Three way Tie for First. Felipe Massa Reigns Supreme in Spain - The Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain served host for the third round of the Federation Internationale De’ “’Automobile (A.K.A. FIA) sanctioned Formula 1 World Championship on Sunday, April 15, 2007. And just three races in, the chase for the 2007 is shaping up to be something of a beautiful mess. In Bahrain, Felipe Massa executed a perfect “hat trick” (that’s old school hockey talk for doing thee things at one meeting) by claiming the pole, the win and the fastest lap on the 3.366-mile long circuit (composed of granite imported from the United Kingdom). The former Sauber driver form Sao Paulo, Brazil tightened the F1 title chase by crossing the finish line in his Ferrari F2007 2.3 seconds ahead of sensational McLaren rookie wheelman Lewis Hamilton (Let the record speak: Hamilton duly became the first driver in F1 history to finish his first three races on the podium). Kimi Raikkonen finished on the podium in yet another Ferrari, a result which when factored in with Fernando Alonso’s off-song fifth-place finish in Bahrain, has created a three-way-tie log jam atop the championship points standings with Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen all tied with 22 points. AND — Massa is a close fourth with 17.

To all, however, the best rumble of the race was the three-way battle for 10th between Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and the Williams of Alex Wurz and Nico Rosberg. In fact the battle for “P10” got even more interesting when Trulli himself passed Heikki Kovalainen’s Renault R27 for ninth, shortly before Wurz kicked off the first round of pit stops on lap 18. The twilight stages of the Bahrain GP saw Massa feathering the throttle of his Ferrari F057-motivated “Prancing Horse”, purposely dissolving his +10 second lead over Hamilton to approximately 2.3 seconds. Raikkonen completed the podium another 8.4 seconds adrift. Alonso, try as he might, crossed the finish line 0.5 seconds behind the fine driving BMW-Sauber racer, Nick Heidfeld. Heidfeld’s teammate, Robert Kubica — straight out of Kakow, Poland — finished just behind his comrade for sixth overall. Jarno Trulli, meanwhile, placed seventh, once again putting his Toyota TF107 into the points. The next stop for the globetrotting Formula 1 World Tour (and the first round in Europe) will at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain on Sunday, May 13, 2007.