I think something was missing, especially in the first race when we had a problem and then what happened in the second race with mistakes," said Massa. "This time we put everything together."

He played down the significance of the result - insisting that his maiden win in Turkey last year had been a greater challenge, and that his home victory in Brazil had been more poignant. But given the events of Sepang, and the criticism that followed, Massa's third visit to the top step of the podium was clearly deeply satisfying.

"All these problems in the media during the week - fortunately (they were) only for one week!" he joked.

"I'm sure now they are going to talk in a different way. It is also a nice break to be thinking about a good result and not to have so many people talking badly about you."

Those comments - and his dedication of the race to his girlfriend, because "this week was not so easy but she had a lot of patience with me" - showed that Massa had been affected by his Sepang disappointment; but he had barely shown this during the build-up to the race.

He had made a point of not apologising for his errors or criticising Lewis Hamilton. He stood by his decision to try an early pass, and said he would do the same again in the future.

This developing storyline took another intriguing twist when Hamilton proved to be Massa's closest rival in qualifying - and then declared that he intended to lead into the first corner.

With Massa having already announced that he wouldn't back down for Hamilton this time, an explosive first lap seemed to be in prospect.

But Massa extinguished the fireworks before they could happen. He simply got away well, held his line, and got on with leading the race. In his wake, Hamilton's odd weaving motions suggested he was slightly surprised to be second, and it was Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen who came close to touching as they battled for third.

Despite today's result, Massa is still five points shy of the championship lead, now held jointly by his three title rivals - and as Massa admitted, this is now a four-way fight because not only is there nothing to choose between Ferrari and McLaren, but there is nothing to choose between the teammates of each team.

"Looking at how tight and how close both cars are, Ferrari and McLaren, it's quite difficult to put money on any of us," said Massa.

Which is truly remarkable given Hamilton's inexperience. He may be the only member of the leading quartet yet to win a race, but he's also been the most consistent of the foursome so far this year, as his three combatants have all had days when they have been distinctly off-form.

In Massa's case, neither Australia nor Malaysia were among his finest hours. But in Bahrain, he showed what he can do when it all comes together. Many people 'put money' on him to win the title after his commanding testing form. Many of them then regretted it when he skittered off the road on lap six at Sepang. One consummate victory later, Massa looks like a safe bet again.

Practice

Practice one - Friday am

Although the teams had tested extensively at Sakhir over the winter, overnight thunderstorms meant that a very 'green' track awaited them at the start of practice - resulting in lap times four seconds slower than they had achieved in February, and plenty of excursions over the kerbs and onto the sandy run-off areas.

Kimi Raikkonen coped with the challenge significantly better than his rivals, leading the session by a full 1.8 seconds early on.

Even when the other title contenders emerged, they struggled to match the Finn's time, with Felipe Massa ending the session half a second slower, and both McLarens nine-tenths adrift. All three had several moments and trips off the road apiece as they battled to catch Raikkonen.

Further back, initial pacesetter Trulli retained fifth, and Vitantonio Liuzzi starred with eighth, behind the BMWs.

Only the 22 race drivers took part in the session, with BMW and Williams' regular test drivers both otherwise engaged as the GP2 and World Series by Renault seasons got underway.

Practice two - Friday pm

A much more open second session saw Raikkonen, Massa, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton all take turns on top, before the Finn emerged fastest again, but only by 0.013 seconds from Hamilton.

BMW intruded on the top four, with Robert Kubica taking third and reminding the leading teams just how fast the F1.07 had been in testing at Sakhir. The Pole had switched to his spare chassis for the afternoon after suffering a repeat of his Malaysia handling problems in first practice.

Massa was inadvertently involved in the session's most dramatic incident, spinning off on the oil deposited when Jenson Button's Honda suffered a massive, fiery, engine failure as he accelerated out of Turn 2. The Briton therefore ended the afternoon slowest of all, but at least under this year's regulations he was not facing a 10 place grid penalty.

