Massa beats off the opposition
Phillipe Massa put in a dominant display during yesterdays Turkish Grand Prix, coming first in front of Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen. It is the third time Massa has triumphed at Istanbul Park in the last three years. However, it was not all plain sailing as he had to content with a sustained challenge from Lewis Hamilton, who was on a three stop strategy to cope with the tyre demands of the anti-clockwise circuit.
The lighter McLaren allowed him to overtake Massa in the middle part of the race, however Massa was still able to reclaim the lead and take the chequered flag. As the race progressed, Hamilton came under pressure from Raikkonen and only narrowly beat him to second place. Further down the field, the BMW team carried on their quiet march into the big league with a solid fourth and fifth for Kubica and Heidfeld respectively.
By clinching victory, Massa underlined just how good he is on his day. The problem for him is to sustain that performance over the course of a season, something that he has previously not been able to do. It is not unlikely that after yesterdays performance, he'll be wedged in the barriers on the Monaco harbour side at the next race....
