Grid Crasher carves up the Turkish GP

Five winners:

1. Felipe Massa Three wins in three years confirms the Brazilian’s own judgment that no one can touch him around Istanbul. Massa dumped on team-mate Kimi Raikkonen from a great height, leaving Ferrari with a nice dilemma - which driver should they back for the driver’s championship?

2. Lewis Hamilton The Brit called this his “best race” and though he didn’t win, you can see why. He kept Massa honest throughout the race and got the absolute most out of his three-stop pit strategy.

3. Herman Tilke Three cheers to the German who designed the flowing Istanbul circuit. We saw more overtaking and action on Sunday in a single lap than in the whole Spanish GP.

4. BMW Sauber Another very good performance, solidifying BMW’s position as the third-best team in F1. Their drivers, Robert Kubica (4th) and Nick Heidfeld (5th), are a very safe pair of hands.

5. Fernando Alonso No driver could have made as much of Renault’s rapid improvement. Did well to stay ahead of Mark Webber’s Red Bull and finish sixth.

And five losers: 

1. Kimi Raikkonen Clashed with Kovalainen on lap one, and won’t be happy to play second fiddle to Felipe Massa again. Still, third place isn’t a bad consolation.

2. Giancarlo Fisichella An amateurish start by the veteran Italian ruined his weekend, and that of Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams, which he drove over the top of on lap one.

3. Heikki Kovalainen Outqualified Hamilton but had zero luck in the race. He made a bad start and then had a set-to with Raikkonen. Drove well to get back to 12th but Ron Dennis won’t care too much about that, because he still scored no points.

4. Rubens Barrichello Fourteenth place was not a great way to commemorate his record-breaking 257th race.

5. Nelson Piquet Junior Can’t get close to team-mate Alonso. Drove poorly in qualifying and didn’t do much better in the race, bar a gutsy move on Jenson Button.