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Massa, Hamilton keeping champion Alonso on his toes

Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton aren't making it easy for defending world champion Fernando Alonso.

Massa won his second-straight Formula One race on Sunday for Ferrari, holding off McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton at the Spanish Grand Prix for a win by 6.79 seconds.

A third-straight runner-up finish saw Hamilton replace team founder Bruce McLaren as the youngest driver to lead the standings.

The 22-year-old Hamilton has 30 points. Alonso, who finished third, has 28 and Massa is third with 27.

With seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher only watching — not driving — many expected Alonso to duel for the title with Kimi Raikkonen, the German driver's replacement at Ferrari.

So far, the season hasn't followed the script.

"I keep saying I'm living my dream and it's really true," said Hamilton, who celebrated in pit lane with his family.

Massa pumped his fists as he stood atop his car before running into the arms of Ferrari boss Jean Todt to celebrate his fourth career win.

"For the second consecutive race weekend, Felipe Massa put in a flawless performance," Todt said.

Massa, who came sixth at the season-opening Australian GP, isn't getting too confident.

"We finished the race with only one car so it's a bit of concern," the 26-year-old Brazilian said. "Reliability is the key."

Raikkonen retired after nine laps due to an electrical fault. Unlike at the Malaysian GP where Alonso won, Massa defended his pole position against the Spaniard on Sunday. He pushed Alonso out wide and into the gravel after he tried to overtake the Brazilian and their tires touched around the first bend.

"For sure I think the most difficult part of the race was the start," Massa said.

"It was pretty tough but afterward I saw nothing happened on my car and we responded, we managed to build the gap, we built it straightaway and I had the race in my hands," he said.

Though he had a sellout record crowd of 140,000 supporting him, Alonso said he knew from the first corner that a second-straight title at the Circuit de Catalunya was unlikely.

"I lost three places because of that touch," Alonso said. "The car was damaged."
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