Its a hat trick of victories for Massa in the Turkish F1 Grand Prix
12 May 2008
Team Ferrari is on a roll, with its fourth consecutive Formula One (F1) victory this season, thanks to a race-winning performance by Filepe Massa, in the Turkish Grand Prix (GP), at Istambul. The Brazilian driver, took the chequered flag ahead of McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton to register his third straight Turkish GP win. Ferrari's world champion Kimi Riakkonen finished third.
Force India had a disastrous outing in the race, with Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella forced to retire at the start after his car collided with Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima. The other Force India driver Adrian Sutil finished in 16th position
Massa, who started at pole position, completed the 58 lap circuit in 1hour and 26 minutes, with Hamilton finishing 3.7 seconds behind the Brazilian. The Turkish GP is the second win for Massa this season after he clinched the Bahrain GP in April.
The Ferrari driver has joined Hamilton on 28 points in the drivers championship in the 2008-09 racing season, with Raikkonen still the overall leader with 35 points. Ferrari lead the constructors' standings with 63 points, followed by BMW Sauber at 44 points.
Currently, ten teams are competing in this year's F1 season after Japanese team Super Aguri withdrew from the championship after round four. (Also see: Super Aguri withdrew from the championship after round four)
Victory at Istambul is Massa's 7th of his career in Formula One, since joining the Ferrari team in 2006. He is in contract with Ferrari till 2010.
The next race is the Monaco Grand Prix at Monte Carlo on 25 May.
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