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| August 28, 2006 | Monday | Sha'aban 3, 1427 |
Massa upstages rivals for maiden victory
ISTANBUL, Aug 27: Ferrari's Felipe Massa celebrated an emotional first Formula One victory in Turkey on Sunday while Renault's Fernando Alonso won an epic duel with title rival Michael Schumacher.
World champion Alonso's second place, by barely half a car's length, stretched his overall lead to 12 points with four races remaining.
As the young Brazilian roared to the chequered flag from pole position, a winner at last after 66 starts, team mate and seven times champion Schumacher was locked in combat with Alonso.
He and the Spaniard ran nose to tail over the closing laps, with Schumacher vainly striving to get past as the 25-year-old repelled every effort.
After 58 laps and nearly 310 km in the searing heat, just 0.081 of a second divided the Renault and the Ferrari as they flashed across the line almost side by side.
Despite that disappointment, Ferrari still slashed Renault's lead in the constructors' championship to a mere two points. Renault now have 160 and Ferrari 158.
Briton Jenson Button, a first-time winner at the previous race in Hungary, finished fourth for Honda with McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa fifth.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was sixth for Renault with Toyota's Ralf Schumacher, Michael's younger brother, seventh and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello eighth for Honda.
Schumacher's hopes of a 90th career win were effectively scuppered by the intervention of the safety car on lap 14 after Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso spun and remained stuck almost on the racing line at turn one.
Massa had been leading, with Schumacher second and Alonso further back in third. They all pitted together and the German had to wait behind Massa, allowing Renault to get Alonso out ahead of the second Ferrari.
A first lap collision put paid to the hopes of McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, winner from pole position of last year's inaugural race at the Istanbul Park circuit.
Classification: 1. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:28:51.028; 2. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault +00:05.575; 3. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari 00:05.656; 4. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 00:12.334; 5. Pedro de la Rosa (Spain) McLaren 00:45.908; 6. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 00:46.594; 7. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 00:59.337; 8. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 01:00.034; 9. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1 lap; 10. Mark Webber (Australia) Williams-Cosworth 1 lap; 11. Christian Klien (Austria) RedBull-Ferrari 1 lap; 12. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 1 lap; 13. Scott Speed (US) Toro Rosso-Cosworth 1 lap; 14. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 2 laps.
Fastest Lap: Michael Schumacher, 1:28.005, lap 55.—Reuters
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