Felipe Massa Wins Grand Prix of Europe

Massa dominated the 2008 European Grand Prix much like he did in Hungary.  Unlike Hungary, he had no troubles at all with his car and sailed into the distance leaving a distraught Lewis Hamilton in his wake.

Heikki Gets His First Victory

Felipe Massa was storming to victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix with 3 laps to go when it happened.  The video switched to Felipe driving down the front straight with a huge plume of black smoke behind him and he came to a stop.  He had driven a flawless race, but racing is a very cruel sport and it was his turn to be dealt the blow.  Hamilton had already been relegated to further back in the field when he had a flat on his front left tire (Possibly a result of his constant locking of his front brakes).   So, that left Heikki free to take the victory with ease.  A great result for a real up-and-comer.  One of the big surprises of the weekend was Timo Glock coming in second.  He had to work for it too, holding off a very quick Kimi Raikkonen who came in third.  All in all, the Hungarian Grand Prix was a very exciting race and I can't wait for the next one.  That's why it hurts so much that we have three weeks before we can see the sights and hear the sounds of Formula One again.

 

Pos	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired
1	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	70	1:37:27.067
2	Timo Glock	Toyota	70	+11.0 secs
3	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	70	+16.8 secs
4	Fernando Alonso	Renault	70	+21.6 secs
5	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	70	+23.0 secs
6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	70	+32.2 secs
7	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	70	+36.4 secs
8	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	70	+48.3 secs
9	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	70	+58.8 secs
10	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	70	+67.7 secs
11	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	70	+70.4 secs
12	Jenson Button	Honda	69	+1 Lap
13	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	69	+1 Lap
14	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	69	+1 Lap
15	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	69	+1 Lap
16	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	68	+2 Laps
17	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	67	Engine
18	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	67	+3 Laps
Ret	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	62	+8 Laps
Ret	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	22	+48 Laps

McLaren stays on top: Hungarian GP Qualifying

A stunning Q2 time for Felipe Massa didn't translate into the final session, and Lewis Hamilton continued McLaren's recent dominance with pole over teammate Heikki Kovalainen. Massa did snag the third slot, with Robert Kubica wringing some speed out of the BMW to claim fourth. Another recent trend that continued was Kimi Räikkönen trailing his teammate. Kimi could do no better than sixth and faces a tough battle for points on a track where passing is notoriously difficult.

Timo Glock backed up his second best time in Q2 (only 0.2s off of Massa's stunner) with a solid fifth position for Toyota. Alonso, Trulli, Webber and Piquet round out the top 10. It should be a heck of a race. Let's see if Ferrari can reverse trend and find speed to push McLaren.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time
1	L. Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:20.899 (Q3)
2	H. Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:21.140 (Q3)
3	F. Massa	Ferrari	1:21.191 (Q3)
4	R. Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:21.281 (Q3)
5	T. Glock	Toyota	1:21.326 (Q3)
6	K. Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:21.516 (Q3)
7	F. Alonso	Renault	1:21.698 (Q3)
8	M. Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:21.732 (Q3)
9	J. Trulli	Toyota	1:21.767 (Q3)
10	N. Piquet	Renault	1:22.371 (Q3)
11	S. Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:20.144 (Q2)
12	J. Button	Honda	1:20.332 (Q2)
13	D. Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:20.502 (Q2)
14	S. Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:20.963 (Q2)
15	N. Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	no time (Q2)
16	N. Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:21.045 (Q1)
17	K. Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:21.085 (Q1)
18	R. Barrichello	Honda	1:21.332 (Q1)
19	G. Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:21.670 (Q1)
20	A. Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:22.113 (Q1)

2008 Hungarian Grand Prix - Friday Practice

Lewis Hamilton ended up with the top spot at the completion of the first two practice sessions.  Nelsinho Piquet was the odd ball that pipped his teammate and Heikki Kovalainen for the second spot.  The Ferraris, after leading the first practice session, came in behind the McLarens and Renaults.  I have a sneaky feeling that this is going to be a very interesting and close race.

Practice 1

Practice 2