Race – Kovalainen, surprise winner in Hungary!

Heikki Kovalainen won the first Grand Prix of his Formula 1 career this Sunday in Hungary. The young Finn took the lead of the race with two laps to go thanks to Massa’s retirement, ahead of Glock and Räikkönen. A very young podium and a race full of twists and turns for the leaders.

McLaren-Mercedes had dominated the entire weekend and seemed poised to achieve a one-two finish today for the Hungarian GP; a completely different scenario unfolded before the fans’ eyes. The race leader changed numerous times before finally being known two laps before the end of the race.

At the start, the McLarens took off in the lead but did not have the expected getaway. Massa, in third, took advantage of the slipstream to slip behind Lewis Hamilton and take the lead in the race by the first corner. It was the perfect start for the Brazilian, which perhaps gives Scuderia Ferrari a chance to change a fate seemingly set for McLaren.

Massa held the lead for a good part of the race. The podium seemed already set with Massa, Hamilton, and Kovalainen. However, 27 laps from the finish, Hamilton on the attack pushed his tires to the limit. The asphalt at 60° wears out the tires very quickly, too quickly. The curbs are high, and Hamilton goes off-track slowly, victim of a puncture on his front-left tire.

The English driver loses more than thirty seconds in the story and exits the pits in 10th position. He climbs back up to 6th place, taking advantage of the last pit stop to overtake Piquet (Renault) and Trulli (Toyota). The latter two are 6th and 7th.

Ahead of Hamilton, Fernando Alonso takes the 5th position in the Renault R28. He benefits from some race errors, like Hamilton’s, but also lost a place during his last pit stop, to the advantage of Räikkönen. The Renault and Ferrari drivers followed each other for more than 55 laps and Räikkönen was only able to gain the advantage through a quick pit stop.

The Finn then put in brilliant laps, setting the fastest lap of the race (see the fastest race laps live) and closed in to less than a second behind the third place, which was Timo Glock (Toyota) at that time. The Ferrari driver had to slow down afterwards to preserve his engine. He finally finished on the podium in third position, thanks to or because of his teammate’s retirement.

The Brazilian seemed to be better than the McLarens today until the penultimate lap of the Grand Prix where he suffered an engine failure. Under pressure from the Anglo-German team, Massa pushed his engine a bit too far. The extreme heat in Hungary didn’t help.

This retirement makes way for a very nice podium for Timo Glock with Toyota. The reigning GP2 champion steps onto his first F1 podium in his second season. He finishes eight seconds behind Kovalainen. The Finnish driver had not yet won this season and thus moves up in the standings. The battle for second place in the championship could very well be contested by six drivers.

Behind, Kubica saves face for BMW with a point from eighth place. The German team is not comfortable on these winding tracks. Heidfeld takes 10th position, benefiting from a one-stop strategy.

Between the two BMWs slots in Webber’s Red Bull. The second Red Bull Renault is 11th with David Coulthard. Jenson Button (Honda) is 12th, ahead of the two Williams, also trailing.

Fisichella finishes 15th, ahead of Barrichello and Bourdais. The Force India driver confirms the rise of the VJM01 in the hierarchy while the Toro Rosso team encountered several problems this Sunday.

Bourdais was the victim of a fire outbreak on his STR03 and lacked visibility as his visor was covered with fire extinguishing foam. He was not the only one, as Barrichello and Rosberg also experienced fire outbreaks during their second pit stops. Vettel, on his side, had to retire due to an as yet unexplained mechanical problem.

In the championship, Hamilton retains the lead ahead of Massa and Räikkönen. McLaren takes advantage to regain the upper hand on BMW on the constructor’s side, but Ferrari still leads by more than ten points.

Race Results – Hungarian GP 2008