Lewis Hamilton lost his lead in the Formula One drivers' championship after finishing outside the points in Bahrain.

Felipe Massa scored his first points of 2008 with a dominant victory ahead of Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, with BMW's Robert Kubica third.

British star Hamilton damaged his McLaren after running into the back of his old sparring partner Fernando Alonso, having lost seven places at the start. He eventually trundled home in 13th.

Massa's sixth career win came at the same Sakhir desert circuit where he fired up his title challenge last year with a start-to-finish victory.

World champion Raikkonen collected the 50th podium finish of his grand prix career and the Finnish 'Iceman' took over at the top with 19 points, three clear of BMW Sauber's German Nick Heidfeld, after three races.

Hamilton, McLaren team mate Heikki Kovalainen and Kubica are all level on 14.

McLaren were also leapfrogged at the top of the constructors' standings by BMW Sauber.

Kubica finished third, after becoming the first BMW Sauber driver to start a grand prix from pole position, with Heidfeld a close fourth.

BMW Sauber have now finished on the podium in all of the first three races of the season, a feat unmatched by Ferrari or McLaren. They have 30 points to Ferrari's 29 and McLaren's 28.

Kovalainen was fifth, ahead of Toyota's Italian Jarno Trulli and Australian Mark Webber in a Red Bull. Germany's Nico Rosberg took the final point for Williams.

Massa made a faster getaway than Kubica while Hamilton was engulfed by the field, and took the chequered flag 3.3 seconds ahead of Raikkonen.

"The race was really difficult at the beginning, there was a lot of oil on the track," said the Brazilian. "Then during the race the car was just very good and I didn't push to the limit.

"I had a not very easy few weeks, but that's life," he added in a reference to the pressure on him after retiring in Australia and Malaysia.

"It's not the first time and it won't be the last. I had a two bad days in the first two races but I always knew that we were quick."

"I wanted to win but we've been a bit off the pace all weekend," said Raikkonen. "But I'm leading the championship so if we can score second places on the bad weekends, I'm not too disappointed."

Kubica said he had been hampered by wheelspin at the start and then struggled with the oil on the track, with Raikkonen barging past on lap two.

"It's very good to be on the podium for the second race in a row but without the problems on the second lap, I might have been able to fight with Kimi," said the Pole.

Reuters