Massa Dominates Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix For 2nd Straight Victory In Turkey

[PressRoom-GFN]

By Mike Lane

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Aug. 26, 2007) -- The bad news entering Sunday's Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix was that Honda’s Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello both had to have an engine change in their cars, relegating them to the back of the grid; a continuation of their season-long nightmare.

At the front, as the cars lined up on the grid, the key question remained as to how Hamilton's and Alonso’s starting positions on the dirty side of the track would affect their starts. As the red lights went out and the cars rocketed down to the first corner, the answer was clear. Hamilton was relegated to third behind Kimi Raikkonen, who got a great start, while Fernando Alonso dropped to sixth as the BMWs of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica got their traction down more efficiently. It looked like the Ferraris' soft tire choice had paid off against McLaren's hard tires.

With each lap in the 58-lap race consisting of 3.3 miles around a counter clockwise circuit that features six right turns and eight left turns, different demands were placed on the drivers. For example, through turn 8 the drivers experience 5g for several seconds and four apexes at speeds in excess of 150 mph.

Within two laps, Massa had amassed a 0.886-second advantage over teammate Raikkonen, who was 1.148 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Some drivers gained from the start, while others lost. At this stage, the losses and gains were as follows:
Massa 0
Raikkonen +1
Hamilton -1
Kubica +1
Heidfeld +1
Alonso -2
Kovaleinen 0
Rosberg 0
Coultard +4
Webber +2
Wurz +3

On lap 10, Webber retired with hydraulic problems and the appalling luck of the Australian star continued.

Surprisingly, Robert Kubica made his first pit stop on lap 13, confirming he was on a different strategy from teammate Nick Heidfeld. This was borne out on lap 18 when Heidfeld made his first pit stop. Nico Rosberg and Davod Coulthard also pitted, just one lap before Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso made their first stop.

Leader, Felipe Massa was in one lap later, but came out behind Heikki Kovalainen's Renault, which hasn’t yet stopped. This was for position and Kovaleinen didn't have to yield. This was a blow for Massa, as his car was faster.

On lap 21, Hamilton made his first pit stop. When he resumed, he had gained on both Ferraris.

The next lap Kovaleinen pitted and the problem disappeared for Massa, while Honda's Button made a pass on Coulthard for 12th. When Renault's Kovaleinen exited the pits, he was in front of BMW's Robert Kubica.

By lap 29 -- halfway -- Massa was still leading with Raikkonen second, some 3.375 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Meanwhile, Massa was 20.097 seconds ahead of Alonso. The race had settled down into a pattern with the top drivers holding their positions.

On lap 31 Kubica pitted for the last time, while Raikkonen closed to within 0.7 second of his teammate, Massa.

On lap 43, Massa made his last pit stop, but maintained his lead over Raikkonen. This was the point at which teammates normally stop challenging. Raikkonen seemed to be holding second. Hamilton looked safe in third for yet another podium in his short career.

How unlucky can he be though? On lap 44, a right-front tire disintegrated and the rubber caused top damage on the front wing. Miraculously, Hamilton made it back to the pits without destroying the front wing and the McLaren mechanics returned him to the track in fifth. However, the damage to the wing created handling problems. Kovaleinen closed the gap during the first three laps following the damage, but Hamilton managed to get the best out of the car and stayed ahead of him. Nevertheless, it was nip- and-tuck, as his speed was about a second a lap slower than the race's pace.

There were no more dramas for this race and although Kovaleinen closed the gap to 1.999 seconds, Hamilton held on to fifth for valuable championship points.

At the front, Massa finished a dominant race with his second consecutive win in Turkey and his teammate in second, with Alonso a lucky third.

Massa won in 1:26:42.161 with an average speed of 214.108 km/h.
2nd Raikkonen 11th Wurz
3rd Alonso 12th R. Schumacher
4th Heidfeld 13th Button
5th Hamilton 14th Davidson
6th Kovaleinen 15th Liuzzi
7th Rosberg 16th Trulli
8th Kubica 17th Barrichello
9th Fisichella 18th Sato
10th Coultard 19th Vettel
20th Yamamoto
21st Sutil
Webber unclassified

So the Championship is very close with
Hamilton 84 points
Alonso 79
Massa 69
Raikkonen 68
Heidfeld 47
Kubica 29
Kovaleinen 19
Fisichella 17
Wurz 13
Rosberg 9
Webber 8
Coultard 8
Trulli 7
Schumacher 5
Sato 4
Button 1
Vettel 1

In the team championship
McLaren 148
Ferrari 137
BMW 77
Renault 36
Williams Toyota 22
Red Bull
Toyota 12
Super Aguri Honda 4
Honda 1
STR Ferrari 0
Spyker Ferrari 0
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