Practice three - Saturday am

The final practice session was a thriller, as Raikkonen, Massa, Hamilton and both BMWs swapped the top spot repeatedly in a frantic hour. Hamilton emerged on top in the end, but only by 0.006 seconds from Raikkonen, while Massa looked set to beat both of them had he not lost one lap to yellow flags, then had to abandon an even faster one when he went off at Turn 14.

That left the Brazilian sixth, ahead of Alonso - who never featured in the battle for first position - but behind Anthony Davidson, as the Super Aguri driver showed stunning practice pace again to take fifth.

The Renaults languished at the back of the field for most of the hour while carrying out long, heavy fuel, runs to assess brake wear. Although they eventually jumped into the top ten, both hit problems, with Giancarlo Fisichella requiring a gearbox change, and Heikki Kovalainen and his engine having to swap to the spare car after yet another fuel pump failure. The same problem also halted Renault-powered Red Bull driver David Coulthard.

Practice round up

Sorted by total laps from all three sessions

Qualifying

Part one

David Coulthard was the only prominent casualty of the opening 15 minutes. His Red Bull lost seventh gear during its first lap and the team hoped that a sensor change would rectify the problem. Instead Coulthard found himself lacking fifth, sixth and seventh when he returned to the track.

"Not ideal when you're trying to qualify," he summarised after ending up 21st and out.

Even though both Williams, both Renaults and both Toyotas all hovered in or near the drop zone at various stages during the final three minutes of the segment, in the event all the other major teams got through to Q2 - including the troubled Hondas, who set respectable times early on and clung on as other drivers' improvements edged them back to 14th and 16th.

The Spykers took 20th and 22nd, Adrian Sutil comfortably ahead of Christijan Albers, who went off on his last run. Both believed they could join the midfield battle in the race.

The Toro Rosso drivers were faster but more frustrated - Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed feeling they had taken a step backwards after a promising Sepang showing.

"Malaysia was more of a driver circuit where I could try and make a bit of difference, but here it is just down to the car," suggested 18th-placed Liuzzi, who reckoned the chassis was lacking downforce as well as still being something of a mystery to the developing team.

While Anthony Davidson comfortably got his Super Aguri into Q2, Takuma Sato missed the cut by 0.017 seconds after an error on his last run.

Part two

As is so often the case, the margin between qualification and elimination in Q2 was tiny, with just 0.127 seconds covering eighth to 12th places.

The Williams, Renaults and the impressive Davidson were the main protagonists in this battle.

The Super Aguri held 10th with a few minutes remaining, but it was edged out as first Alex Wurz, then Heikki Kovalainen squeezed ahead on their final runs.

Their relief would be short-lived though, for their teammates Nico Rosberg and Giancarlo Fisichella both found more time on their own laps, edging Wurz and Kovalainen back to row six, ahead of the delighted Davidson.

"It was a very good qualifying session and I enjoyed it immensely," he said.

Jarno Trulli breezed through to Q1 for Toyota again, but teammate Ralf Schumacher was a troubled 14th, struggling with understeer and unable to get the car to his liking.

Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button were equally uncomfortable with the Honda, but their issues were more fundamental than set-up problems. A change of wing during the session failed to solve Button's difficulties with locking front brakes and poor front downforce, and although the team had managed to move up the order in the races so far in 2007, the pessimistic Briton thought that was little to do with their own efforts.

"I think it's just because we have a straightforward race day and other people seem to mess up," said Button.

Part three

Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton moved clear of both their teammates and the rest of the field in qualifying, taking first and second in Q1 and Q2.

Their battle stepped up another gear when it mattered in Q3. They were evenly matched on their first flying laps, with Massa lapping in 1:33.090 and Hamilton just 0.026 seconds slower.

The times in the first two sectors suggested it might be closer still when they rejoined on fresh tyres for the final showdown, but Hamilton had already lost time by locking up at Turn 1, and then dropped more ground with a "hectic" Turn 13. He improved on his previous time by a tenth, whereas Massa found nearly half a second and claimed his second successive pole with a 1:32.652.

