KEY POINTS:
ISTANBUL - Ferrari's Felipe Massa returned to the scene of his first grand prix victory in Turkey and, one year on, repeated the feat.
"It's amazing," said the Brazilian, whose parents were present at the Istanbul Park circuit to see their son's third triumph of the season breathe new life into his championship aspirations.
"I love the track, I love the place and here is where my career made a switch and I started to win races and fight with the front runners.
"It's a very special place for me and to have a second consecutive win here, it's difficult to find the right words."
Massa moved up to third overall, leapfrogging team mate Kimi Raikkonen by a point.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton now has 84 points, the Briton's double world champion team mate Fernando Alonso is on 79 and Massa has 69.
Since last year's breakthrough in Turkey, also from pole position, Massa has added four wins and secured his future at the Italian team following the departure of seven-times champion Michael Schumacher.
While Raikkonen was expected to take on the great German's mantle, Massa has refused to buckle.
He has had setbacks, such as the previous Hungarian Grand Prix where his race was wrecked by Ferrari failing to refuel his car in qualifying, but has prevented his Finnish team mate from becoming the team's de facto number one.
On Sunday, the man tipped by Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone before the season started as his title favourite kept Raikkonen, who roared from third to second at the start, firmly in his wake.
Massa's only moment of drama in the afternoon heat came when a cooling system on top of his helmet visor developed a crack, creating difficulties for five or six laps until the Brazilian could rip it off.
"The plastic part cracked and started to go up and so I had huge turbulence and my head started to move a lot," he said.
"That was disturbing me a lot and so I just broke the cooling flap completely and managed to take it away."
- REUTERS
