Massa triumphed by 5.5sec for Ferrari from Renault's Alonso who had to fight off seven-times champion Schumacher several times over the last 15 laps to take a vital second place by just a car's length.


The Spaniard came home just fractions ahead of his Ferrari rival to increase his championship lead over the German to 12 points with four races left. Massa, who had started on pole for the first time, claimed his historic win in his 66th race and his first season with Ferrari.

"It's just fantastic. I've worked so hard my whole career for this moment," said a tearful Massa. "I'm full of emotion, like yesterday (when he took pole). This is my first time, it's like a dream come true."

Alonso admitted:

"Felipe was impossible to catch. We'll just need to do something for the next race."

Schumacher, meanwhile, paid tribute to his young team mate:

"Congratulations to Felipe - he did a superb job. There was quite a gap and he was consistent and drove superbly.

"That's what is good about our team - somebody might not have had a good weekend and the other makes up for it. It was a nice fight towards the end."

Follow up:

The 25-year-old Massa had blasted away from his first pole start with Schumacher and Alonso dicing for second into the first corner with the German just getting ahead.


Alonso struggled to match Ferrari's early pace and dropped 10 seconds behind before he was handed a lifeline on lap 14 when Toro Rosso's Tonio Liuzzi stopped on the edge of the track.


The Ferraris both pitted as the safety car was sent out but, as Schumacher waited in line, Alonso also pitted and was able to leapfrog his rival into second place.


Schumacher was unable to make any impression as in the middle of the race and lost almost five crucial seconds to his rival when he slid wide on lap 29.


Massa and Alonso both made their final pit stop on lap 39 but, although Schumacher stayed out for another four laps, he returned third but was right behind the championship pacesetter.


Britain's Jenson Button followed up his maiden victory in the previous race with fourth for Honda while Pedro de la Rosa took fifth for McLaren.


Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella was sixth despite losing his car's nose on the first lap with Ralf Schumacher seventh for Toyota and Rubens Barrichello eighth in the second Honda.


The 58-lap race had an incident-packed start with fourth-placed Fisichella spinning and causing chaos behind him. The major casualty was last year's winner Kimi Raikkonen whose left rear tyre was punctured after a collision with Toro Rosso's Scott Speed.


The Finn had to pit but must have sustained other damage as moments after returning to the track he lost control at a tight left-hander and smashed into the barriers.


Source: Motoring

Race placings: