TURKEY TRIPLE; Felipe Massa wins for the third-straight year.

Byline: ADAM COOPER

Ferrari's Felipe Massa has received criticism for his occasionally erratic form, but no one can question his Turkish Grand Prix record. For some reason, the Brazilian excels at the Istanbul track, as he proved beyond all doubt by winning the race from pole position for the third-straight year.

Consider that in his first season with Ferrari, in 2006, he beat teammate Michael Schumacher in Turkey, an impressive achievement. Indeed, the only drivers to have bettered that with four successive wins from pole in the same Grand Prix are Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna and Schumacher himself. And Clark's British's Grand Prix successes were achieved at different tracks.

Massa's win was also the fourth in a row for the Italian team since its humiliating performance in the season opener in Australia. But while the bare statistics suggest dominance, there were clear signs in Turkey that McLaren-Mercedes has closed the gap and that this world championship has a lot of life left in it yet.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton managed to split the Ferraris and finished second after a charging drive that he felt was the best in his Formula One career to date. And at one stage, he even managed to pull off that extreme rarity: a genuine pass for the lead.

Tires have always been an issue in Turkey, not least because of the demands of glorious turn eight, a never-ending left-hander in which driver and machine are subject to extreme g-loads for an unusually long time. In 2007, Hamilton suffered a major tire failure immediately after the corner, and the points he lost ultimately contributed to his world championship defeat.

This year, the race ran in May instead of August, resulting in a significant temperature drop compared with years past, something that Bridgestone was unable to factor in with the tires it brought to the track. Throw in a little Saturday morning rain that cleaned the track and cost drivers dry practice running, and everyone struggled to get the best out of the tires. The choice between the harder primes and softer options came into sharper focus than normal.