==Formula 1 Fans==: 2007-04-15

MASSA ON THE SEVENTH HEAVEN

Ferrari have paid tribute to Felipe Massa, after the Brazilian driver bounced back from his Malaysian disappointments to take a triumphant victory in last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Massa, who had been heavily criticised following his fifth-place finish in Sepang a week earlier, kept a cool head in Sakhir to win comfortably from pole.

Labels: post-race

Posted by >> at 4:27 AM | Permalink | Comments

MASSA MAKES A PODIUM FINISH

Ferrari's driver Felipe Massa finished first in the Bahrain GP thus making his successful third podium finish.Rookie driver(not to be called so now) Lewis Hamilton came second and Kimi came third giving Ferrari 1-3 finish.

The Brazilian led throughout but was pressured early and late in the race by Hamilton, the first man to take podiums in his first three Grands Prix.Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was third after challenging Hamilton mid-race.BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was fourth, holding off a challenge from the struggling McLaren of Fernando Alonso.

Massa needed a good result in Bahrain after disappointment in the first two races and there was no repeat of his poor start from pole in Malaysia last Sunday.

By the time of Hamilton's first stop for fuel and tyres on lap 19, the Ferrari was still only around a second ahead, but the pit-stop strategies changed everything.

Under new rules that force drivers to use two different types of tyres during a race, both men changed to the softer rubber at their first stops.

But Hamilton found his McLaren lacking grip on the new tyres and Massa began to pull away.

The Finn had spent the first stint stuck behind Alonso, but after passing the Spaniard during the first pit stops he set about trying to make good the damage.

There were seven retirements in the whole race. Jenson Button dashed Scott Speed in the first retirement itself.Later retirements were Mark Webber,Sato,David Coulthard and Liuzzi.

The result leaves Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton in a three-way tie on points at the top of the world standings, with Massa five behind.

Bahrain Grand Prix result:

1 Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari one hour 33 minutes 27.515 seconds
2 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 2.360sec behind
3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari @ 10.839sec
4 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber @ 13.831sec
5 Fernando Alonso (Sp) McLaren-Mercedes @ 14.426sec
6 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber @ 45.529sec
7 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota @ 1min 21.371sec
8 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault @ 1:21.701
9 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault @ 1:29.411
10 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota @ 1:29.916
11 Alexander Wurz (Aut) Williams-Toyota @ 1 Lap
12 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota @ 1 Lap
13 Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda @ one lap
14 Christijan Albers (Ned) Spyker-Ferrari @ two laps
15 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Spyker-Ferrari @ four laps
16 R A Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 53 Laps completed
R M Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 41 laps completed
R D Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 36 laps
R T Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 34 laps
R V Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 26 Laps
R J Button (GB) Honda R 0 laps
R S Speed (USA) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 laps