Hungarian GP Race: Kovalainen Benefits from Massa's Misfortune

Felipe Massa did nothing wrong this weekend, but it didn't mean that the winner's trophy to the Hungarian Grand Prix would belong to him.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa had a marvellous start to the Hungarian Grand Prix when he leapfrogged both the McLarens in the front row to take the first position after the first corner. He looks set to be claiming his well-deserved victory as he made no mistake, but just 3 laps from the finishing line, his Ferrari engine decided to give up on him and left him heartbroken about what could have been.

A dejected Felipe Massa. Copyright AP Photos/Daniel Maurer

Lewis Hamilton was sitting fine in the second position when he pushed his car too hard and flat-spotted his front left tyre. Limping back to the pits, he was lucky to salvage the situation after exiting the pits in the 9th position and gradually climbed up to the 5th position as the cars ahead of him made their final pit stops.

Timo Glock had a relatively consistant performance this weekend and was under heavy pursuit from an awoken Kimi Räikkönen towards the last 10 laps of the race. Only after Ferrari adviced Kimi to back off from the pursuit for fear of a second Ferrari engine blow-up was Glock able to heave a sigh of relief and enjoy his second place on the podium.

However, Heikki Kovalainen has got to be the luckiest man on the track. After a less-than-impressive start from the grid, the Finn found himself a mere spectator of the battle between his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa at the beginning. After Hamilton suffered the tyre incident, Kovalainen was happily settled in the 2nd place behind Felipe Massa (and posing no danger to the Ferrari man) but would certainly have not complained when he inherited the top spot. It is his first ever Grand Prix win, and that makes him the 100th driver to ever win a Grand Prix.

There were a couple of pitlane fires during refuelling for Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais, Williams' Kazuki Nakajima and Honda's Rubens Barrichello. The teams were left fretting over the refuelling hoses as the other cars came in for their final pitstops, but thankfully there were no other fire-incidents.

Timo Glock (L) Heikki Kovalainen (C) and Kimi Räikkönen (R). Copyright Reuters/Damir Sagolj

Felipe Massa would certainly be a very disappointed man, while Lewis Hamilton will once again have to think back on his aggression on the track. The case of flat-spotting today would have brought back memories of Hamilton's aggressions during last season when he lost the championship. Ferrari's other man Kimi Räikkönen would have some thinking to do too as he spent half the race toddling behind Fernando Alonso's Renault and looked uninspired.

McLaren-Mercedes looked like they were about to be the biggest losers today when both Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen were mere by-standers to Felipe Massa's early charge, but Ferrari were set back by their own engine when Massa's blown up. There will be a three-week break before the Valencia Grand Prix, and while drivers talk of plans to take a short holiday before coming back to the F1 circus, the teams and mechanics will certainly be working away to improve the cars for the edge on the track.

Results
01 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:37:27.067
02 T. Glock Toyota + 11.020
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 16.811
04 F. Alonso Renault + 21.614
05 L. Hamilton McLaren + 23.048
06 N. Piquet jr. Renault + 32.298
07 J. Trulli Toyota + 36.449
08 R. Kubica BMW + 48.321
09 M. Webber Red Bull + 58.834
10 N. Heidfeld BMW + 1:07.709
11 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 1:10.407
12 J. Button Honda + 1 laps
13 K. Nakajima Williams + 1 laps
14 N. Rosberg Williams + 1 laps
15 G. Fisichella Force India F1 + 1 laps
16 R. Barrichello Honda + 2 laps
Did not finish
17 F. Massa Ferrari + 3 laps
18 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso + 3 laps
19 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 6 laps
20 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso + 47 laps
Times from PlanetF1.com

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.

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