MANAMA (Reuters):

Ferrari's Felipe Massa fired up his Formula One title challenge yesterday with a win from pole position in Bahrain that also made amends for his failure in Malaysia the weekend before.

"Hopefully we are now back in the fight," said the Brazilian, who also set the fastest lap of the race at the Sakhir circuit on his way to his third career win.

Massa made sure his first podium appearance of the season was on the top step by leading from the start from McLaren's young British rookie Lewis Hamilton.

"A truly perfect weekend for Felipe," was team boss Jean Todt's verdict. He had also started from pole at Sepang, but was embarrassed by Hamilton, who passed both Ferraris at the start and then forced Massa into a mistake when the Brazilian tried to overtake.

"The results of the first two races were not as I expected, I think something was missing," said Massa, strongly criticised in the Italian media after Malaysia. "This time we put everything together."

Massa won last year's season-ender in his native Sao Paulo but started this year badly in Melbourne, with a gearbox failure in qualifying hitting his chances while new team mate Kimi Raikkonen cruised to victory.

The Finn was third in Bahrain yesterday, a result that lifted him to the joint championship lead on 22 points with McLaren's double champion Fernando Alonso and Hamilton.

Massa, tipped as championship favourite by Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone before the start of the season, is behind them on 17.

"Getting the victory was very important," said Massa, who took his first win in Turkey last August.

"In terms of how important it was, I think Brazil was the most important for me," he added. "But Brazil was not the most difficult race for me.

"Here, and especially in Turkey, the driving was much more difficult."