While Massa celebrated, Hamilton rued his errors.

"To be honest it wasn't that great - I definitely had better laps earlier in the session," he admitted. "Qualifying is extremely intense and you need to pull out absolutely everything on that last lap."

Their teammates were a comparatively muted third and fourth, both half a second from pole, with Kimi Raikkonen fractionally ahead of Fernando Alonso.

The Finn remained unhappy with his car's qualifying set-up, and also cited traffic on both his new tyre runs, while Alonso hinted that his relative lack of speed may be down to fuel strategy.

The BMWs failed to get amongst the title rivals and shared row three, Nick Heidfeld 0.3 seconds clear of Robert Kubica and expecting to spend Sunday in a similar 'best of the rest' position.

"The gap is significant, but we have again been the third strongest team," said the contented German. "To improve on these positions in the race will only be possible if a Ferrari or a McLaren has been extremely light today, or something unpredictable happens."

Fisichella felt that seventh was "the maximum" Renault could hope for, having narrowly beaten Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli to the position. Just 0.098 seconds covered this trio, with all three - and 10th placed Nico Rosberg - somewhat relieved to be in the top ten considering the ferocity of the competition in this part of the field.

Qualifying results

The Race

Given the events of Malaysia and their combative post-qualifying comments, the odds of front row partners Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton tangling at the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix seemed pretty high.

But in the event, they stayed far apart, as Massa got off the line comfortably ahead of Hamilton and led into Turn 1.

Instead it was their teammates who came closest to tangling. Kimi Raikkonen confessed to "a bit of a mistake on the start button" and Fernando Alonso shot past the Ferrari as they accelerated away.

However, Alonso then got caught behind Hamilton on the inside as they braked for the first corner, allowing Raikkonen to sweep back around the world champion on the outside, and almost get ahead of the second McLaren as well.

Raikkonen ran out of space at Turn 2 and had to accept third place, and his loss of momentum gave Alonso a chance to retaliate - pouncing on the Ferrari down the outside line into the tight Turn 4 and reclaiming third.

"I needed to back off because I got understeer and so Alonso got a very good run at me into the next corner," Raikkonen recalled. "I was on the inside but he could brake later."

In the background, Jenson Button spun while trying to avoid being sandwiched between Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard, just as Adrian Sutil speared into the back of Scott Speed and then ran over his own detached front wing, scattering more debris.

While the Spyker headed to the pits for prolonged repairs, the Honda and Toro Rosso were left stranded on the track - neither car's anti-stall system having worked as desired.

The mess prompted a three lap safety car and gave the determined Hamilton another chance to attack Massa at the restart, although his feint to the inside at Turn 1 was more in hope than expectation.

Raikkonen seemed to be caught out by the green flag and crossed the line some distance behind the top three, but it didn't take him long to pull up behind Alonso, who was having an off-key race reminiscent of Indianapolis and Hockenheim 2006.

"I was not competitive today and I was not able to lap at the right pace," the world champion admitted. "I found no confidence in the car and overall grip was quite poor, I was having oversteer and understeer at the same time."

As the first pit stops neared, Alonso had already fallen 10 seconds behind Massa and Hamilton - who ran nose to tail initially - and was under increasing pressure from both Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld.

Hamilton's early speed proved to be at least partially fuel-related, as he was the first of the frontrunners to stop on lap 19. His pace immediately dropped away, the combination of scrubbed soft tyres and a heavy fuel load for a long middle stint (six laps more than Massa) proving incompatible.

"On the option tyre in the middle stint - that's where we lost the race," Ron Dennis reflected after seeing Massa rejoin 3.4 seconds clear of Hamilton after the Ferrari's lap 21 stop, and then quickly pull away.

"The car was quite a bit different with the scrubbed tyres and I had quite a bit more understeer," Hamilton explained.

"The balance wasn't very good and I was unable to brake as late and carry as much speed through certain corners, and therefore I was losing a lot of time to Felipe."

By contrast, Ferrari got Massa's car more to his liking for the second stint, and the Brazilian revelled in it.

