Felipe Massa proved himself a contender for world title glory this season on a day when Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso seemingly resumed their bitter rivalry.

Massa cruised to victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix, taking the chequered flag for the first time since last August's race in Turkey, and the sixth of his career.

Despite Poland's Robert Kubica starting on pole for the first time in his Formula One career, the BMW Sauber driver was unable to prevent a Ferrari one-two.

World champion Kimi Raikkonen captured second to sweep to the top of the leaderboard by three points from Nick Heidfeld in his BMW Sauber, with the Finn on the podium for the 50th time in his career.

The bulk of the drama, though, unfolded once the five red lights disappeared to signal the start of the 57-lap race at the Sakhir circuit.

Hamilton, who came into the race with a three-point cushion in the drivers' standings but now trails Raikkonen by five, appeared to temporarily stall.

That forced McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen into a swerving manoeuvre around Hamilton's seemingly stricken car.

But then the 23-year-old finally pulled away, finding himself amongst the mid-field runners heading into turn one and around the first lap, by the end of which he was running ninth.

Immediately ahead of the Briton was bitter rival Alonso, with no love lost between the duo following their feud last season when they were both at McLaren.

On lap two Alonso appeared to ease off the accelerator for a split second.

But that was enough for Hamilton to run into the back of two-time world champion Alonso, losing his nose cone in the process, while the Spaniard also damaged his rear-end plate.

Hamilton then struggled for the remainder of the lap to return to the pits for a new nose, following which he dropped to 19th.

That was due to Sebastian Vettel retiring on the first lap after he was shunted from behind, while in a disastrous day for the Brits, David Coulthard and Jenson Button suffered early punctures.

The Red Bull and Honda duo, running at the back of the field in the wake of their trouble, then came together on lap 19.

Button tried to dive down the inside of Coulthard, but succeeded to only remove his front nose cone, forcing him out of the grand prix.

For the remainder of the race, Hamilton was unable to make severe inroads into the field ahead of him and could only finish 13th as it appeared his car had suffered more damage than merely to its nose.

Out in front, the Ferraris were in a class of their own after the 26-year-old Massa succeeded in overtaking Kubica on the run down to the first corner.

In a wheel-to-wheel battle on lap two, Raikkonen also claimed the Pole, and from that point on it was a relative procession.

But unlike in Malaysia a fortnight ago when Raikkonen took the win as he blasted past Massa in the first round of pit stops, the Finn was unable to make any impression on this occasion.

For Massa, it was his second successive victory on this circuit, and after all the speculation about his future in the wake of his poor start to the season, he is up and running and in the picture.

Kubica held onto third for the remainder of the race from team-mate Nick Heidfeld, and with the 11 points from the duo it means BMW Sauber lead the constructors' championship for the first time in their history.

The team hold a one-point lead over Ferrari and two to McLaren, who barely salvaged a miserable day with Kovalainen's fifth place.

Jarno Trulli in his Toyota was sixth, followed by the Red Bull of Mark Webber for a second successive seventh place, with Williams' Nico Rosberg taking a point for eighth place.

Massa said: "I had a good start, whilst Robert didn't, and then the race was difficult at the beginning because there was a lot of oil on the track.

"But during the race the car was very good. I didn't push the car to the limit, and at the end of the day I had a lot in hand.

"I've not had easy weeks at the start of this season. It's not the first time and it won't be the last, but I know we are quick.

"I love the circuit. This is my second victory in a row. I am always very strong here."

Raikkonen was comfortable with second as he said: "All weekend it's been pretty difficult. I've not been able to get the car right.

"But finishing second after such a weekend is not bad, and now I am leading the world championship so I have to say I am happy."

With BMW now the only team to finish on the podium in the opening three races, Kubica was happy enough with his third.

"It's a good result for the team who are now leading the constructors' championship, so it's been a good weekend," said Kubica.