Turkish GP 2007

AUGUST 26, 2007

Race Notes - Massa leads Ferrari 1-2 at Turkish GP

Start, Turkish GP 2007
© The Cahier Archive

Brazilian Felipe Massa won the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul, leading a Ferrari 1-2 ahead of his team mate Kimi Raikkonen in second 2.2 seconds behind. Fernando Alonso finished third, 26.1 seconds behind in his McLaren-Mercedes.

Massa, who scored his first win last year at this track, has now won his third race of the season and fifth overall for his career, and has moved into third in the World Championship standings ahead of Raikkonen.

Lewis Hamilton's lead in the standings was cut to just five points ahead of his team mate Alonso after a late race tyre puncture dropped him from third place to fifth place. Ferrari has now closed on McLaren-Mercedes lead in the Constructors Championship to just 11 points.

Nick Heidfeld in the BMW was fourth, World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished in fifth in his McLaren-Mercedes - after running third for most of the race, followed by Heikki Kovalainen in the Renault in sixth, Nico Rosberg in the Williams-Toyota in seventh, and Robert Kubica in the BMW scoring the final point.

Before the start, the Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button move to the last row of the grid after both having engine changes.

At the start, the Ferraris got away well off the clean side of the track, Massa leading from Raikkonen, while Jarno Trulli spins his Toyota into the first corner being tapped from behind by Fisichella and is lucky not to be collected. Hamilton slots into third while both BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld get past Alonso.

On lap 9 Wurz passes Webber, the Australian then pitting with a mechanical problem.

At lap 10 the Ferraris edged away from the pack with Massa leading Raikkonen by a second, with Hamilton 3.6 seconds behind the leader in third, followed by Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Kovalainen, Rosberg, Coulthard and Wurz in tenth place.

On lap 12 Kubica is the first to pit from fourth place, coming back out in 11th.

On lap 17, Heidfeld pitted from fourth, along with Rosberg and Coulthard, followed the next lap by Raikkonen from second place and Alonso and Wurz - Alonso getting out ahead of Heidfeld.

On lap 19 Massa pitted from the lead, retaining his position in front of his team mate. On the next lap Hamilton pitted, handing the lead over to Kovalainen who then pitted the next lap, rejoining ahead of Kubica. Fisichella pitting on lap 22, the last of the lead cars to stop.

At lap 25, Massa continued to lead Raikkonen by 2.5 seconds, with Hamilton two seconds further back in third, his team mate Alonso 14 seconds further back in fourth, followed by Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Kubica, Rosberg, Fisichella and Davidson in tenth.

Through the second stint the order remained the same.

On lap 36 Button was the first to make a second stop, followed by his team mate on the next lap along with Kubica from seventh place.

Meanwhile on the track Raikkonen closed to under a second behind his team mate Massa.

On lap 39 Rosberg pitted from seventh place, coming out ahead of Kubica.

At lap 40 the order was Massa less than a second ahead of Raikkonen, followed six seconds further back by Hamilton, Alonso, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Fisichella, Coulthard, Rosberg and Kubica in tenth.

On lap 41 Raikkonen and Heidfeld pit, followed on lap 42 by Massa, retaining the lead, Kovalainen from fifth placem and Coulthard.

On lap 42 Hamilton suffers a right front puncture, the tyre flapping as he limps back to pits and rejoins in fifth place.

On lap 42 Alonso pits from the lead, coming back out in third, Fisichella pitting on lap 43, and Wurz on lap 44.

At lap 50 the order was Massa fourth seconds ahead of Raikkonen, followed 20 seconds further back Alonso, ahead of Heidfeld by 17 seconds followed by Hamilton in fifth place, Kovalainen, Rosberg, Kubica, Fisichella and Coulthard rounding out the top ten.

In the final laps Kovalainen closed on Hamilton, but was not able to get by, and the order remained the same to the line.