Felipe Massa scored a hat-trick of Turkish Grand Prix victories following a fascinating tactical battle with Lewis Hamilton.

Three of Massa's seven career wins have now come at the Istanbul Park circuit, propelling the Brazilian to within seven points of current championship leader and Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

The Finn was forced to settle for third as Hamilton managed to hold off the reigning world champion over the closing laps to claim the runner-up spot in his McLaren.

Hamilton is now level on points with Massa and has at least taken two points out of Raikkonen's lead at the top heading into Monaco and Montreal - favoured tracks for the Woking-based team.

Massa eventually finished 3.7secs clear of Hamilton as McLaren opted to run a three-stop strategy due to tyre concerns on the track, with Raikkonen a further 0.4secs adrift.

McLaren team boss Ron Dennis revealed: "With Lewis we had a structural concern with his tyres, so we took a decision with Bridgestone to run three stops.

The BMW Saubers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld were fourth and fifth, with Renault's Fernando Alonso sixth, the Red Bull of Mark Webber seventh, while Williams' Nico Rosberg claimed a point.

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