Felipe Massa Wins 2008 European GP

Another great start and a solid drive from pole-sitter Felipe Massa. This time it was his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen’s engine that blew up and not his and so Massa went on to win the inaugural European Grand Prix through the streets of Valencia in convincing style.

Although Valencia is a very pretty city, the same cannot yet be said for this new course. While it has a few interesting sections, like the run up to and across a swing bridge over the channel out of the yacht harbour, most of the circuit is run between featureless white concrete barriers. It is too narrow to expect much passing and there aren’t many run-off areas to save those who get it wrong.

Unbelievably Kazuki Nakajima slammed into the back of local hero Fernando Alonso on the very first lap, breaking his rear wing. Alonso limped his Renault back to the pits and his day was done without completing a single lap.

While it was undoubtably the Ferrari team’s fault and not his, Massa was lucky to avoid a penalty when he was released from his second pit-stop while Force India’s Adrian Sutil was driving by on the pit lane. Massa had to brake to avoid hitting either Sutil or the oncoming pit wall and had the gall to criticize Sutil for not yielding the lane to him as he was in the lead in the race and would soon pass him once they returned to the track.

A couple of laps before Raikkonen’s smoky departure from the race he started to leave his pit before the fuel hose was disengaged, knocking one of his engineers to the ground and sideswiping him with his rear tyre. The crewman was taken away on a stretcher but after the race the team said that his injuries were not too serious.

The rest of the field finished in virtually the same order that they had qualified. Without Alonso to cheer for or the cloudbursts that we have seen in recent races to liven things up, overall this wasn’t a very interesting event and many of the grandstand seats were empty long before it finally finished.

Round 12: August 24, 2008 – Valencia, Spain
Position Driver Team Points
1 Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari 10
2 Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren 8
3 Robert Kubica (POL) BMW Sauber 6
4 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) McLaren 5
5 Jarno Trulli (ITA) Toyota 4
6 Sebastian Vettel (GER) Toro Rosso 3
7 Timo Glock (GER) Toyota 2
8 Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams 1
Fastest Qualifier: Felipe Massa (BRA)

Complete GP of Europe results.

Posted: Sunday, August 24th, 2008

Heikki Kovalainen Wins 2008 Hungarian GP

Felipe Massa made a great start in today’s Hungarian Grand Prix, passing pole sitter Lewis Hamilton on the outside of the first corner and taking the lead. Setting one fast lap after another he had a safe lead and was looking for another win… until his engine gave out in a cloud of smoke on the main straight with just three laps to go. At least he didn’t have a long walk back to his pits!

Lewis Hamilton could possibly have made it three in a row but a puncture just past half way dropped him from second to tenth. Despite a strong drive he ended up in fifth after rejoining the race.

For once Heikki Kovalainen had some good luck and he was in the right place at the right time to inherit his first Grand Prix victory.

A superb result for Timo Glock who was second — only two weeks after his big crash at Hockenheim — was well deserved. Both of the Toyotas had looked strong all weekend and Jarno Trulli also finished in the points.

Kimi Raikkonen looked more like his old self than we have seen in quite a while and was the fastest man on the track in the closing laps. Raikkonen has had plenty of bad luck and poor results this year but so have everyone else and he’s still only five points out of first place.

With seven races left in the season the competition is closer than it’s been in years and the championship is still wide open with four or five drivers looking like they might take the title. Another couple of races like this one and a few more drivers could also be in with a shot.

Round 11: August 3, 2008 – Hungaroring, Hungary
Position Driver Team Points
1 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) McLaren 10
2 Timo Glock (GER) Toyota 8
3 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari 6
4 Fernando Alonso (ESP) Renault 5
5 Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren 4
6 Nelson Piquet (BRA) Renault 3
7 Jarno Trulli (ITA) Toyota 2
8 Robert Kubica (POL) BMW Sauber 1
Fastest Qualifier: Lewis Hamilton (GBR)

Complete GP of Hungary results.

Posted: Sunday, August 3rd, 2008