Length: 5.412 km
Number of Laps: 57 (308.238 Km)
Best Lap: M. Schumacher - 1'30''252 (2004, Ferrari)
Record Pole: M. Schumacher - 1'30''139 (2004, Ferrari)
2006 Pole: M. Schumacher - 1'31''431 (Ferrari)
2006 Podium: F. Alonso - M. Schumacher - K. Raikkonen

Ferrari's Felipe Massa made up for his poor start to the 2007 season by taking victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Brazilian stayed clear of the closing Lewis Hamilton in the final laps, while Kimi Raikkonen claimed the final podium place and Nick Heidfeld beat former pre-race championship leader Fernando Alonso to fourth.

The result means there's a three-way tie for the championship lead, with Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton tied on 22 points. Race winner Massa is five points behind.

McLaren driver Hamilton also made history on Sunday, becoming the first F1 driver to score three podiums in his first three races.

The Briton was unable to get on terms with Massa at the start this time, and instead nearly lost a place to Raikkonen at the first corner.

But Raikkonen lost momentum challenging the McLaren and was passed on the outside at Turn 4 by Alonso.

Massa and Hamilton then pulled away from the field together, while Alonso appeared to be holding up both Raikkonen and Heidfeld in the first stint - this trio dropping 10 seconds behind the leaders.

McLaren chose to put their drivers on long middle stints to maximise their time on soft tyres, but the tactic did not pay off.

Hamilton quickly dropped away from Massa, while Alonso lost out to Raikkonen in the pitstops, then came under heavy pressure from Heidfeld before the BMW drove around the outside of the McLaren at Turn 4 to take fourth on lap 31.

Raikkonen closed to within a second of Hamilton before the final stops, but three extra laps on low fuel helped the McLaren to stay in front.

Hamilton then gained substantially on Massa in the last laps of the race, getting the Ferrari driver's lead down to two seconds as they took the flag, but never getting close enough to try and pass.

Alonso could not make as much ground, and had to follow Heidfeld home for a low-key fifth place.

Robert Kubica could not match teammate Heidfeld's pace and spent the entire race in a very solitary sixth place.

The Red Bulls should have claimed the final two points positions - David Coulthard having made superb progress from the back of the grid on an aggressive strategy.

A series of determined early passing moves put him on course for seventh, until a lap 36 driveshaft failure.

Teammate Mark Webber then inherited the place, only to also pull off five laps later.

Jarno Trulli therefore moved up to seventh, having overtaken both Renaults during the race. Giancarlo Fisichella came back at the Toyota in the closing stages, but despite getting alongside his compatriot on the penultimate lap he was unable to take the place.

Heikki Kovalainen and Nico Rosberg completed the top ten, finishing nose to tail.

Both Super Aguris retired, but only after a long first stint had allowed Anthony Davidson to run as high as sixth.

They comfortably outpaced the sole works Honda of Rubens Barrichello, whose teammate Jenson Button retired on the first lap after an incident with Scott Speed and Adrian Sutil that prompted a brief safety car.