"In the first stint my car was not really well balanced and I was suffering from a lot of oversteer," Massa said. "Lewis was quite close for the whole stint but then the second stint was fantastic for me.

"The car was behaving very, very well on scrubbed tyres. I took away a bit of front wing and it was really much easier to drive and I could build a nice gap."

That 'nice gap' became as great as 10 seconds by half-distance, and it looked like Hamilton might have to switch his focus to the advancing Raikkonen.

Both Alonso and Raikkonen had been fuelled slightly longer than the leaders - pitting on laps 22 and 23 respectively. Eager to leapfrog Alonso, Ferrari put Raikkonen on a short second stint and successfully got him back on track a second ahead of the McLaren.

He quickly increased that gap and closed in on Hamilton, matching Massa's pace as he did so.

McLaren expected to come under pressure from a Ferrari, but seeing their number one car being hounded by a BMW-Sauber was more of a surprise. And Heidfeld wasn't just pushing the troubled Alonso - on lap 31 he capitalised on a slip by the Spaniard at the penultimate corner to slipstream the world champion and attack at Turn 1.

Alonso defended the inside and lost momentum down the next straight. He hugged the tight line approaching Turn 4 but could not prevent Heidfeld driving around the outside of him and completing the pass with a slight brush of wheels.

Team boss Mario Theissen could barely conceal his delight on the pit wall, while for Heidfeld the move was a new high in his most enjoyable start to an F1 season.

"I feel fantastic," he said. "Currently I have a good car, a good team, I can drive good races and I really enjoy this."

On paper, McLaren's strategy looked canny. With the softer Bridgestones clearly superior around Sakhir, it made sense to maximise the time spent on them. In theory, the four extra soft tyre laps that Hamilton had over Massa (and the two laps longer that Alonso ran after Raikkonen's final stop) should have paid dividends. However, not only were the gaps too large by that time, but the performance differential was not as clear-cut as anticipated - with Massa actually setting the race's fastest lap on his first full lap on hard tyres, despite his laden fuel tank.

So Hamilton was only able to cut Massa's lead to 7.6 seconds, and Alonso remained 19 seconds away from the front and still looking at the back of Heidfeld's BMW.

McLaren's strategy did manage to avert a Ferrari one-two, though, for Hamilton emerged from his lap 44 stop two seconds clear of Raikkonen, and the Finn was not inclined to give chase.

"I knew (after) following Fernando at the start of the race that you cannot get past if the guy doesn't make a mistake, so there was no point to push any more," he said. "I took it easy after that."

That left Hamilton - his car reinvigorated by the switch to harder tyres - to chase down Massa. The shrinking gap was slightly deceptive, as Massa suggested that he was driving no faster than was necessary and preserving his car, but it still created a tense finale as Hamilton got within 2.3 seconds of the Ferrari by the flag.

Both men celebrated triumphantly in parc ferme, and with good reason, for Massa had thoroughly atoned for Sepang and hauled himself into title contention, while Hamilton's third podium out of three meant that he had now made statistically the best debut in Formula 1 history.

Raikkonen seemed faintly puzzled to be third, 10 seconds behind his teammate at the flag, and three seconds ahead of the deeply impressive Heidfeld, who successfully kept Alonso at bay.

If the Spaniard was bristling with anger at being beaten by Ferrari, upstaged by his rookie teammate and passed around the outside by a BMW-Sauber, he didn't let it show. He remained steadfast in his post-race interviews, knowing that he has managed to shrug off similarly unimpressive GPs in the past and still wrap up championships in the end.

Robert Kubica strengthened BMW's third place in the constructors' table and opened his own points account for 2007 by taking sixth, but he had been some distance from Heidfeld's pace all afternoon.

The Pole pointed to a jammed fuel filler flap compromising his aerodynamics. He had been under pressure from the lighter cars of Giancarlo Fisichella (who Kubica had to work hard to fend off on the opening lap) and Mark Webber, but once they had pitted his only company came from traffic.

