August 25, 2008

FELIPE Massa won European Grand Prix for Ferrari on the new street circuit around the harbour in Valencia and revived his challenge for this year's drivers' championship.

The 27-year-old Brazilian came home ahead of championship-leading Briton Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren-Mercedes with Poland's Robert Kubica third for BMW Sauber.

Massa's win lifted him up to second in the drivers' championship with 64 points, six fewer than Hamilton on 70, with six of this year's 18 races remaining. Australia's Mark Webber was 12th.

Massa's fourth win this season helped him wipe away the disappointment of his enforced retirement, while leading, with three laps remaining in the Hungarian Grand Prix three weeks ago.

The win was the ninth of his career and was achieved in exemplary fashion as he drove from pole position to the chequered flag without a worry apart from a problem at his second pit-stop.

"I am so glad, so happy, after such a bad result in Hungary and the way it ended there,'' said Massa.

"Everyone did a fantastic job for me and it is a great result for the team. To take pole, to win the race and to clock the fastest lap, you cannot ask for more than that after such a bad experience in Budapest.''

But Massa was dragged into a retrospective controversy when he was asked about his second pit-stop which saw him rejoin the fray following an 'unsafe release' from the pits.

"I don't know anything about it,'' he said.

"As far as I am concerned I did nothing wrong. It is more about Adrian Sutil than me.''

In the incident, Sutil was released before Massa who came out alongside him in the pit lane and had to ease off when they approached a wall.

Race stewards held an inquiry into the incident which could have seen Massa have his victory taken away from him but in the end the Ferrari man escaped with a caution and a €10,000 (A$17,000).

In a second incident, a Ferrari mechanic was injured during Finn Kimi Raikkonen's bungled second pit stop. This also was announced as being under investigation.

Hamilton said he was glad to collect his eight points and remain on top in the title race.

"We have great reliability and a great package and no worries about any of that,'' he said, adding that he felt pain from his neck throughout the race.

"I woke up early on Saturday morning and had a spasm in my neck,'' Hamilton explained.

"At one point, I did not think I would recover and be able to race, but I had injections and I made it.

"I felt it during the race and it was tough for me, but I don't think I lost any time. The team had Pedro (De la Rosa, the reserve driver) waiting to race and of course he wanted to because he is Spanish.

"I felt bad from the start of the weekend, with low energy, fevers every day and the spasms in my neck. Luckily I have a great doctor and trainer and we got through it.''

Kubica said he had suffered problems as well when a white plastic bag flew across the track and under his car, causing him to lose his steering controls briefly.

"It came back after a little while, but I lost confidence and it affected me,'' he said.

"We got this third because of our great qualifying performance on Saturday.''

In another incident, Massa's Ferrari teammate defending champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen was involved in a disastrous pit stop that left a mechanic injured two laps before his engine blew and forced him to retire.

Hamilton's McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen of Finland came home fourth ahead of Italian veteran Jarno Trulli in a Toyota and 21-year-old German Sebastian Vettel who was sixth for Toro Rosso.

Timo Glock of Germany was seventh for Toyota and another German Nico Rosberg eighth for Williams.

F1GP - European Grand PrixPos No Driver Team Time/Retired
1 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:35:32.339
2 22 Lewis Hamilton McLaren +5.6 secs
3 4 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber +37.3 secs
4 23 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren +39.7 secs
5 11 Jarno Trulli Toyota +50.6 secs
6 15 Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso +52.6 secs
7 12 Timo Glock Toyota +67.9 secs
8 7 Nico Rosberg Williams +71.4 secs
9 3 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber +82.1 secs
10 14 Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso +89.7 secs
11 6 Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault +92.7 secs
12 10 Mark Webber Red Bull +1 Lap
13 16 Jenson Button Honda +1 Lap
14 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India +1 Lap
15 8 Kazuki Nakajima Williams +1 Lap
16 17 Rubens Barrichello Honda +1 Lap
17 9 David Coulthard Red Bull +1 Lap
18 20 Adrian Sutil Force India Retired
19 5 Fernando Alonso Renault Retired
20 1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Retired

F1GP Ladders F1 Drivers Ladder F1 Team Ladder Updated AUG 2008 Driver Team Pts
1 Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren 70
2 Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari 64
3 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari 57
4 Robert Kubica (POL) BMW Sauber 55
5 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) McLaren 43
6 Nick Heidfeld (GER) BMW Sauber 41
7 Jarno Trulli (ITA) Toyota 26
8 Fernando Alonso (ESP) Renault 18
9 Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull 18
10 Timo Glock (GER) Toyota 15
11 Nelson Piquet Jr. (BRA) Renault 13
12 Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Honda 11
13 Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams 9
14 Sebastian Vettel (GER) Toro Rosso 9
15 Kazuki Nakajima (JAP) Williams 8
16 David Coulthard (GBR) Red Bull 6
17 Jenson Button (GBR) Honda 3
18 Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) Toro Rosso 2
19 Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Force India 0
19 Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India 0
19 Anthony Davidson (GBR) Super Aguri 0
19 Takuma Sato (JAP) Super Aguri 0

Updated AUG 2008 Team Pts
1 Ferrari 121
2 McLaren 113
3 BMW Sauber 96
4 Toyota 41
5 Renault 31
6 Red Bull 24
7 Williams 17
8 Honda 14
9 Toro Rosso 11
10 Force India 0
10 Super Aguri 0