Massa leads from start to finish

F1 Grand Prix, GP Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit

Felipe Massa has won the Bahrain GP in a dominant way as he lead from start to finish. It was however a close race with small margins between the front runners. Lewis Hamilton brought his McLaren home in second place, ahead of Raikkonen who completed the podium. Heidfeld meanwhile was 4th after passing Alonso who struggled for grip all weekend.

Massa was under intense pressure from Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren until the first round of refuelling stops after which he was never really troubled. Hamilton drove another stunning race to finish second. Kimi Raïkkönen came third in the other Ferrari followed by Nick Heidfeld in his BMW-Sauber and Fernando Aonso in the second McLaren. For the reigning world champion this race is a wake-up call as he was comprehensively out-driven by his young team-mate. Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber), Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) were the other points scorers.

Conditions were very tricky when the 22 cars lined up on the grid as a violent wind was blowing sand onto the track, on which the temperature was 41°C while that of the air was 30°C.

Felipe Massa made an impeccable start and emerged from the first corner in the lead. Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren held onto second thanks to a bit of zigzagging while Kimi Raïkkönen (Ferrari) tried to go round the outside and lost his third place to Alonso’s McLaren. The order at the end of the first lap was: Massa, Hamilton, Alonso, Raïkkönen plus Heidfeld and Kubica in the BMW-Saubers. The first of the ING Renault F1 Team drivers was Fisichella who had lost a place and was eighth, while Kovalainen made up three and flashed across the start/finish line ninth.

On lap 1, Button’s Honda and Speed’s Toro Rosso had a coming together in the second corner scattering broken carbon fibre all over the track. Out came the safety car to give the marshals time to clear up the mess.

The race resumed on lap 3. Hamilton pulled out to have a look down the inside of Massa at the end of the pits straight, but he was too far back to attempt a pass. Fisichella tried to do the same to Kubica but without success.

On lap 16, Heikki was overtaken by Trulli’s Toyota and fell back to tenth place, while Giancarlo was still seventh only 0.8s behind Kubica.

The first cars refuelled at the end of lap 17: Wurz’s Williams, Coulthard’s Red Bull and Schumacher’s Toyota. Lewis Hamilton dived in a lap later as did Fisichella. Kovalainen and Rosberg had a slight coming-together out on the track and the Renault driver lost a place.

Race leader Felipe Massa refuelled his Ferrari on lap 21 imitated by Jarno Trulli. Kimi Raïkkönen was the last of the top 4 to come in, which he did on lap 23. He managed to get out in front of Alonso to take third spot. Up front, Massa had increased his lead over Hamilton, and the first 4 were all on soft rubber as had been the case since the start.

Kovalainen refuelled on lap 25 and rejoined in fifteenth place. Up front, Nick Heidfeld was eating into the gap separating him from Alonso, and Raïkkönen was pulling in Hamilton.

On lap 30, Coulthard in his Red Bull snatched seventh place from Fisichella. Heidfeld was monstering Alonso and the BMW-Sauber slipped past the McLaren on lap 31 thanks to a daring overtaking move. Fisichella was obviously in trouble and fell out of the top 8 being passed by Mark Webber in the second Red Bull. In lap 35, the Italian lost another place to Trulli’s Toyota.

Three laps later, Coulthard went out with mechanical problems when in seventh place. Kimi Raïkkönen was still upping the pressure on Hamilton and was now only 0.8s behind the McLaren.

When both Davidson and Rosberg came in to refuel on lap 40 Kovalainen got back up to ninth spot behind his team-mate. On the same lap in came Massa for his final stop emulated by his team-mate forty-first time round.

Webber retired on lap 43 ending Red Bull’s hopes and on the same lap Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica both refuelled. Hamilton came in next time round for his final stop, and emerged in second just in front of Raïkkönen. Fisichella stopped on lap 44 and rejoined in eighth spot behind Jarno Trulli.

There were no further changes in the top 8 until the finish. Massa took the chequered flag some 2.3s in front of Hamilton while Raïkkönen completed the rostrum finishers, 10.8s behind his team-mate.