The remainder of the points should all have gone to Red Bull. Instead the team went home empty-handed and, in Webber's case, angry.

He too suffered from a jammed fuel flap - not for the first time this season.

"The same thing we had in Melbourne, and the same thing I've had with this car since day one," Webber complained. "It's frustrating to say the least, and it's not good enough."

The problem kept him trapped behind Fisichella as the Renault lost pace following its first stop, and allowed his flying teammate Coulthard to appear on his tail by lap 25.

The Scot was driving an outstanding race from the back row of the grid, having decided that an aggressive strategy was the only way to make progress.

"Typically from the back you'd go for one stop and running long, but as we saw in Malaysia going one stop didn't give me a chance to overtake," Coulthard explained.

"I felt that my racing ability would maybe give us more of an advantage."

Hence a 17 lap opening stint in which Coulthard overtook 10 cars and closed right in on the battling Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli before pitting for the first time.

He vaulted both with fast out-laps, was given plenty of space by his frustrated teammate once he appeared on Webber's tail, and then surged past Fisichella with a determined move from some distance back on lap 31.

Webber pounced on the Renault later in the lap, putting both Red Bulls in the points. But within ten laps they were both out - Coulthard stopping first with a driveshaft failure, and Webber hitting gearbox problems five laps later.

"I've been here too often," fumed Webber, who is all too accustomed to seeing promising races end in frustration.

Their retirements allowed Trulli and Fisichella into the points. Both Renaults suffered from severe tyre wear at different stages of the race and large queues formed behind them, invariably led by Trulli.

The Italian got around the fast-starting but fuel-heavy Kovalainen for ninth with a neat move at Turn 10 on lap 15 - and the pass worked so well that he repeated it on Fisichella 16 laps later.

The Renault found more speed on hard tyres at the end, allowing Fisichella to attack his compatriot repeatedly in the closing laps, but Trulli was resolute. With Ferrari, McLaren and BMW clearly ahead, he declared that seventh place "feels like a victory."

Kovalainen missed out on points again in ninth. Whereas Fisichella's tyre troubles had come in the middle of the race, Kovalainen had issues in his first and third stints. His lack of pace approaching his late first stop saw him drop behind both Williams, but he regained the positions during the second pit sequence and held off Nico Rosberg at the end.

Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, and Kimi Raikkonen on the Bahrain podium © XPB/LAT

Rosberg had lost several positions at the start, and went off the road briefly early in the race avoiding the dicing Trulli and Alex Wurz at Turn 5. He got ahead of his teammate in the pits but was troubled by a lack of feeling from his brakes all afternoon.

The oversteering Wurz fell out of this battle after making a very early final stop on lap 34, and finished a lapped 11th.

Anthony Davidson was set to chase the Williams to the flag after an excellent run for Super Aguri, but was sadly halted by engine failure with six laps to go. The rookie didn't make his first pit stop until half-distance, and consequently ran as high as sixth - a new record for his young team. The strategy didn't quite work out, as he emerged from the pits just as the seven-car train headed by Fisichella swept past, but he kept pace with the group and outperformed teammate Takuma Sato, who had suffered a rather more spectacular engine failure 17 laps earlier.

Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello trailed home 12th and 13th after uncompetitive and uneventful races, beating only the Spykers. Despite the team's post-qualifying optimism, Christijan Albers did not have the pace to join the midfield scrap, while Sutil managed to damage the nose mountings when he hit Speed at the start and consequently lost three laps in the pits.

At least Spyker got two cars to the finish, unlike Toro Rosso. Vitantonio Liuzzi pitted under the early safety car to get rid of his hard tyres and switch to a one-stop strategy. The effectiveness of this plan would remain a moot point, as he then had to take a drivethrough penalty for passing Schumacher after the yellows had come out, and subsequently suffered a hydraulic failure.

