Massa
makes amends in Bahrain
Felipe Massa made up for his Malaysian disappointments with
a great victory for Ferrari in Sundays Bahrain Grand Prix. Yet
again, however, all eyes were on Lewis Hamilton as the 22 year-old
rookie stormed into second place only 2.3s adrift of him after a
gripping chase in the final stages.
Overshadowed by both all day, Kimi Raikkonen was third, a further
8.4s behind, with Nick Heidfeld driving a superb race for BMW
Sauber to keep world champion Fernando Alonso in his mirrors after
passing him round the outside in a dramatic move on the 32nd
lap.
The result puts Hamilton, Alonso and Raikkonen in the joint lead of
the drivers world championship, with 22 points apiece. Massa moves
up to fourth on 17, with Heidfeld fifth on 15.
The race was always a battle between Massa and Hamilton, the
Brazilian holding a narrow advantage which he extended after the
first stops. The McLarens had the weaker middle stint, but came
back with a vengeance in the third on their harder compound
Bridgestones.
Crucially for Ferrari, Raikkonen took third place from Alonso after
the first stops, but equally important for McLaren a longer middle
stint for Hamilton saw him just keep ahead of the Finn when he
rejoined after his second pit call. Instead of being the hunted, as
he was in Sepang, Hamilton then became the hunter, slashing Massas
7.6s advantage to 2.3s in the remaining 13 laps and leaving
Raikkonen trailing.
The result answered several questions, not the least of which was
how Massa would react in a straight fight with Raikkonen, and how
Hamilton would perform in one with Alonso. Three races in, and the
rookie not only leads the world championship (albeit jointly) but
is the first man ever to finish on the podium in his first three
races.
It was a good day for BMW Sauber, as Robert Kubica took a distant
sixth for the team. Jarno Trulli put Toyota in the points again
with seventh place after a fabulous mid-race scrap with the
similarly-powered Williams of Nico Rosberg and Alex Wurz. The
latter both fell back, however, allowing Giancarlo Fisichella to
take the final point for the once mighty Renault team, ahead of
partner Heikki Kovalainen.
The Williams pilots were eventually 10th and 11th, helped on their
way by the retirements of the two Red Bulls. David Coulthard drove
a stormer, but neither he nor Mark Webber made it home, the former
suffering a driveshaft failure, the latter left frustrated first by
a sticking fuel flap and then by gearbox problems. Nor did the Toro
Rossos, Scott Speed coming together with Jenson Button on lap one,
and Tonio Liuzzi being delayed by the same incident and eventually
retiring - though not before picking up a drive-through penalty for
passing under the safety car that came out briefly following the
Speed and Button incident.
Ralf Schumacher was an undistinguished 12th, having been thoroughly
drubbed by Anthony Davidson, who was headed for 12th when his Honda
V8 went the same way as team mate Takuma Satos - up in smoke -
after he had outpaced the Japanese pilot.
Hondas only finisher was thus Rubens Barrichello, in 13th, ahead
of the Spykers of Christijan Albers and Adrian Sutil, who was
forced to make an early stop after sustaining damage as a result of
the first-lap melee.
Reminded of his new status as the only man with successive podiums
in the three opening rounds, Hamilton had one word: Sweet!
Indeed it was, for him and for Massa.
http://www.formula1.com/race/news/5961/772.html
