Felipe Massa (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro) has won the twelfth round of the FIA Formula One World Championship from pole position after using a soft - soft - super soft tyre strategy in an exciting first-ever European Grand Prix on the streets of Valencia in Spain.

Massa clinched the win in Bridgestone's 200th Grand Prix since its full-time Formula One entry in 1997. It was Massa's ninth career victory and fourth this season. He crossed the line 5.6 seconds ahead of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber F1 Team) finished in third.

Fourth position went to Heikki Kovalainen (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) whilst Jarno Trulli (Panasonic Toyota Racing) was fifth. Sebastian Vettel (Scuderia Toro Rosso) finished sixth with a strong performance, whilst Timo Glock (Panasonic Toyota Racing) finished seventh and was the only driver in the points who employed a one-stop strategy. Nico Rosberg (AT&T Williams) was the best
finishing driver to start on the super soft compound, and took the final championship point with eighth.

Track conditions at the new street course in Valencia were very good with the event blessed by clear blue skies and fine sunshine. The race's fastest lap, a 1min 38.708secs, was set by Massa on lap 36 using the soft compound.

Leaving Valencia, Hamilton continues to lead the drivers' championship with 70 points from Massa on 64. Raikkonen is in third place on 57. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro lead the constructors' championship with 121 points, whilst Vodafone McLaren Mercedes move into second place with 113 points. BMW Sauber are in third place with 96.

Bridgestone's Potenza Formula One tyres will next be in action at the Italian circuit of Monza where an all-team test will take place August 27-29. Bridgestone's hard and medium compounds will be used. Sidewall marking options for next year's slick tyres will also be evaluated. The next race is the Belgian Grand Prix on September 5-7 where Bridgestone's hard and medium compound Potenza tyres will tackle the magical Spa Francorchamps circuit.

Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development, said:
"Congratulations to the city of Valencia for providing Formula One with such a good race venue. Today we saw a strong race which was exciting on this very high speed street course. We must congratulate Felipe Massa and Ferrari for winning the 200th Grand Prix in which Bridgestone have participated since 1997. There were many results worthy of mention today. Both Toyotas scored points and both Toro Rosso cars finished in the top ten, so well done to those teams. Both the soft and super soft compounds worked very well here, which is a credit to our engineers who selected this allocation for this new race destination. Even in the high temperatures seen today at this fast track, the super soft was capable of being used in a one-stop soft - super soft strategy as seen by Timo Glock. We now start the count towards our next hundred races." 

Temperatures Ambient    Track            Weather 
Race - PM    31C 	44C-46C 	 Sunny