Race results

57 laps; 308.238km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1h33:27.515
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +     2.360
 3.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  +    10.839
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  +    13.831
 5.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +    14.426
 6.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  +    45.529
 7.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +  1:21.371
 8.  Fisichella    Renault              (B)  +  1:21.701
 9.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  +  1:29.411
10.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  +  1:29.916
11.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota      (B)  +     1 lap
12.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Albers        Spyker-Ferrari       (B)  +    2 laps
15.  Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari       (B)  +    4 laps
16.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +    6 laps

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:34.067

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)    42
Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)    37
Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)    35
Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)    27
Button        Honda                (B)    1
Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 3:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso        22        1.  McLaren-Mercedes      44
 2.  Raikkonen     22        2.  Ferrari               39
 3.  Hamilton      22        3.  BMW Sauber            18
 4.  Massa         17        4.  Renault                9
 5.  Heidfeld      15        5.  Toyota                 5
 6.  Fisichella     8        6.  Williams-Toyota        2
 7.  Trulli         4
 8.  Kubica         3
 9.  Rosberg        2
10.  R.Schumacher   1
11.  Kovalainen     1

Team-by-Team

Hamilton can't complete the 3-2-1 sequence but does make history by taking a third podium in his third F1 start. He is fastest in third practice then pushes Massa hard for pole and then chases the Brazilian in the first stint of the race. A less competitive long middle stint sees him fall back, but he resists Raikkonen and then regains ground on Massa on the way to second.

Alonso has a low-key weekend, never happy with his car. He qualifies fourth, passes Raikkonen on the first lap, but drops a place in the pits and is passed on the road by Heidfeld. The winner of the past two Bahrain GPs finishes fifth.

Another trying weekend for the champions. Kovalainen has to switch to the T-car after his now regular fuel pump failure in practice, while Fisichella needs a gearbox change before qualifying. The Italian takes seventh on the grid, the Finn is only 12th.

Both run in the top ten all race despite varying degrees of tyre trouble that result in them holding up trains of cars. A strong final stint allows Fisichella to pressure Trulli for seventh, but Kovalainen can only hold off Rosberg for ninth.

Massa redeems himself by winning from pole. Hamilton puts him under pressure at first, but an imperious middle stint breaks the McLaren's challenge. Raikkonen dominates Friday practice then fades.

He remains ill at ease with the Ferrari's qualifying set-up and starts third, then losing time stuck behind Alonso after being out-fumbled on the first lap. Passes the McLaren in the first stops, but can't do the same to Hamilton later on so settles for third.

Button suffers a huge engine failure on Friday, qualifies an unhappy 16th, then spins on the first lap and cannot restart the car. Barrichello reaches Q2 for the first time in 2007 but is only 15th, then struggles all race, describing his chassis as "terrible". Finishes 13th.

Mario Theissen is jubilant after what he describes as his young team's best ever performance. Some top three practice times suggest that BMW might get on terms with Ferrari and McLaren this weekend, but they have to settle for the third row in qualifying, Heidfeld ahead.

He then runs with Alonso and Raikkonen early on before passing the world champion with an excellent outside line move in the second stint. Resists the McLaren's later retaliation to earn fourth. Kubica is troubled by a stuck fuel flap and takes a distant sixth.

Trulli is fast on Friday morning, ending the session in fifth, and keeps himself in the top ten all weekend. Qualifies ninth, then loses a little ground at the start again. Spends most of the race battling grip-less Renaults, and successfully passes both of them with brave moves at Turn 10. Fends off the resurgent Fisichella at the end to earn seventh.

Schumacher has suspension problems in practice three but never feels comfortable with the car. He qualifies 14th and struggles to get on terms with the upper midfielders in the race, finishing an anonymous 12th.

Coulthard has a fuel pump failure in final practice and loses half his gears in qualifying, resulting in 21st on the grid. But a light early fuel load and an optimistic attitude see him surge up the order early on, and he's in the top ten after the first stops.

He reaches seventh before a broken driveshaft ends his race. Webber continues his run of Q3 appearances and starts eighth, but loses pace when his fuel flap sticks open. Lets his teammate past, overtakes Fisichella for eighth then inherits another place when Coulthard drops out, only to retire himself five laps later when the gearbox wilts.

