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Written by:
Cassio Cortes
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05/11/2008 - 06:52 AM
Istanbul, Turkey
Massa signals his Turkish hat-trick on the podium and celebrates moving up to second in the points standings. (LAT Photo) » More Photos
No one but Felipe Massa has won or started from pole in Turkey since 2006, as the Ferrari driver took a somewhat tranquil victory at Istanbul Park ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and championship points leader Kimi Raikkonen. It was the Brazilian’s second 2008 win.
From P1 on the grid, Massa made a solid start while other drivers starting on the even side of the field – notably McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen in second and Raikkonen in fourth – struggled. It was a tumultuous beginning on the back of the field: Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella missed the braking mark and ran over the back of Kazuki’s Nakajima Williams, bringing out the safety car.
The SC went back in on lap three, and Kovalainen was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop due to a puncture, effectively ruining the Finn’s race. At the restart, Massa led Hamilton and BMW’s Robert Kubica, followed by Fernando Alonso’s Renault, Raikkonen, Mark Webber’s Red Bull, Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW and Williams’ Nico Rosberg.
Raikkonen didn’t waste recovery time and made his move on Alonso already on lap three. From then on the Finn’s life was harder, and he stayed behind Kubica for the first stint.
Massa retains P1 while Fisichella and Nakajima tangle in the back. (LAT Photo) » More Photos
Alonso
Massa made his own stop on lap 19 and emerged ahead of Hamilton. On a lighter fuel load, the McLaren was quicker, and the sophomore managed to overtake the Brazilian on lap 24, with Massa offering some but not full resistance. The aftermath of the first round of stops thus had Hamilton leading Massa and Raikkonen, then Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Webber and Honda’s Jenson Button. On lap 26, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais retired after spinning off into the gravel.
Hamilton’s lead only lasted until lap 32, when he made his second stop. Two laps later, a great scrap between Toyota’s Timo Glock and Kovalainen resulted with the recovering Finn moving up to P13, still distant from the points-paying zone. One lap later, Renault’s Nelson Piquet worked hard to move past Button for P11, while Kovalainen swiftly followed, the Honda driver losing two positions with a few hundred feet’s space.
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