The Fisichella-Nakjima run-in brought out the safety car. (LAT Photo) » More Photos

Leader Massa made his second and final stop on lap 40, with Raikkonen, effectively racing Hamilton, following three laps later. The McLaren driver came in on lap 46 and emerged just ahead of the Finn.

On the final laps, Raikkonen pushed hard to come within less than a second from Hamilton, but perhaps a move that would net him just two extra points seemed like too much of a risk for the Finn, who never put on a serious attack until the checkered flag on lap 58. Massa crossed the finish line 3.7sec ahead of Hamilton, with Raikkonen following just 0.4sec further back. The two BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld completed the top-five, with Alonso, Webber and Rosberg taking the remaining Turkish points.

"Today was a very difficult race," Massa reported. "Lewis was pushing me hard a lot for the whole race and I thought he was very light at the beginning because he was pushing me so heavily. And when I did my pit stop I thought he was straight away there so I thought maybe had less fuel, and the team told me he was on three stops and for sure that was a help.

"He was strong and I could not hold him on track so he passed me. I knew I still had a big chance to win the race as three stops was quite optimistic. But anyway I created a reasonable gap to be at the front after the pit stops. It was difficult but we made it and third time in Turkey was fantastic. I think I can get a passport here already," he joked.

Shaving points off Raikkonen's championship lead made Hamilton happy with second place: "I am thrilled," he admitted. "We knew it was going to be tough to challenge the Ferraris and were hoping to get points – a top five would have been great - but the balance was great. On hard tires I was able to keep up with Felipe and overtake him. I was able to keep pushing. At the end the softer tire was definitely the worse tire so I am much happier."

Raikkonen, who touched with Kovalainen at the start, felt third was the best possible result on a tough day: "We had a difficult weekend and I'm happy to be third," he said. "I didn't lose too many points. We'll see what we can do in the next few races. The next two last year were not so strong for us, so we will see what we can do."

The results at Istanbul Park tightened the championship battle considerably. Raikkonen still leads with 35, but Massa is now second with 28, tied with Hamilton but ahead for having two wins versus one. The 2008 F1 season resumes in two weeks’ time with the Monaco Grand Prix.

TURKISH GRAND PRIX RESULTS