Felipe Massa of Ferrari won the Turkish grand prix on Sunday from the pole position, his first Formula One victory in his 67th race.
”It’s like a dream come true,” he said, choking back tears after an emotional win.
Renault’s Fernando Alonso held off Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher in a thrilling duel over the last dozen laps to take second and increase his lead slightly over the German in the season standings.
With four races to go — next up is the Italian GP on September 10 — defending champion Alonso has 108 points and seven-time champion Schumacher has 96. In the team points’ race, Renault has 160 points and Ferrari has 158.
Alonso finished just inches ahead of Schumacher, and 5,5 seconds behind the winning Brazilian.
”It’s just amazing, just looking back at everything I did in my life to get here,” said the 25-year-old. ”I’m here. It’s a fantastic day for me.”
Alonso and Schumacher gave Massa a royal ride on the victory podium, hoisting him on their shoulders.
”These two guys know what I am talking about,” Massa said. ”It was my day today — and my weekend.”
Massa came to Ferrari this season as the second driver behind Schumacher following three uneventful years at Sauber.
Alonso was happy with second, but unhappy about not winning.
”I’m very happy in a way, but not too happy because we were not able to win,” he said.
Schumacher congratulated his teammate. But he was aware that had he been able to overtake Alonso, he might have won the race with his teammate likely yielding to him at the finish line.
”Yes, it was a nice fight toward the end,” Schumacher said.
Last year’s winner Kimi Raikkonen punctured a tire on the opening lap and crashed on the second lap when he lost his left tyre.
Honda’s Jenson Button, who won the Hungarian GP three weeks ago for his first victory in nearly seven years of F1, was fourth followed by Pedro de la Rosa of McLaren with sixth for Renault’s Fisichella.
Massa started from the pole — the first of his career — with Schumacher alongside and Alonso on the second row.
At the start, Massa grabbed the lead and Schumacher drifted slightly to his right as Alonso moved up to challenge. But as the Spaniard was trying to get between them, Massa and Schumacher squeezed him and he dropped to third around the first corner.
The first two laps were a disaster for Raikkonen.
He punctured a tyre driving through debris. When he came out from the pits after a repair stop, he crashed almost immediately after losing a wheel.
The Ferraris pulled away from Alonso on the first dozen laps.
But then an accident changed the complexion as the safety car came after Vitantonio Liuzzi’s stopped on the track.
The cars pitted for tyres and fuel. However, Massa was in the pits first and Schumacher had to wait a few seconds for his teammate. Meanwhile, Alonso pitted quickly and came out ahead of Schumacher.
At the end 16 laps the safety car went in and Alonso was just a second behind Massa. He was 10 seconds behind three laps earlier.
On the 28th lap, Schumacher lost three seconds when he steered off the track and had to struggle before getting back on.
”I overdrove the tyres a little bit,” said Schumacher, who slipped eight seconds behind Alonso.
When the leaders started to pit again after 39 laps, Massa was leading Alonso by 8,4 seconds with Schumacher 15,4 back.
Schumacher held the lead briefly as the others were pitting, but after his stop on the 43rd he came out a second behind Alonso.
Schumacher spent the final 13 laps looking for a way past Alonso.
There was none.
Schumacher had three chances to pass Alonso, but each time the Spaniard had enough speed to control him.
On the final lap, Schumacher tried one more time to pass but came up just short at the finish line, ending up 0,081 second behind Alonso on the official time sheet.
”Fernando had to protect his position and sometimes take a different line,” Schumacher said. – Sapa-AP