Massa won in Bahrain
For the second straight year Felipe Massa captured the Grand Prix of Bahrain. The No.2 Ferrari crossed the finish line 3.339 seconds ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen. The victory was Massa’s first of the season, the first race he completed all the laps in 2008 and the sixth of his F1 career.
Surprise pole winner Robert Kubica, the first non-Ferrari or McLaren pole winner in 22 races, brought the field to the green flag for 57 laps of racing around the 3.363-mile, 15-turn road course, but it was Massa who beat Kubica to the first corner and quickly grabbed the lead. At the other end of the spectrum was points leader Lewis Hamilton who fell from third on the grid to 10th after the opening lap. It got worse for Hamilton who slammed into the back of Fernando Alonso’s Renault on lap two destroying the front nose. Hamilton would return to the track with a new nose piece, but in 18th place and 50 seconds behind the leaders.
Meanwhile, up front, 2007 World Champion Raikkonen got around Kubica giving Ferrari the top two spots after just three laps. Massa, who failed to finish either of the first two races and was under pressure to perform this weekend, set a fastest lap on lap 7 to extend his lead to 4.3 second over his teammate.
On this day, however, no one had anything for Massa, who won in Bahrain for the second consecutive year. “The car was just very, very good and the strategy was perfect,” said Massa after the game, and he is ready for the fourth race of the season which is set for Sunday, April 28th in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix.