Formula One: Alonso Keeps Heat on Ferrari

Felipe Massa looked like a man who had proved a point as he climbed the top step of the podium after a dominant victory for Ferrari in the Turkish grand prix, the Brazilian having endured scorching temperatures which climbed as high as 38C during the course of his dominant victory from pole position.

As he stood there holding back tears and the Brazilian national anthem echoed out across the packed grandstands, Massa was flanked by the stony-faced world championship protagonists Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher who, after enacting one of the closest-fought battles of the season to finish second and third, allowed each other neither a straight look nor a handshake to acknowledge their achievements at the end of a ferocious afternoon's racing.

Two weeks hence the formula one community reconvenes on Ferrari's hallowed ground at Monza for the Italian grand prix and - more significantly - keen anticipation of the formal announcement as to who will drive for the famous team in 2007. Most expect Kimi Raikkonen to be joining Schumacher, but if the seven-times world champion should surprise everybody by announcing his retirement, then Massa's drive in the Asian sunshine should underscore his suitability for retaining the second seat. "Today is an incredible day that I will never forget," said Massa.

"The team was sensational and they gave me a perfect car to win. As we left the grid I could see Michael and Fernando fighting, but I was able to pull away from them immediately. It is an amazing dream come true for me."

Schumacher strained every sinew in the closing stages, running his Ferrari V8 engine hard up against the rev limiter, touching 195mph in seventh gear, as he struggled to force Alonso into a mistake but to no avail. Behind Schumacher Jenson Button produced a superb fourth place for Honda ahead of Pedro de la Rosa's McLaren and Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault which recovered from a multi-car collision at the first corner that also involved Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren, Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber and Ralf Schumacher's Toyota.

Schumacher's chances of victory were ruined after the safety was deployed on the 15th lap to remove Vitantonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso which had spun on the exit of the first corner. Ferrari quickly decided to queue Schumacher behind Massa for their first refuelling stop. The alternative was to leave Schumacher out for another lap, but that would have left him boxed in behind the safety car for one lap, dropping him to the back of the field.

The downside for him was that Alonso leapfrogged him for second. And stayed there to the finish. On the face of it one might have expected Schumacher to sail to an unchallenged pole position, but the Ferrari No1 made a couple of rare mistakes on his two qualifying runs and ended up second to his team-mate Massa.

"On both occasions I ran wide at turn one," said Schumacher. "Getting myself on to the front row is certainly nothing I can complain about, but I definitely did not deliver a great performance and failed to get all the potential out of the car. But I am very happy for Felipe getting the first pole position of his career. He drove an exceptional lap and I don't think I could have beaten him, even if I had not made any mistakes."

Renault arrived at Istanbul smarting from the FIA court of appeal's decision to outlaw their "mass damper" system which improved the cars' tyre grip but was banned on the basis that it was an illegal aerodynamic device. This ruling left Alonso and Fisichella uncertain just how much of a performance deficit they would have to cope with but the world champion was clearly satisfied after qualifying a strong third behind the two Ferraris.

"We managed to set the car up properly and to be half a 10th from Michael in qualifying is not such a bad result," said Alonso. "We are not 10th and 12th like some people hoped."

Alonso finished the race guardedly optimistic, feeling that the Renault team still needed to do more work to protect their points lead over the remaining four races on the championship schedule. "Today was a good step forward for my chances in the championship," he said, "and we are expecting more good days between now and the end of the season."