Massa finally clicks into gear

FELIPE MASSA was left singing in the sunshine after finally getting his Formula One world championship bid back on track.

Ferrari’s Massa went into the Bahrain Grand Prix under pressure after failing to score a point in the season’s opening two races in Australia and Malaysia.

But the Brazilian delivered the perfect riposte by leading from virtually start to finish for his second successive victory at the Sakhir circuit, and the sixth win of his career.

“Sensational,” exclaimed Massa. “Finally, after a start to the championship under dark clouds, I can see the sunshine again.

“We kept our concentration throughout the weekend, and this is the result. It’s nice to be a winner again.”

Starting from second on the grid, Massa passed Robert Kubica in his BMW Sauber on the run down to the first corner, and from that moment was never in any danger.

Mercifully for Massa, there was no repeat of the unforced errors that compromised his races in Melbourne and Sepang and left the 26-year-old in the firing line.

Massa insisted he had always kept a cool head, even if a few of his critics might have been losing theirs.

“I’ve had many bad days in my life and really difficult moments in my career, such as when I was fired by Sauber,” he added.

“When I was in Formula Renault I went into a race knowing if I didn’t win it then I wouldn’t be driving in the next one. They were far more difficult times than my situation up until now, but I don’t care what has happened over the last few weeks.

“What people write about me won’t change anything. It won’t change what I’m thinking and what the team is thinking. That’s perfect.

“The job we are doing inside the team is fantastic, and that’s the most important thing. Other things are not important.

“That is why if I need to choose, I prefer people who say good things about me, not bad things.

“I prefer to hear what my team thinks about me, not other people, so I’m fine, ” he added.

“I’ve a lot of energy which I get from the people in Brazil, my family, my wife. That is what is important.”

Meanwhile a despondent Lewis Hamilton stormed away after describing his day as “a disaster”.

Hamilton found himself in a midfield battle heading into the first corner and around lap one, by the end of which he had climbed to ninth place.

But then encountering old adversary Fernando Alonso, Hamilton ran into the back of the Spaniard’s Renault, losing his nose cone in the process.

Hamilton managed to limp back to the pits for a new nose, but in returning to the track in 19th place, his race was effectively over.

After starting the weekend with a three-point lead in the title race, Hamilton now trails world champion Kimi Raikkonen by five points after the Finn finished second behind his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa by 3.3. seconds.

Renault’s head of engineering Pat Symonds showed data to a number of media personnel to disprove the theory Alonso had deliberately lifted off the throttle.

“Fernando came out of the turn and accelerated down the straight into fifth gear, hitting 227kph, full throttle, no touching of the brakes or anything like that,” said Symonds.

“So all I can say from our side is there’s no blame attributable to Fernando, which is what some of the speculation might be.