Felipe Massa made it three in a row at Istanbul after sealing his third successive victory at the Speed Park despite intense pressure from Lewis Hamilton who led an awe-inspiring charge to second place on an avant-garde three stop route to the chequered flag.

Lewis Hamilton stifled his critics and obliterated the “second year syndrome” theories with an auspicious charge to the second step of the podium in Istanbul – McLaren masterminding the rostrum finish with a genius three stop route, but Hamilton ultimately the architect of his “best race ever”.

Heikki Kovalainen’s race ruining puncture – sustained through contact with Kimi Raikkonen on the opening lap – may have been considerably less fatal than the wheel failure that caused his horrific shunt in Barcelona, but the resulting no-show in the race was equally as damaging to the Finn’s championship hopes.

Mark Webber was far from satisfied with his fourth consecutive points-haul, the Australian frustrated that he was unable to mount a challenge on Fernando Alonso despite carrying more fuel than the Renault.

Starting from within the top ten once again, Webber’s opening lap was compromised when Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Alonso almost touched at the first corner and Raikkonen drifted into the Red Bull’s path.

Giancarlo Fisichella has taken responsibility for the accident that sent Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima out of the fray, the Italian veteran admitting that he just didn’t brake in time.

The Force India ploughed into the back of Nakajima on the opening corner, ripping the rear wing off the Williams and damaging his own suspension in the process.

Istanbul mistro Felipe Massa answers questions from the assembled media in the post race press conference.

The following is a transcript from press conference, which also included McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who finished second and third respectively.

TV UNILATERALS

“There’s a question mark over fuel loads and we won’t get an answer to that until the first pit stops tomorrow afternoon,” reflected Kimi Raikkonen after qualifying.

Indeed, the rumor in the Istanbul paddock is that Hamilton fudged it on the option tyres while gunning for pole on a lighter fuel load.

Mark Webber says he is eager to stay put at Red Bull Racing in 2009 following his third foray into the elite top ten shoot out this year.

The Australian, who arrives at the Bosphorus fresh from three consecutive points finishes, hustled his RBR up into sixth place in qualifying – and now he’s thinking about his future with the Milton-Keynes based outfit.

Jenson Button was unable to progress into the top ten in qualifying after struggling to get his option ‘soft’ tyres to operate at their optimum around the challenging tyre-eating Istanbul Speed Circuit.

The British ace lapped ninth quickest in the morning warm up suggesting that a top ten grid slot was well within in reach.