Bridgestone Motorsport Wrap for August 4th 2008
Massa's misfortune hands Heikki his maiden win
Felipe Massa drove the perfect race for 67 laps of the Hungarian Grand Prix - he made the ideal start from the second row of the grid, jumped into the lead and looked completely comfortable as he aimed for the 10 points that would give him the lead in the world championship.
Timo Glock , Heikki Kovalainen & Kimi Raikkonen on the podium
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Then, with just three laps to go, his Ferrari's engine blew up in spectacular fashion on the main straight, handing McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen his maiden F1 win.
"I am very frustrated at the moment, because today we had a great car and we had done everything perfectly until just a few kilometres from the finish," Massa said.
"Unfortunately, racing can be a cruel sport. We had given it our all, but these things can happen. Now we must not give up, but instead we must react quickly."
Kovalainen started on the soft compound Bridgestone Potenza tyres and made two pit stops on his way to his first victory in just his 28th Grand Prix.
There was some consolation for Massa with his main championship rivals also suffering their own misfortunes. Kimi Raikkonen settled for third place when Ferrari told him to slow after Massa's engine problems while pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton struggled to stay with Massa in the early stages of the race before a blown front tyre forced him into the pits and down into an eventual fifth place.
"I salvaged the best of the worst," Hamilton told BBC Sport.
"What can you do when you get a puncture? It's nowhere near as bad as it could have been. I could have had Felipe and Kimi right at the front."
A delighted Timo Glock took second place for Toyota while the two Renaults of Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet sandwiched Hamilton for fourth and sixth places respectively.
Hirohide Hamashima, Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development, said performance from both the soft and super-soft compounds was good, with the super-soft Potenza proving the faster of the two.
"Congratulations to Heikki Kovalainen for scoring his first Grand Prix win and also to Timo Glock for achieving his first F1 podium finish, especially after his accident in the last race," he said.
"Regarding Lewis Hamilton's tyre deflation, we are still investigating the reason for this as it is not immediately apparent from initial analysis, however a puncture from a sidewall cut looks to be the probable cause."
The teams now head to Valencia which makes its Formula One bow as host for the European Grand Prix in three weeks' time with Hamilton protecting a slim five point lead over Raikkonen.
Results from Hungarian Grand Prix:
1. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1hr 37min 27.067secs
2. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota +00:11.061
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 00:16.856
4. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 00:21.614
5. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 00:23.048
6. Nelson Piquet (Brz) Renault 00:32.298
7. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 00:36.449
8. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 00:48.321
Championship Standings
- 1. Lewis Hamilton 62 points
- 2. Kimi Raikkonen 57 points
- 3. Felipe Massa 54 points
- 4. Robert Kubica 49 points
- 5. Nick Heidfeld 41 points
- 6. Heikki Kovalainen 38 points
Tander re-takes V8 lead
Defending champion Garth Tander has snatched back the V8 Supercar championship lead from Mark Winterbottom as disaster struck his Ford rival at Winton in Victoria.
Driving a Bridgestone-sponsored Holden Racing Team Commodore, Tander won the round on a countback after he and Ford duo Jamie Whincup and Will Davison were all tied on equal points after each driver had won one of the three races over the weekend.
Tander's win in race three gave him the round victory, with Whincup second and Davison third overall.
But for Winterbottom, it was a nightmare weekend with two horror races erasing the 122-point lead he held coming into the round.
Tander now leads the championship by 12 points from Winterbottom. The V8 series now has a six-week break, with round nine at Phillip Island from September 11-14.