Massa magic prevails

Sakhir, Bahrain: Ferrari exacted sweet revenge over McLaren winning the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix even as debutant Lewis Hamilton nudged his way into Formula One history at the Sakhir race track yesterday.

Leading the charge for the Ferraris was Brazilian Felipe Massa as he ended a comfortable 2.3 seconds ahead of McLaren's Hamilton, who became the first driver to win three podium finishes in as many races in his debut year.

Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa gave away the winner's trophy to Massa.

It was an intense time for the two Ferraris in Malaysia last week as they had to finish behind in the points after Massa had taken the pole position. But much of that had resulted due to the astuteness shown by new kid on the block Hamilton, who had done well to protect teammate Alonso at the head of the pack.

But this week Massa was in no mood to hand over the initiative to the 22-year-old British driver as he shot ahead of him at the crucial first corner. "The idea was to make sure I got around the first corner first and then keep the lead. And that worked pretty well for me today," Massa said after the race.

The early stages of the race saw the Ferraris and McLarens push their way to the front to set up the field to determine the future course of the race.

'Fantastic feeling'

By the halfway stage, Massa was leading Hamilton by 5.5 seconds - bogged down a bit due to the use of soft tyres - while Raikkonen followed in third just 3.8 seconds behind and Heidfeld stood in fourth with another 4.7 seconds to catch up.

"It is a fantastic feeling to end with three podiums in as many races. The team did a great job and I could not have achieved anything without the team," Hamilton said. Breathing down Raikkonen's tail, though losing pace slowly, was defending world champion Alonso just 1.6 seconds behind BMW Sauber's Heidfeld.

As the cars pitted for the first time, the McLarens, especially Alonso, showed signs of slowing down a bit and Raikkonen assumed temporary control at the top of the pack. But Massa returned from his pit stop, and having learnt a lot from his mistake in Kuala Lumpur last week, managed to keep Hamilton at bay. "I'm disappointed with my third place, but at the moment, we have to think what we've been able to achieve," Raikkonen said.

The crowd roared on the 24th lap when Alonso could only look over his left shoulder as BMW Sauber's Heidfeld passed him to slip into fourth.