Bridgestone motorsport wrap for 7th April
Massa leads Ferrari one-two in Bahrain
Brazilian Felipe Massa proved again that when he gets the jump on the field, he's rarely caught.
The Ferrari driver sprinted past pole-sitter Robert Kubica at the start and was never headed in a race that also confirmed BMW's ascendency.
The BMWs of Kubica and Nick Heidfeld scrapped on level terms with the two Ferraris, with defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen managing to hold Kubica off by 1.6 seconds for P2. Heidfeld was just 3.5 seconds behind his teammate.
McLaren, however, were virtually nowhere. Heikki Kovalainen was almost half a minute behind Massa in fifth place, while Lewis Hamilton damaged the front end of his car in a tangle with arch-rival Fernando Alonso and struggled home in 13th place.
The final point-scoring positions were taken by Jarno Trulli's Toyota, Mark Webber's Red Bull and the Williams of Nico Rosberg.
"This was a very satisfying race for Bridgestone as both the medium and soft compounds performed very well here," said Tetsuro Kobayashi, Technical Manager for Bridgestone Motorsport.
"This confirms that we were correct to change the compound allocation from last year when we brought the hard and medium. Heat durability, wear and consistency were good for both tyres today so strategy depended on competitor preference."
Raikkonen's second place sees him lead the title-chase on 19 points, three clear of Heidfeld with Hamilton and Kubica a further two points back. BMW's strong showing is reflected in the Constructor's Championship where they have 30 points to lead Ferrari by one point.
The teams now travel to the Circuit de Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix on April 25-27 where Bridgestone's hard and medium compound Potenza tyres will be used.
Bahrain GP result - 57 laps
1. MASSA Ferrari +1h31m06.970s
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +3.3s
3. KUBICA BMW +4.9s
4. HEIDFELD BMW +8.4s
5. KOVALAINEN McLaren +26.7s
6. TRULLI Toyota +41.3s
7. WEBBER Red Bull +45.4s
8. ROSBERG Williams +55.8s
9. GLOCK Toyota +69.5s
10. ALONSO Renault +77.1s
11. BARRICHELLO Honda +77.8s
12. FISICHELLA Force India +1 lap
13. HAMILTON McLaren +1 lap
14. NAKAJIMA Williams +1 lap
15. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +1 lap
16. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +1 lap
17. SATO Super Aguri +1 lap
18. COULTHARD Red Bull +1 lap
19. SUTIL Force India +2 laps
R. PIQUET Renault +17 laps
R. BUTTON Honda +38 laps
R. VETTEL Toro Rosso +57 laps