Brazil's Felipe Massa driving a Ferrari won the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday to record his third career victory.
SAKHIR/BAHRAIN: Brazil's Felipe Massa driving a Ferrari won the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday to record his third career victory.
Englishman Lewis Hamilton was second in a McClaren - becoming the first driver to finish on the podium in his first three Grand Prix - and Kimi Raikkonen of Finland in another Ferrari was third.
World champion Fernando Alonso could finish only fifth. Massa - who had vowed not to repeat his mistake last time out in Malaysia when he failed to win despite starting on pole and allowed Hamilton to outfox him - led from the off with Hamilton tracking him while Alonso was in third and Raikkonen fourth.
However after the first set of pitstops Raikkonen displaced Alonso in third and held a two second advantage over the Spaniard with 31 laps remaining.
Hamilton, though, started losing half a second a lap to Massa and with 28 laps remaining was eight seconds adrift of the leader.
Hamilton - named after US athletics legend Carl Lewis - assumed the lead with 16 laps remaining after Massa pitted for the second time while Alonso moved into second and the Brazilian came out in third.
The Englishman - watched by his stepmother and brother - pitted for the second time with 13 of the 57 laps remaining and came out in second as Massa slipped past him with Raikkonen just failing to pass him as he came out of the pit lane.
Hamilton made a late charge to turn the pressure on Massa, while Alonso failed to throw down the gauntlet and dropped to fifth.
David Coulthard's smooth progress up the field from the back of the grid looked like yielding some points until the Scot's frustrating season continued as he had to pull in for good with 20 laps remaining thanks to a drive shaft problem.
He was followed by his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, who was also challenging for points but the Australian's race came to an end with 15 laps remaining.
Fellow Briton Jenson Button's fears of it not being a productive weekend proved correct as he crashed out on the first lap, after a collision with American pilot Scott Speed.
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