Felipe Massa has won the Turkish Grand Prix for the 3rd time in a row.
The Brazilian held off pressure from Hamilton in the McLaren to take the flag, and put himself back in contention for the world championship.
Hamilton was condemmed to 2nd place after his 3 stop strategy, although Raikkonen pushed hard he had to settle for 3rd.
Race Review
The cars lined up on the grid with clouds above, and the threat of rain was the word on all strategists lips.
The drivers seemed to be sat on the grid for an age as the lights didn’t come on very quickly. When they did, all hell broke loose! Massa got away cleanly, as did Hamilton who slotted into 2nd place. Raikkonen tried to nip down the inside of Kovalainen but the McLaren driver blocked the world champ, and his front wing nudged Kovalainen’s rear tyre giving him a subsequent puncture.
At the back, Fisichella pile drove into the back of Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams, he just didn’t stop early enough. Both were out, Fisichella never seems to get further than the first corner at Turkey! Vettel wasn’t fully involved, but he and Sutil had to pit for repair work.
Back with Raikkonen, and the heavy braking meant he lost out on positions to Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica.
From then on Raikkonen was on the tail of Alonso, and on the back straight he slipstreamed the Spaniard and pulled around him beautifully. They were neck and neck at one point, but then the Renault disappeared like the Ferrari had hit a boost button!
It was quite quiet then until the first stops, with Ferrari looking fast until the option compound tyres they started on began graining and Hamilton was getting close. Alonso was the first to pit, very early but then Hamilton came in after. The shortness of the stop, and another set of hards meant that it was likely he was on a 3 stop.
Massa and Raikkonen had perfect stops, meaning the Finn came back out ahead of Kubica.
This second part was vital for Hamilton, as being light he was very fast. He managed to grasp the 1st place of Massa, in an interesting move at the end of the back straight, one of the afternoon’s favourite overtaking spots. Massa could hae defended more, but seemed to yield the position.
Further back, Kovalainen was cutting through the field after his stop with 32 laps to go, he was fueled to the end, but in a bizarre choice by the strategists, he needed a soft tyre stop. With a tight middle pack, plenty of lookins were going on. A great fight between Kovalainen and Glock, followed by Nelson Piquet showing grace and experience as he battled hard with Jenson Button, who lost his place.
Sebastien Bourdais retired a lap after Hamilton passed Massa. He was braking nicely for a corner, when his car just spun out and beached in the gravel. It looked to be a technical fault, not good in what may have been the cars final race.
Hamilton had to drop in the pits again, before a relatively mediocre and boring middle of the race.
When the final round of stops came in, Massa looked in a clear lead and it was going to be tight between Hamilton and Raikkonen. Hamilton pitted, put the softs on and went back out in a sub 6 second stop, pulling in front of Kimi Raikkonen who was hassling all over Hamilton’s rear wing.
The hassling and looking continued during the final 16 laps, but Raikkonen showed a much more mature side and instead od risking everything he settled for 6 points.
Massa won, Hamilton second, Raikkonen third. Those 3 were in a different league to the rest of the field today.
In a special mention, Rubens Barrichello is now officially the most experienced driver of all time, with 257 GP’s to his name. It was though a poor race for the Brazilian, only beating Piquet, Vettel and Sutil.
Results
2008 Petrol Ofisi Turkish GP,
Istanbul Park, Istanbul,
58 laps,
Sunny/Cloudy at the start
Classified Result
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1.26.49.451 |
| 2 | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +3.779 |
| 3 | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | +4.271 |
| 4 | R. Kubica | BMW Sauber | +21.945 |
| 5 | N. Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | +38.741 |
| 6 | F. Alonso | Renault | +53.724 |
| 7 | M. Webber | Red Bull | +1.04.229 |
| 8 | N. Rosberg | Williams | +1.11.406 |
| 9 | D. Coulthard | Red Bull | +1.15.270 |
| 10 | J. Trulli | Toyota | +1.16.344 |
| 11 | J. Button | Honda | + 1 lap |
| 12 | H. Kovalainen | McLaren | + 1 lap |
| 13 | T. Glock | Toyota | + 1 lap |
| 14 | R. Barrichello | Honda | + 1 lap |
| 15 | N. Piquet | Renault | + 1 lap |
| 16 | S. Vettel | Toro Rosso | + 1 lap |
| 17 | A. Sutil | Force India | + 1 lap |
Fastest Lap: K Raikkonen, 1.26.506
Retirements
| Driver | Team | Laps | Reason |
| S. Bourdais | Toro Rosso | 25 | Mechanical |
| K. Nakajima | Williams | 1 | Crash |
| G. Fisichella | Force India | 1 | Crash |
Drivers Comments
Felipe Massa, Ferrari – “It is just fantastic. Today was a very difficult race. Lewis was pushing me hard a lot for the whole race and I thought he was very light at the beginning because he was pushing me so heavily. We made it and third time in Turkey was fantastic. I think I can get a passport here already.”
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren - “I am thrilled to have come second. With the strategy we were on yesterday I was a bit disappointed. We knew it was going to be tough to challenge the Ferraris and were hoping to get points – a top five would have been great – but the balance was great.”
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari – “I didn’t have a very good start. I got alongside (Kovalainen) under braking and got inside and tried to slow down. He turned in a bit and we touched. I broke the front wing and he got a puncture. It is racing. We had a difficult weekend and I’m happy to be third. I didn’t lose too many points.”
Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber – “Today the pace of the car was much better than in yesterday’s third qualifying session. I made a very good start and managed to gain two positions. I was then racing Kimi Räikkonen, but he pitted later and overtook me at the pit stop. I was then a little bit slower than the three guys in front of me, but quicker than the rest of the pack. This was the maximum possible for me today.”
Fernando Alonso, Renault - “We took advantage of the puncture from one of the drivers in front and we beat Webber, which is what we were expected to do, and I’m happy with how the car worked in the race. The three teams in front are way ahead of the rest, but let’s hope the next step that we take can bring us closer to them.”
Jarno Trulli, Toyota – “My race was spoiled at the start. There was a bit of confusion in the first corner, I think I was touched by a car and I lost three positions. That was it for my race because after that I couldn’t do anything to make up the ground.”
Timo Glock, Toyota - “The pace of the car was not too bad today but the race was just destroyed by being stuck in traffic.”
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