Felipe Massa scored a great debut victory in winning the Turkish Grand Prix on the outskirts of Istanbul on Sunday. He led almost throughout the 58 lap race, held in 36 degree heat to establish himself in third place in the championship, and move Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro to within two points of the championship lead. But teammate Michael Schumacher was beaten into third place by championship rival Fernando Alonso, the pair finishing just 0.081s apart as Michael made a late lunge for the finishing line. The seven time World Championship had been overtaken by Alonso when the leading cars all pitted for fuel and tyres when the safety car came out after 14 laps. Massa came in first, requiring Michael to wait for service which allowed Alonso to overtake. His deficit to the Spaniard in the championship grew by two points to 12.

At the start, Michael's fears of the dirtier inside line were realised in the charge down to the first corner, allowing Massa to lead although Michael just grabbed second from Alonso who was pincered by the Ferraris. He backed off which surprised teammate Giancarlo Fisichella who spun causing chaos. The Renault driver, Ralf Schumacher, Nick Heidfeld and Kimi Raikkonen were among those who had to pit at the end of the lap for damage, which allowed Webber up to fourth from ninth on the grid, Jenson Button up one place to fifth, Nico Rosberg up from 14th to sixth, Tonio Liuzzi up from 18th to seventh and Robert Kubica who remained eighth.

During the opening stages, Massa opened up a 3.2s lead by lap three but there it stayed, until dropping to 1.9s on lap 13. Michael remained consistent in second place, but Fernando Alonso dropped away in fourth. Button had disposed of Webber to claim fifth place, the Honda driver briefly catching Alonso, while Webber was soon challenged by Kubica until his challenge faded, having overtaken Rosberg. On lap 14, the safety car came out after Liuzzi, who had also faded, spun at the first corner and his Scuderia Toro Rosso needed to be removed. All the leaders dived for the pits, the Ferraris arriving in race order: Massa ahead of Michael. While the German driver waited, Alonso swept passed into second place, and when the safety car went in a few laps later, Alonso was on Massa's tail, if only briefly.

Michael was back in third place now ahead of Button, with Rosberg, who didn't stop, in fifth place. Christian Klien was soon to be overtaken for sixth by Pedro de la Rosa, both non-stoppers. Then came Jarno Trulli having a massive battle with Rubens Barrichello. During the next 20 laps, Massa gradually eased away from Alonso, while Michael wasn't far behind until he ran wide at turn eight and lost four seconds. Button was now close behind Michael, but not quicker. De la Rosa was next after Trulli, Klien and Barichello all pitted.

The first four were in a class of their own, with three of them making another pit stop on lap 39, leaving Michael ahead for three laps before he came in on lap 43. When he emerged, he was now just behind Alonso and the pair of them ran nose-to-tail for the remainder of the race, Michael hoping that Alonso might make a tiny mistake, but he was to be disappointed. Massa led the pair by 13s but he eased up in the closing stages to win by 5.5s. Alonso was just ahead of Michael, with Button in a safe fourth place.

Fifth place eventually went to de la Rosa, 33s further back, but he was pushed by Fisichella in the closing stages and then came Ralf Schumacher just winning his Japanese battle from Barrichello. Trulli was ninth, again pushed hard by Webber. Alonso now leads the Drivers' championship by 108 points from Michael's 96, while Renault are two points ahead of Ferrari, 160 to 158 pts.

It was the sixth win of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, the first from Felipe Massa. This is win number 189 from 737 races. Felipe took his maiden career win at his sixty seventh participation in a Formula 1 Grand Prix.
 

Jean Todt: "We are very happy about Felipe's win, the first of his career having driven impeccably. Today, we had the potential to finish first and second, but the arrival of the Safety Car on lap 14 compromised our chances of achieving this result. The fact we were unable to use all 100% of our potential takes the edge off the satisfaction in finishing first and third, but it is comforting to know that we have everything in place to succeed in the forthcoming races. In Monza and at the three races outside Europe, we will have many changes on the car and, thanks to the great work being done by our technical partners, first and foremost Bridgestone and also Shell, we will be in the best possible shape to try and win both championships."

Felipe Massa: "Today is an incredible day that I will never forget. To take my first race win, especially with Ferrari is a historic moment and I am thinking of all the people who have helped me get here - my family, my girlfriend and my friends and all those who gave me the strength to achieve this. The team was sensational and they gave me a perfect car to win. I am very emotional and very happy. The race? I had a very good start and the car felt very well balanced. As we left the grid, I could see Michael and Fernando fighting but I was able to pull away from them immediately. After the Safety Car and the pit stop the car was still working well and that is how it stayed in all the stints of the race. It has always been my dream to drive for Ferrari and to take my first ever Formula 1 with them, makes this day even more special. It is an amazing dream come true for me. The championships are still open with four races to go and both titles are still within our reach."

Michael Schumacher: "First of all, I want to congratulate Felipe, who once again today did a fantastic job, clearly deserving to win. Obviously, this weekend things did not go my way, either yesterday in qualifying or today in the race. For some reason, in the second stint, the car was not going as well as it had done in Friday's free practice. It was rather nervous and the fact that it had a pretty heavy fuel load certainly didn't help and neither did my mistake at Turn 8 on lap 28. On top of that, the set of tyres in this stint did not perform as well as the others and they also blistered. In the end I tried to stick with my rival in case he made a mistake. Today, I have lost two points in the Drivers' championship but I still believe I can win the title."

Ross Brawn: "A really fantastic result for Felipe, who drove exceptionally well all weekend. My compliments to him and to his team of engineers and mechanics, who got his car to work really well. He had great pace and the arrival of the Safety Car did not really do him any harm. However, it was frustrating that the Safety Car came out at a time that really did affect Michael's race badly, because today, our cars were fast enough, the Bridgestone tyres were very good and I think that we could have finished first and second. We then tried to recover the situation for Michael, but for some reason which we will need to look into, we picked up some blisters on his second set of tyres and he was unable to push in the middle stint, when of course it was crucial to close down the gap to Alonso. However, we remain confident: all the elements are in place for us to win both titles and we will fight right to the very end to achieve that."

Turkish Grand Prix Result: Felipe Massa: 1st 1:28:51.082 58 laps chassis 252; Michael Schumacher: 3rd + 5.656 58 laps chassis 255; Temperatures: air 35/36°C, track 50/51°C