2008 Hungarian GP: Engine failure stops Massa, Kovalainen wins

Heikki Kovalainen won the 2008 Hungarian GP at the Hungaroring for McLaren. He only inherited the win on lap 68: Felipe Massa had led almost the entire race before his engine gave up. Behind Kovalainen, Timo Glock finished second for Toyota to take his first podium, while world champion Kimi Räikkönen was third for Ferrari.

That made Kovalainen the 100th driver to win a championship Grand Prix. It would remain his only Formula 1 win.

In sunshine, with air temperatures around 30 degrees and more than 40 degrees on the track surface, Lewis Hamilton was on pole position with Kovalainen alongside. Ferrari driver Felipe Massa started third and made the best getaway at the front. First he left Kovalainen behind, then he went round the outside of Hamilton at Turn 1. Hamilton had to back off, and Massa took the lead.

Glock gained a place on the opening lap from fifth on the grid. Jenson Button in the Honda, by contrast, got boxed in and dropped back. On lap 3 he passed his teammate Rubens Barrichello. According to grandprix.com, that was the only overtake of the race not caused by a mistake or a technical failure. On the tight Hungaroring, it was above all the start and strategy that decided positions.

Massa came in for his first refuelling stop on lap 18, when he was about three seconds ahead of Hamilton. The McLaren driver stopped a lap later and took on enough fuel for three laps more than Massa in the second stint. Hamilton led briefly on lap 19, then Kovalainen. By lap 22 Massa was back in front.

In the second stint Massa's lead grew to around five seconds. In the heat, Ferrari had a clear edge: according to Wikipedia, the red cars' tyres ran up to ten degrees cooler than McLaren's. Chasing hard, Hamilton flat-spotted his left front tyre around lap 32. On lap 41 that very tyre lost air just before Turn 2. Limping back to the pits and changing the tyre dropped Hamilton to tenth. Bridgestone mainly blamed debris but said the flat spot had made the tyre more vulnerable.

The damage came shortly before the second round of stops, so Hamilton's time loss was limited. Massa was now more than 20 seconds clear of Kovalainen and made his final stop on lap 44. Kovalainen led from lap 45 to 48, then Massa was back in front. During the stops, Sébastien Bourdais, Kazuki Nakajima and Barrichello escaped unharmed from small flash fires while refuelling.

Everything pointed to a commanding Ferrari win. But at the start of lap 68, white smoke billowed from the back of Massa's car. The Brazilian pulled over on the start/finish straight. Kovalainen took the lead and brought the win home a good eleven seconds ahead of Glock. According to Wikipedia, Ferrari later traced the engine failure to a connecting rod made from contaminated material. Because Massa had completed 67 laps, he was still classified 17th.

The winner clearly felt for his rival: “I feel a bit sorry for Felipe and Lewis.” (Kovalainen, quoted by Wikipedia). Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali called Massa's drive “the best race of his career”.

Räikkönen profited from the problems of the two leading drivers. He got past Fernando Alonso in the Renault during the second stops, and on lap 61 he set the fastest lap of the race (1:21.195). Shortly before his second stop he had briefly gone off the track. In the end he had to slow down because of a rear axle problem, but held on to third place.

Retirements:

• Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) had to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 20 and retired after 22 laps with an overheating engine.
• Adrian Sutil (Force India) went out after 62 laps. A brake failure had caused a puncture.
• Massa retired after 67 laps with engine failure but was still classified.

Winners of the day:

• Glock started fifth and finished second. It was his first podium and would remain his best Formula 1 result.
• Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) gained the most places: five positions, from 15th on the grid to tenth. That was not enough for points, though.
• Nelson Piquet Jr. finished sixth from tenth on the grid, scoring three points for Renault. Alonso finished fourth.

Losers of the day:

• Massa lost what looked like a certain win and 14 places.
• Hamilton dropped from pole position to fifth.
• Robert Kubica struggled with heavy oversteer and fell from fourth on the grid to eighth.

Jarno Trulli took two more points for Toyota in seventh. Mark Webber (Red Bull) just missed out on the points in ninth.

Thanks to Massa's retirement, Hamilton stayed top of the 2008 standings despite finishing fifth. He now had 62 points. Räikkönen moved up to second with 57 points, while Massa dropped to third with 54. Kubica remained fourth on 49 points. Kovalainen stayed sixth with 38 points. Glock jumped six places to tenth thanks to his eight points.

In the constructors' championship Ferrari led with 111 points from McLaren (100) and BMW Sauber (90). Toyota consolidated fourth place with 35 points.

Massa had dominated the race and came away empty-handed. It showed how close and unpredictable the 2008 title race was. For Formula 1, Budapest 2008 remains a special race: this is where Kovalainen became the 100th Grand Prix winner.