August 04, 2008	Monday	Sha'aban 1 429

BUDAPEST, Aug 3: McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen celebrated a shock maiden win at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday after Ferrari’s Felipe Massa suffered an engine failure while leading with three laps remaining.

Finn Kovalainen capitalised on Brazilian Massa’s misfortune to finish ahead of podium debutant Toyota’s Timo Glock of Germany with Massa’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen third.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton stayed top of the championship standings despite a puncture just after the midway stage that saw him finish the race in fifth place behind Renault driver and former team mate Fernando Alonso of Spain.

Briton Hamilton now holds a five-point lead over Finland’s Raikkonen in the championship with Massa dropping into third place, a further three points back.

Massa had looked set to regain the world championship lead after making a stunning start to Sunday’s race.

From third on the grid, the Brazilian used the race’s opening turn to surge ahead of his two McLaren rivals before building a comfortable lead.

With overtaking all but impossible on the rest of the twisting Hungaroring track, Massa saw his advantage boosted when Hamilton left the track on the 41st lap before limping into the pit lane with a punctured front left tyre.

Massa then suffered a much more costly problem when his engine died in front of the main grandstand with three laps to go, allowing Kovalainen to wrap up his unexpected victory.

Renault’s Brazilian Nelson Piquet defended sixth place with Italian Jarno Trulli climbing from ninth to seventh to complete a great weekend for Toyota.

There was disappointment, though, for BMW Sauber whose leading driver Robert Kubica only just scraped into the points after dropping from fourth on the grid to finish eighth.

Results:

1. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren 1hr 37min 27.067secs; 2. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota +00:11.061; 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 00:16.856; 4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 00:21.614; 5. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 00:23.048; 6. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 00:32.298; 7. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 00:36.449; 8. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 00:48.321; 9. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull–Renault 00:58.834; 10. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 01:07.709; 11. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull–Renault 01:10.407; 12. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1 lap; 13. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams–Toyota 1 lap; 14. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams–Toyota 1 lap; 15. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India–Ferrari 1 lap; 16. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 2 laps; 17. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 3 laps; 18. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso–Ferrari 3 laps.

Retired: Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India–Ferrari 8 laps; Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso–Ferrari 48 laps.

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:21.195, lap 61.—Reuters