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A one-two victory for Scuderia Ferrari and a stunning win for Massa
Felipe Massa Scuderia Ferrari 1st Winner
Kimi Räikkönen Scuderia Ferrari 2nd + 2.275
Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 3rd + 26.1
Scuderia Ferrari dominated the Turkish Grand Prix weekend with Felipe Massa taking his third victory of the season and second victory at Istanbul Park. Team-mate Kimi Räikkönen crossed the line in second to
gain maximum points for the team. Third place was handed to Fernando Alonso of McLaren-Mercedes.
Lisa Lilley Shell's Technology Manager for Ferrari commented after the race: "This race weekend has
been particularly exciting for us as we introduced a new Shell Spirax gearbox oil. We've been working very closely with the Ferrari engineers to develop this new product which brings efficiency gains to the
gearbox. But this race has also been extraordinarily hot, so what's more, the extra protection the new oil also offers has been beneficial".
In the FIA Formula One Constructors' World Championship, McLaren-Mercedes holds 148 points and now stands only 11 points ahead of Scuderia Ferrari. 16 points separate the top four drivers in the Drivers'
Championship; Hamilton continues to lead with 84 points. Massa's 69 points take him into third place just one ahead of Räikkönen.
The next meeting which is also penultimate race of the European season will be held at Monza, Italy on 8 September 2007.
Selected comments from Scuderia Ferrari after the race:
Jean Todt: "Sixth victory of the year and the second one-two after the one in Magny-Cours. This was a dream race and a dream result which should make us all happy; drivers, team and fans. I want to thank
all our commercial and technical partners, especially Shell. As we had expected, it was a very tough and closely contested race right from the start. In this job, you must never give up because things can
change very quickly and today that change worked in our favour. In less than two weeks, we will be on track in Monza for our home race. The effort we will put in will be the same because we will be after an
identical result to this one, while remaining aware of the difficulty of the task and the competitiveness of our closest rivals."
Luca Baldisserri: "It was a great race which brought us the maximum result possible. All the team worked perfectly and the cars were at their best. We also got useful support from our technical partners, such
as Shell, who provided us here with a new gearbox oil... Now we look to the race in Monza, where we must try and repeat this performance. The one-two is one of the few result combinations that allow us
to close the gap in both classifications."
Felipe Massa: "This is becoming a special place for me! It is a really great win! I maintained my
concentration for the whole race, trying to control the situation. Only towards the end of the second stint did I make a small mistake at Turn 7 which cost me the gap I had over Kimi, who closed right up to
me. I made a very good start and the car behaved perfectly even though it has to be said it was a difficult race. Today's result is a great encouragement when looking to the final part of the season. It is
fantastic to head to Monza after a weekend like this. We must continue to work in this same way and give it our best shot."
Kimi Räikkönen: "Of course I would like to have won but probably the race was decided in yesterday afternoon's qualifying session. When your main rival is your team-mate, there are less unknown factors
and even less room to come up with something. However, the important thing is to have put two Ferraris in front of everyone else and, in any case, we have made up ground on the championship leader. I got a
good start then I had a bit of understeer which went away after a few laps. The second set of tyres did not work as well as the first. The quick lap at the end? I was a bit bored with spending the whole race
behind another car and so I tried to see how quick I could have been. In Monza I will have to try and do a good qualifying to be in the best possible situation for the race".
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