Ferrari's Massa wins Bahrain Grand Prix

Sakhir, Bahrain: Felipe Massa of Ferrari won the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday, and Lewis Hamilton was on the podium for the third time in three Formula One races this season.

Massa won Sunday's race in 1 hour, 33 minutes, 27.515 seconds. Hamilton was 2.360 seconds behind.

Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari was third, and Nick Heidfeld of BMW-Sauber was fourth.

Hamilton, Formula One's first black driver, is the first to start his F1 career with three consecutive finishes in the top three. The McLaren driver finished third at the Australian GP and second at the Malaysian GP.

The previous best start to an F1 career was Peter Arundell with two podiums in two starts in 1964.

On a hazy, day with swirling winds changing track conditions over the circuit, Massa was on the pole and led virtually all the way, just dropping out of first on the two pits stops.

Two-time defending world champion Fernando Alonso was fifth, creating a three-way tie in the drivers' standings. Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen are locked together on 22 points at the top of the drivers'standings with Massa fourth, five points adrift, following the third victory of his career.

Alonso won the Bahrain GP last year to begin a stretch in which he won six of the first nine races for Renault. He switched to McLaren at the end of the season, while Raikkonen moved from McLaren to Ferrari.

After races in Australia, Malaysia and Bahrain, the series moves to Europe for the Spanish Grand Prix on May 13.