Massa continues Turkish love affair

By Alan Baldwin

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Ferrari's Felipe Massa continued his love affair with the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday, winning for the third year in a row from pole position.

"It was difficult but we made it three times in Turkey, which is just fantastic," the Brazilian said afterwards, even joking about changing his nationality. "I think I can get a passport here already.

"It is just great. It is just fantastic to drive here," he added.

Massa took his first grand prix win in Turkey with Ferrari in 2006 and every visit since with the Italian team has had the same result.

The Brazilian's second win of the season boosted his title challenge and put more pressure on his championship-leading team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who saw his lead cut to seven points after finishing third.

"I'm right in there in the fight," said Massa.

"If you look at the past races, Kimi won one and I won the next one. Kimi won again and I won this race. It's always very tight, the competition is very high but after some races I feel that I can be competitive anywhere."

Massa won in Bahrain, Spain and Turkey last year and has repeated two of the three in 2008, with Raikkonen triumphant in Barcelona. Ferrari have won the last four races after losing to McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in Australia.