Though most other F1 teams have banished cigarette advertisements from their fenders in the past few years, Ferrari has stubbornly displayed Marlboro logos on its formula one cars wherever the law allows. Someone within Ferrari has apparently had a change of heart, as many noticed at the Bahrain Grand Prix earlier this month that the F2008 car was without its familiar cigarette advertisements, despite the laws of that country allowing their presence. In their place was what's been referred to as the "barcode" livery, which some say looks like the Marlboro branding from a distance, but is really just white markings that don't mean anything. After the race, Ferrari did confirm that Marlboro logos would no longer appear on its cars, which kind of ends an era of sorts. Despite the absence of its logos on the F2008, Marlboro is reportedly still happy to be a sponsor of Ferrari and will remain so until at least 2011 when the contract it signed worth around $1 billion runs out.
Felipe Massa scored a great debut victory in winning the Turkish Grand Prix on the outskirts of Istanbul on Sunday. He led almost throughout the 58 lap race, held in 36 degree heat to establish himself in third place in the championship, and move Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro to within two points of the championship lead. But teammate Michael Schumacher was beaten into third place by championship rival Fernando Alonso, the pair finishing just 0.081s apart as Michael made a late lunge for the finishing line. The seven time World Championship had been overtaken by Alonso when the leading cars all pitted for fuel and tyres when the safety car came out after 14 laps. Massa came in first, requiring Michael to wait for service which allowed Alonso to overtake. His deficit to the Spaniard in the championship grew by two points to 12.
At the start, Michael’s fears of the dirtier inside line were realised in the charge down to the first corner, allowing Massa to lead although Michael just grabbed second from Alonso who was pincered by the Ferraris. He backed off which surprised teammate Giancarlo Fisichella who spun causing chaos. The Renault driver, Ralf Schumacher, Nick Heidfeld and Kimi Raikkonen were among those who had to pit at the end of the lap for damage, which allowed Webber up to fourth from ninth on the grid, Jenson Button up one place to fifth, Nico Rosberg up from 14th to sixth, Tonio Liuzzi up from 18th to seventh and Robert Kubica who remained eighth.
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A worthy achievement of course, but nothing really very unusual. However, it is a different story for Felipe Massa as the young Brazilian recorded his first ever pole at his 67th attempt. Afterwards, an emotional Felipe thanked the team, but also his father, who supported his career in its early days.
While there are still 309.356 kilometres of racing to go before tomorrow afternoon’s chequered flag, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has put itself in the best possible shape at this critical point in the season, as it is an all-red front row, with Michael Schumacher lining up alongside his team-mate. However, the battle in both championships could not be closer as the red at the front is matched by an all-blue second row for Renault with Fernando Alonso in third ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella. There are a total of three Germans in the top six on the grid, as apart from Michael, his brother Ralf is fifth for Toyota ahead of the BMW-Sauber of Nick Heidfeld.
Massa put in a faultless performance from start to finish, while Schumacher uncharacteristically made a couple of driving errors. However, with the final Q3 section of the session being run on a heavier fuel lad, it was Michael who had the honour of setting the actual quickest time of the afternoon during the Q2 part of proceedings.
It was the fifth pole position of the season for Scuderia Ferrari, after those in Sakhir, Imola, Indianapolis and Magny-Cours; the first for Felipe Massa who will thus start a grand prix from the very top of the grid for the first time in his career. For the fourth time this season two Ferraris will start from the front row. This is Ferrari’s 184th pole, the first at this track.
