Felipe Massa's move to
Ferrari finally brought its reward, as the Brazilian recorded the first grand prix win of his interrupted career by beating
Fernando Alonso and
Michael Schumacher to the line in Turkey.
Massa led from start to finish in another action-packed race but, while the real drama took place in his wake, the 25-year old's success was not assured until the last lap, as Alonso defended for all he was worth to keep Schumacher at bay.
The two title contenders almost came to blows at the start, with Schumacher making a sluggish getaway and Alonso appearing to have got the jump on the Ferrari into turn one. Schumacher fought back, forcing his rival to take avoiding action which prompted team-mate
Giancarlo Fisichella to spin and the rest of the field to scatter.
While Massa, Schumacher and Alonso made a break, the order behind them appeared very scrambled at the end of the opening lap, with
Mark Webber up to fourth from night, and
Williams colleague
Nico Rosberg helping the Aussie sandwich
Jenson Button having made the leap to sixth from 14th. Not so lucky were Fisichella, who lost his nose as he spun to avoid Alonso, and
Nick Heidfeld, who also required cosmetic surgery after being collected in the melee. Tiago Monteiro failed to make it to the end of the lap, while
Kimi Raikkonen became the third pit visitor, despite seemingly missing the worst of the mayhem.
