F1 - Bahrain 2007

4th April 2007

Felipe Massa finally kick-started his 2007 title challenge with victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix, while Lewis Hamilton continued the dream start to his Formula 1 career with another accomplished runner-up finish.

Massa atoned for his schoolboy error in Malaysia with a perfectly judged performance, but he was harried for much of the afternoon by the astounding Hamilton, who edged tantalisingly closer to a maiden win.

The 22-year-old Briton etched his name in the F1 record books by becoming the first driver to finish on the podium in each of his first three grands prix.

Into the bargain, he moved into a three-way tie with Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen for the lead of the world championship.

Although he regained the points lead, Raikkonen was less than satisfied after finishing more than 10 seconds adrift of his winning team-mate in third place.

BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld broke McLaren and Ferrari's stranglehold on the top quartet of places with another impressive drive to fourth, the highlight of which was a skilful passing manoeuvre on Alonso.

That left the double world champion, who was outperformed by his rookie team-mate all weekend, to settle for fifth.

Massa got away well from pole position, while from the dirty side of the track Hamilton found enough traction to hold second place into the first corner.

From the second row, Alonso outdragged Raikkonen and the Ferrari only just kept the McLaren at bay at turn one.

Alonso carried more momentum through the tight complex and muscled ahead on the approach to turn four to snatch third place.

Moments later the safety car was deployed following a melee at turn four which eliminated Jenson Button's Honda and the Toro Rosso of Scott Speed.

At the restart Raikkonen was caught napping, crossing the line a long way behind the top three, who were in nose-to-tail formation.

Hamilton feinted to the inside of Massa approaching turn one but thought better of any outlandish move and tucked back into line.

These two immediately established a cushion over Alonso, who soon had the fast-closing Raikkonen filling his mirrors.

The die was cast for the opening stint, with an increasingly large margin opening up between the Massa/Hamilton and Alonso/Raikkonen battles.

Alonso was visibly struggling with the handling of his MP4-22, locking wheels and missing apexes with uncharacteristic frequency â%u20AC" but Raikkonen was never quite able to pounce.

As a result, Kimi found himself being chased by Heidfeld's BMW Sauber, which had remained within surprisingly close range early on and was now closing in on the battle for third.

Massa and Hamilton continued to trade fastest laps all the way up to the first pit stops, the Ferrari driver edging away on one lap only for the McLaren man to reel him in again the next.

It was an absorbing duel, and such was Hamilton's relentless focus that it was easy to forget it was but his third F1 start.

Lewis was the first of the front-runners to pit and McLaren put both him and Alonso (who took on service three laps later) onto a long middle stint in a bid to turn the tables on Ferrari.

The tactic didn't pay off, as Massa turned up the wick on his scrubbed set of soft-compound tyres while both McLarens struggled for balance.

Moreover, Raikkonen leapfrogged Alonso by pitting one lap later than him, which released him to hunt down second-placed Hamilton.

With a front wing adjustment at his pit stop having cured his car's understeer, Massa stretched his lead to 8.3s lap by lap 30, while Hamilton's focus switched to fending off the other Ferrari of Raikkonen.

Meanwhile Alonso's race had really started to unravel.

The Spaniard had his work cut out keeping the flying Heidfeld behind him and finally ceded the place when the BMW driver pulled off an audacious outside pass at turn four on lap 32.

A little farther up the road, Raikkonen slowly but steadily whittled away the 5s gap to Hamilton until the pair were tied together by lap 40.

But having handicapped him earlier, the long middle stint now worked in Lewis' favour as he was able to stay out for three more laps on a light fuel load â%u20AC" thus continuing his remarkable record of leading each grand prix he has started.

Coupled with a shorter final stop, it was enough to ensure that he retained second place, emerging from the pit lane comfortably in front of Raikkonen.

Just as Massa's lead seemed secure, there was another twist in this constantly fascinating race as it drew towards its climax.

Hamilton found his McLaren was handling much better on the harder â%u20AC�%u0153prime' tyres he had taken on at his final pit stop, now free of the understeer that had bothered him in the middle stages.

The Briton began to take substantial chunks out of Massa's lead with each new lap, cutting it to 6.7s on lap 47 and 4.6s by lap 51.

His progress was thwarted a little when Anthony Davidson's Super Aguri expired in front of him and he had to navigate his way through the murky trail of oil â%u20AC" but even on that lap, he trimmed the deficit by 0.2s.

Ultimately, he ran out of laps, and Massa held on to take the chequered flag 2.3s ahead of his now regular sparring partner.

When Hamilton put on his late spurt Raikkonen was unable to stay with him, finishing more than 8s in arrears.

Alonso's pace improved in the final stint and he closed back onto Heidfeld's gearbox, but the German is one of F1's coolest customers and was never likely to give his pursuer an opening.

Robert Kubica could not match team-mate Heidfeld's pace and â%u20AC" almost alone of the 22 drivers, it seemed â%u20AC" had a lonely time en route to sixth place and his first points of 2007.

By rights, seventh place should have gone to David Coulthard, who drove his best race since scoring Red Bull's first podium finish in Monaco last year.

The Scot's feisty charge from 21st on the grid was sadly halted by a broken driveshaft shortly after his second pit stop.

Team-mate Mark Webber stepped into the breach, but his RB3 fell by the wayside five laps later.

The demise of the Red Bulls promoted Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella to the final points-paying positions.

The Toyota driver had his hands full in the closing laps staving off his fellow Italian, who despite Renault boss Flavio Briatore's animated exhortations over the radio was unable to find a way past.

Race Results

  1. Massa
  2. Hamilton
  3. Raikkonen
  4. Heidfeld
  5. Alonso
  6. Kubica
  7. Trulli
  8. Fisichella
  9. Kovalainen
  10. Rosberg
  11. Wurz
  12. Schumacher
  13. Barrichello
  14. Albers
  15. Sutil

Fastest Lap: Massa - 1m 34.067s