Massa Wins, Ferrari Captures Fourth Straight F-1 Race

Istanbul, Turkey (AHN) - Starting from the pole is good when it comes to Istanbul Speed Park.

Felipe Massa became the fourth winner to win from the pole Sunday when he held off Lewis Hamilton to win the Turkish Grand Prix.

It was the third straight win in Turkey for Massa and Ferrari's fourth consecutive Formula One victory.

It was also Massa's second win in the last three races following a slow start to the season.

"Fantastic win,'' said Massa. "That's 10 points in the bag right there.''

Massa finished nearly four seconds ahead of Hamilton in the 58-lap race and defending F-1 champion Kimi Raikkonen finished just over four seconds behind Hamilton in third .

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica ran fourth and just ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld.

Raikkonnen remains atop the points standing with 35, just seven ahead of Hamilton and Massa while Kubica follows with 24.

Hamilton passed Massa after 24 laps, but Hamilton was forced to pit earlier than expected due to a harder tire and wasn't able to make up the difference.

"I lost a bit of time in my middle stint. We started on the harder tire and we knew it was going to be tough to battle the Ferraris, so to finish in the points is great, Hamilton told AP. "I think this is the best race ever for me," Hamilton said. "It's not about winning, it's about feeling that you extract 100 percent from yourself and the car and I did that today. If I had managed to get the car on pole, I could have won."