Strong practice times prove to be the high point as Williams lose ground. Only Rosberg makes it into Q3, but it makes little difference as he starts 10th to Wurz's 11th. They are in the thick of the upper midfield dices with the Renaults, Red Bulls, Davidson and Trulli in the race, but both struggle to make progress - Wurz with oversteer and an early final stop, Rosberg with braking concerns. The German chases Kovalainen home for 10th, his teammate finishes 10 seconds behind in 11th.

Liuzzi takes eighth in first practice but the team struggles for the rest of the weekend. The Italian is 17th in qualifying, one place ahead of Speed. Both hit trouble early on - Speed being taken out by Sutil on the first corner, and Liuzzi pitting under yellow and switching to a bold one-stop strategy only to receive a drivethrough penalty for passing Schumacher behind the safety car, and then retire with hydraulic problems near half-distance.

The team remain firmly at the back, although Coulthard's qualifying problems allow Sutil to get off the back row and take 20th - two places ahead of Albers. Both finish the race, but Sutil is three laps down after hitting Speed on the first lap and damaging the front end of his car. Albers cannot keep pace with the pack and loses more speed with hydraulic problems in the closing stages.

Davidson has his best F1 weekend yet - going fifth quickest on Saturday morning. He only manages 13th on the grid, but runs competitively in the group chasing the Renaults, and gets as high as sixth thanks to a very long first stint. Falls to the tail of the queue after pitting and later retires with engine problems when heading for 12th. Sato is outpaced, only qualifies 17th, and runs 10 second behind his teammate until a dramatic engine failure on lap 34.

Lap-by-Lap

Lap 1: Pole position qualifier Felipe Massa gets away cleanly to lead Lewis Hamilton through Turn 1. Fernando Alonso briefly gets past Kimi Raikkonen, but is swiftly repelled. The Spaniard makes a move stick around the outside, however, as the world championship's top two approach Turn 4.

Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica lie fifth and sixth, from Giancarlo Fisichella, Mark Webber, Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno Trulli, Alex Wurz, Anthony Davidson, Nico Rosberg, Takuma Sato, David Coulthard, Rubens Barrichello, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Ralf Schumacher and Christijan Albers.

Felipe Massa leads the field into turn one at the start © Reuters

Back at Turn 4, the track is covered in carbon fragments after a three-car collision. Adrian Sutil tips Jenson Button into a spin and Scott Speed goes off in avoidance. Sutil heads for the pits for repairs after his third first-lap shunt in as many races. He loses two laps. Button and Speed are out on the spot. The Safety Car is deployed.

Lap 2: Liuzzi pits to switch from mediums to softs.

Lap 4: Restart. Massa leads by 0.6 seconds. Rosberg passes Davidson.

Lap 5: Coulthard passes Sato. Schumacher disposes of Barrichello.

Lap 6: Coulthard passes Davidson. Liuzzi passes Albers.

Lap 7: Massa extends his advantage to 0.9 seconds.

Lap 8: Liuzzi is handed a drive-through for passing while behind the Safety Car. Massa leads by 1.0 seconds. Alonso is 3.1 seconds further adrift in third, 0.6 seconds clear of Raikkonen.

Lap 9: Liuzzi serves his penalty.

Lap 10: Hamilton posts a 1:34.809 - fastest lap so far - and closes to within 0.8 seconds of Massa. Rosberg runs wide at Turn 6 after almost clipping team-mate Wurz, who is fighting hard for 10th with Trulli. The German loses a place to Coulthard.

Lap 13: Massa laps in 1:34.776 to restore his 1.0 seconds advantage.

Lap 14: Massa goes faster again: 1:34.693. He's 1.4 seconds clear.

Lap 15: Hamilton responds: 1:34.607. He's 1.0 seconds behind Massa, 7.0 seconds clear of Alonso. Trulli passes Kovalainen for ninth, Coulthard wrests 11th from Wurz.

Lap 17: Hamilton ups his pace again: 1:34.490. Massa, too, sets a personal best (1:34.648) and the gap remains 1.1 seconds. Coulthard, Wurz and Schumacher pit.

