Turkish Grand Prix: Hat-Trick For The Ferrari Rider
May 11, 2008
Shell
Felipe Massa in a Ferrari on Sunday secured a hat-trick of Turkish Grand Prix victories, winning from pole to beat McLaren-Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton into third place. Third place went to world champion Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari, who continues to hold the lead in the drivers’ standings.
Massa managed to protect his lead at the start, but Hamilton, who started from third, moved past team-mate Heikki Kovalainen.
Kovalainen, who had a problem with his car, was forced to come into the pits on the third lap, falling to the back of the pack.
Hamilton soon started putting pressure on Massa and managed to overtake the Brazilian on the 24th lap, but lost the lead as he was the first of the leading cars to pit for a fuel stop.
Raikkonen managed to move into second place behind Massa as the drivers in front of him also had to go into the pits.
Unlike the two Ferraris, Hamilton was on a three-stop strategy and came out sandwiched between Massa and Raikkonen after his final stop.
For Massa, it was a straightforward day – in spite of Hamilton’s speed – and he has now moved himself back into third in the standings, level on 28 points with his McLaren rival.
Fourth was secured by BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica, a squad that will be pleased to be moving on from Turkey after a rather subdued weekend, with team-mate Nick Heidfeld fifth.
Fernando Alonso was sixth for Renault, with Red Bull’s Mark Webber seventh, Nico Rosberg eighth, David Coulthard ninth and Jarno Trulli tenth.
