Felipe Massa bounced back from the disappointment of the Malaysian Grand Prix in style as he captured his first victory of 2007 in Bahrain.
Lewis Hamilton's superb season continued as he entered the history books with his second-place finish.
The 22-year-old became the first ever driver to finish on the podium in his first three races whilst also climbing to joint leader of the championship alongside Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.
Massa made up for letting pole position slip last week as he retained his grip on the lead throughout although Hamilton pushed hard towards the end to close the gap but in the end was unable to catch the Brazilian.
Ferrari team-mate Raikkonen finished third, while Nick Heidfeld capped a fine performance on the Sakhir circuit to take fourth place.
Two-time world champion Alonso ran the German close but in the end finished half a second behind the BMW Sauber driver in fifth place.
Robert Kubica ensured a good display for BMW Sauber as he took sixth place, Toyota's Jarno Trulli finished seventh while Giancarlo Fisichella, Heikki Kovalainen and Nico Rosberg rounded off the rest of the top 10.
There was disappointment for Jenson Button in his Honda once again as he was out of the race only minutes after climbing into his car.
Toro Rosso driver Scott Speed collided with the 27-year-old's car soon after the race began and the safety car was quickly deployed.
David Coulthard was once again unable to complete a race but it was extremely disappointing for the Red Bull driver as he had climbed from 20th on grid up to seventh before flames emanating from the under the car brought an end to his race mid-way through.
Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton now share the overall lead in this year's Championship after three races with 22 points apiece. Massa has 17 points.
BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX RESULT
1 Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1:33:27.515
2 Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren +00:02.360
3 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 00:10.839
4 Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 00:13.831
5 Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 00:14.426
6 Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 00:45.529
7 Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 01:21.371
8 Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 01:21.701
9 Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Renault 01:29.411
10 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams-Toyota 01:29.916
11 Alexander Wurz (Austria) Williams-Toyota 1 lap
12 Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 1 lap
13 Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1 lap
14 Christijan Albers (Netherlands) Spyker-Ferrari 2 laps
15 Adrian Sutil (Germany) Spyker-Ferrari 4 laps
16 Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri-Honda 6 laps
R Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull-Renault 16 laps
R David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull-Renault 21 laps
R Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri-Honda 23 laps
R Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 31 laps
R Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 57 laps
R Scott Speed (US) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 57 laps
(Key: R = retired)
Fastest Lap: Felipe Massa, 1:34.067, lap 42.
Championship Standings:
Drivers:
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 22pts
Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 22
Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 22
4 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 17
5 Nick Heidfeld Ger (BMW) Sauber 15
6 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 8
7 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 4
8 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 3
9 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 2
10 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1
11 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 1
Constructers:
1 McLaren 44pts
2 Ferrari 39
3 BMW Sauber 18
4 Renault 9
5 Toyota 5
6 Williams 2