Lap 18: More fastest laps: Massa 1:34.408, Hamilton 1:34.270. Webber pits.

Lap 19: Hamilton and Fisichella pit. Hamilton rejoins sixth, behind Kubica. Rosberg and Kovalainen go off in unison at the final corner - and the Williams driver gains a place in the process.

Felipe Massa leaves the pits © Reuters

Lap 20: Sato and Albers pit.

Lap 21: Massa peels in. He rejoins ahead of Hamilton. Alonso leads. Trulli pits, too. Fisichella passes Barrichello. Liuzzi pits for a significant period before rejoining.

Lap 22: Alonso and Rosberg pit.

Lap 23: Raikkonen, Heidfeld and Kubica all pit. The Finn rejoins just ahead of Alonso. Coulthard passes Trulli.

Lap 24: Massa leads Hamilton by 4.6 seconds, with Raikkonen another 5.9 seconds adrift in third.

Lap 25: Kovalainen pits. Coulthard passes Barrichello.

Lap 26: Raikkonen carves 0.8 seconds out of Hamilton's advantage. Rosberg runs wide at Turn 13. Barrichello pits.

Lap 28: Coulthard passes team-mate Webber for ninth. Webber's fuel flap appears to be open. Davidson pits from sixth and rejoins 14th, behind Kovalainen. Liuzzi, two laps in arrears, pits to retire.

Lap 29: Raikkonen closes to within 2.9 seconds of Hamilton.

Lap 30: With all first stops complete, Massa leads Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso, Heidfeld, Kubica, Fisichella, Coulthard, Webber, Trulli, Rosberg, Wurz, Kovalainen, Davidson, Schumacher, Sato, Barrichello and Albers.

Lap 31: Coulthard passes Fisichella for seventh. Webber follows suit.

Lap 32: Heidfeld passes Alonso for fourth.

Lap 34: Wurz pits. Sato pulls off with a blown engine.

Lap 35: Coulthard pits. Trulli passes Fisichella for ninth.

Lap 36: Raikkonen laps in 1:34.523 - a personal best - to put Hamilton within 1.4 seconds. Coulthard pits again, this time with a trail of smoke in his wake and flames licking around his engine bay.

Lap 38: Webber sheds some bodywork - it looks suspiciously like the fuel flap - and makes a scheduled stop at the end of the lap. Schumacher peels in, too.

Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton late in the race © XPB/LAT

Lap 39: Rosberg and Davidson pit.

Lap 40: Massa pits. Hamilton leads.

Lap 41: Raikkonen and Heidfeld pit.

Lap 42: Hamilton leads Alonso by 9.4 seconds. Massa, third, sets fastest lap: 1:34.067. Webber is off the road at Turn 12. Trulli and Kovalainen pit.

Lap 43: Alonso and Kubica pit.

Lap 44: Hamilton pits. He rejoins second, between Massa and Raikkonen. Heidfeld is fourth, from Alonso and Kubica. Fisichella pits from seventh.

Lap 45: Massa leads Hamilton by 7.6 seconds, with Raikkonen 1.8 seconds further adrift. Alonso is 2.0 seconds behind Heidfeld.

Lap 46: The McLarens appear to be working well on medium Bridgestones. Hamilton is half a second quicker than both Ferraris, Alonso gains similarly on Heidfeld. Barrichello pits.

Lap 48: Hamilton is 6.0 seconds behind Massa... and closing.

Lap 52: Davidson pulls off with a smoking engine.

Lap 53: Hamilton trails by 3.9 seconds but time is running out - and lapped traffic is dense.

Lap 55: Massa is still 3.5 seconds clear with two laps to go. Alonso is 0.9 seconds behind Heidfeld.

Lap 57: Massa wins by 2.3 seconds from Hamilton, Raikkonen, Heidfeld, Alonso, Kubica, Trulli and Fisichella. Provisionally, Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton are level at the top of the championship table, on 22 points.