Massa grabs first GP win as Alonso shuts out Schumacher

By Claas Hennig Aug 27, 2006, 13:50 GMT

epa00803008 Brazilian Formula One driver Felipe Massa (L) and German Michael Schumacher (R), both of Ferrari and Spanish Fernando Alonso (rear L) of Renault lead the pack after the start at the Istanbul Park circuit near Istanbul, Turkey during the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday, 27 August 2006. EPA/KERIM OKTEN

Istanbul - Felipe Massa of Brazil in a Ferrari won a thrilling Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul Sunday but team-mate Michael Schumacher had to be content with third place behind rival Felipe Alonso in a Renault.

Massa finished 5.575 seconds ahead of defending champion Alonso who was able to hold off Germany's Schumacher who made a desperate but fruitless attempt to get past the Spaniard.

The result enables Alonso to extend his overall lead in the drivers' championship by two points to 12 over Schumacher with four races remaining in the season.

It was the first Grand Prix victory in 66 races for Massa who led from pole position.

But all the excitement was behind him as Schumacher made a number of attempts to get past Alonso right up to the chequered flag, but the Spaniard managed to keep his cool under immense pressure.

The race got off to an action-packed start when Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella span and caused a chain reaction of crashes which led to several drivers heading straight for the pits for repairs.

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen suffered a puncture on his left-rear tyre during the chaos and shortly afterwards crashed into a wall with a suspension problem.

Massa held onto his pole lead ahead of Schumacher and Alonso, but Alonso took advantage of a safety car phase following a spin by Toro Rosso driver Vitantonio Liuzzi on lap 13 to overtake Schumacher with a faster pit stop.

Both Ferraris had entered the pits at the same time and Schumacher had to queue while Massa was dealt with first.

Schumacher, who was struggling to keep up the pace of Massa and Alonso, then lost just over four seconds when he overran on turn eight at around the half-way stage.

Schumacher appeared to have a tyre problem but recovered to record the fastest lap of the race on lap 34.

However Massa countered with several fastest laps of his own to build up a lead of more than eight seconds over Alonso before both made their second pit stops with 19 laps remaining.

Schumacher stayed out longer and again set a fastest lap, but Alonso was able to defend his second place when the Ferrari emerged from the pits with 15 laps remaining.

Schumacher quickly whittled down the gap and made his first attacks on Alonso with nine laps to go as the race boiled up to a thrilling duel between the two title contenders.

However the German could never get into a position to force his way past and Alonso held off a final attack as the two cars went round the last bend.

Britain's Jenson Button in a Honda finished fourth, Pedro de la Rosa of Spain in a McLaren was fifth, Fisichella of Italy was sixth, Ralf Schumacher of Germany in a Toyota was seventh and Rubens Barrichello of Brazil in a Honda was eighth.