A Good Weekend For Ferrari but Not Great.

The only thing that could have been better for Ferrari in Turkey was to have Michael Schumacher finish first and Felipe Massa second, but even so first place for the Brazilian and third for the German netted 16 valuable points that brought Ferrari within two points of Renault in the constructors’ championship.

In all probability Schumacher would have won, all things being equal, but Michael lost out when the safety car was deployed on the 13th lap and he had to wait behind Massa while they were serviced in the pits. Then Michael blistered his second set of Bridgestones pushing overly hard to make up time while running with a heavier fuel load than his two rivals. His performance in the closing laps was mighty, but those two factors militated against the victory that would have decreased the gap to Alonso.

Instead, the Spaniard opened it out by two, and it is 12 going into the final four races. So it was good and bad news after all. From a sporting perspective, Massa’s victory was most welcome, making him the second first-time winner of the season after Jenson Button.

The other good news for Ferrari and Bridgestone was that they had race pace, against the expectations of Renault and Michelin. As both Schumacher and Alonso stress continually, the championship will be won or lost on tyre performance.

We will have to see what happens in two weeks in Italy, but things still aren't over for Schumacher and Ferrari.