Bahrain GP: Ferrari double, Massa returns to victory

Felipe Massa redeemed himself after a disappointing start to the season by beating his teammate Kimi Raikkonen in the Bahrain GP today. The Ferrari duo dominated the race, scoring a one-two ahead of the author of the pole position, Robert Kubica, third today with BMW and ahead of his teammate Nick Heidfeld. Thanks to this result, the German team is leading the constructors' championship for the first time. Disastrous day for former world championship leader, Lewis Hamilton. The Englishman from McLaren lost seven positions with a bad start and then hit his former teammate, Fernando Alonso, damaging his front wing. In the end he finished in 13th position while Heikki Kovalainen in the other McLaren finished in fifth place.

Massa immediately took the lead, passing Kubica while Kovalainen moved up to third. The Finn then passed Raikkonen but was overtaken by his compatriot shortly afterwards.
Raikkonen quickly recovered and overtook Kubica by passing him around the outside at Turn 1 of the third lap, while Kovalainen lost another position to Heidfeld after running wide. After the start Hamilton found himself tenth and trying to pass Alonso he hit the rear of the Renault at turn 2. The McLaren almost took off with the front and lost the front wing, relegating Hamilton to 18th position, one minute behind the leader after replacing the nose.

There were several accidents in the early stages, among the protagonists Jenson Button (Honda), Adrina Sutil (Force India) and David Coulthard (Red Bull), all forced to return to the pits after the chaos of the first laps. Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) suffered a broken suspension while Nelson Piquet (Renault) spun on the first lap. He recovered several positions before finally retiring due to a gearbox problem.

In the lead, Massa extended his lead over Raikkonen to five seconds while Kubica put pressure on the Finn until lap 17, when he pitted for a stop, three laps before Raikkonen, the first of the Ferrari drivers to stop.

With Kubica slowed by Timo Glock (Toyota), who had chosen to complete a very long first stint, the Ferraris controlled the central part of the race. Raikkonen reduced the gap to Massa to three seconds with a series of fast laps, but the Brazilian managed to catch up again.

Once the final stops were completed, Massa found himself with a margin of seven seconds while Raikkonen concentrated on keeping Kubica at bay, who stopped later than the Ferraris. However, the Finn managed to stay ahead and now leads the world championship standings.
Heidfeld also took the lead for several laps with an extremely late final stop which allowed him to finish fourth comfortably ahead of Kovalainen. The McLaren driver set the fastest lap in the final stages but finished almost thirty seconds behind Massa.

Excellent race for Jarno Trulli, sixth with Toyota, and attacking Kovalainen in the central part. The Italian was able to resist Mark Webber (Red Bull), seventh after overtaking Nico Rosberg (Williams) in the first lap of stops.

The finishing order of the Bahrain GP:

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Massa Ferrari (B) 1h31:06.970 2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 3.339 3. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 4.998 4. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 8.409 5. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes ( B) + 26.789 6. Trulli Toyota (B) + 41.314 7. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 45.473 8. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 55.889 9. Glock Toyota (B) + 1:09.500 10. Alonso Renault (B) + 1:17.181 11. Barrichello Honda (B) + 1:17.862 12. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap 13. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 1 lap 14. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap 15. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap 16. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 1 lap 17. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 1 lap 18. Coulthard Red Bull -Renault (B) + 1 lap 19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) + 2 laps