Ferrari’s Massa reveals relief after Bahrain victory

Following his dominant win at last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa has spoken about his sense of relief after scoring his first points of 2008 at the Sakhir circuit. Massa, who won from second on the grid on Sunday, had retired from the first two rounds in Australia and Malaysia.

“It was a nice feeling to win, especially after my bad start to the season,” he told Ferrari’s official website. “The win came at just the right time and getting my name on the scoreboard at last. For the team also it was a perfect weekend as Kimi (Raikkonen) came second to give us maximum points.”

Massa also won the Sakhir race in 2007, but unlike last year, on Sunday the 26 year-old did not claim victory from pole. During Saturday’s qualifying, he was soundly beaten by BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica, who clinched the top grid slot with an impressive lap. But Massa, it seems, was not worried about Kubica’s pace.

“It was clear that he was running fairly light in terms of fuel, or at least lighter than us,” explained the Ferrari driver. “I knew I would have around five laps more fuel than him. But thanks to a good start, even this wasn't necessary. So I was never really racing Kubica, as I knew we had a better car and a better strategy.”

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Bahrain Final Result - Ferrari one two win..

A great race at Bahrain ended with Felipe Massa grab the first win after 2 race without any points. Kimi Raikkonen finished second after took the spot from Kubica that slipped to the third podium although he started at the pole position. The fourth position filled by Kubica's teammate Heidfield and it is a great possession by these two teams. Here is the full results .. :-

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	57	Winner	2	10
2	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	57	+3.3 secs	4	8
3	4	Robert Kubica	BMW	57	+4.9 secs	1	6
4	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW	57	+8.4 secs	6	5
5	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+26.7 secs	5	4
6	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	57	+41.3 secs	7	3
7	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	57	+45.4 secs	11	2
8	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	57	+55.8 secs	8	1
9	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	57	+69.5 secs	13
10	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	57	+77.1 secs	10
11	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	57	+77.8 secs	12
12	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	56	+1 Lap	18
13	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	56	+1 Lap	3
14	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	56	+1 Lap	16
15	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	56	+1 Lap	15
16	19	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	56	+1 Lap	21
17	18	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	56	+1 Lap	22
18	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	56	+1 Lap	17
19	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	55	+2 Laps	20
Ret	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	40	+17 Laps	14
Ret	16	Jenson Button	Honda	19	+38 Laps	9
Ret	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	0	+57 Laps	19

After this 3rd race finish, the Champions; Kimi Raikkonen took the 1st spot at the Drivers Standings. And a surprising and unpredictable 1st position for the Constructor Standings with BMW Sauber take the lead by 1 point pass the world champion Ferrari. On 27 April 2008 they will fight again at Spain's Catalunya Circuit. See you there.

Bahrain - Qualifying Results

Robert Kubica grabbed the pole position from Ferrari, Felipe Massa and will lead the race on tomorrow morning at Sakhir Circuit in Bahrain . Here's the qualifying results.

Pos - Car No - Driver Name - Team

1 4 Robert Kubica BMW
2 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari
3 22 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
4 1 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari
5 23 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes
6 3 Nick Heidfeld BMW
7 11 Jarno Trulli Toyota
8 7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota
9 16 Jenson Button Honda
10 5 Fernando Alonso Renault
11 10 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
12 17 Rubens Barrichello Honda
13 12 Timo Glock Toyota
14 6 Nelsinho Piquet Renault
15 14 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari
16 8 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota
17 9 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault
18 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari
19 15 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari
20 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari
21 19 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda
22 18 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda

Bahrain - McLaren's Hamilton Lost Control

Young and promising McLaren driver, Lewis Hamilton spun off when having the practice session at Shakir Circuit in Bahrain. Formula1.com news said : -

" The Englishman lost control of his McLaren on the exit to Turn Seven, the fast chicane, with 10 minutes left to run, and though he caught the ensuing slide and held it, he ran out of room and his MP4-23 struck a barrier heavily enough to loosen two wheels and cause considerable damage. He was unhurt. "

But before that, he already take on the 4th fastest lap behind the 2 ferrari driver and his teammate, Heiki Kovalainen.

Bahrain - Ferrari on the top in Friday's Practice Session

Ferrari drivers, Felipe Massa and World Champion Kimi Raikkonen take the lead in both practice session at Shakhir Circuit, Bahrain. Their car were in a low fuel load to make the car take full control on the dusty and slippery track. Plus with the heat temperature that makes all the driver in a difficult time along the race.


Today, they will come out to fight for the pole position for the race that will be held on Sunday. Here's the early progress made by all the team and the position in the Friday's Practice Session :-

Ferrari
Felipe Massa, 1m 32.233s, P1/1m 31.420s, P1
Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 32.350s, P2/1m 32.327s, P2

McLaren
Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 32.868s, P5/1m 32.752s, P3
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 32.705s, P4/1m 32.847s, P4

BMW Sauber
Robert Kubica, 1m 33.333s, P7/1m 32.915s, P5
Nick Heidfeld, 1m 34.106s, P14/1m 34.023s, P17

Williams
Nico Rosberg, 1m 32.415s, P3/1m 33.022s, P6
Kazuki Nakajima, 1m 33.121, P6/1m 33.098s, P8

Red Bull
David Coulthard, 1m 33.788s, P9/1m 33.048s, P7
Mark Webber, 1m 33.950s, P12/1m 33.782s, P13

Toro Rosso
Sebastien Bourdais, 1m 34.235s, P15/1m 33.197s, P9
Sebastian Vettel, 1m 34.321s, P16/1m 34.787s, P20

Renault
Nelson Piquet, 1m 33.981s, P13/1m 33.247s, P10
Fernando Alonso, 1m 33.815s, P10/1m 33.755s, P12

Honda
Jenson Button, 1m 34.915s, P18/1m 33.710s, P11
Rubens Barrichello, 1m 35.174s, P19/1m 33.966s, P16

Toyota
Jarno Trulli, 1m 33.539s, P8/1m 33.822s, P14
Timo Glock, 1m 33.929s, P11/1m 33.856s, P15

Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella, 1m 34.892s, P17/1m 34.388s, P18
Adrian Sutil, 1m 35.429s, P20/1m 34.405s, P19

Super Aguri
Takuma Sato, 1m 36.536s, P22/1m 35.288s, P21
Anthony Davidson, 1m 36.145s, P21/1m 35.712s, P22

p/s : Briton Young Driver, Lewis Hamilton spun off when took a lap on the practice session. But, he still manage to get the 4th fastest lap in that session.