Kovalainen scores career first F1 victory in Budapest

Two Finns celebrate on podium as Hamilton and Massa suffer from technical problems

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At Budapest’s Hungaroring on Sunday, Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) became the fourth Finn to win a Formula One Grand Prix and the one hundredth man ever to top the podium in the sport.
      The way the Finn clinched his maiden victory was nothing short of dramatic.
     
In a way, Kovalainen’s first career F1 victory came almost as a gift.
      Throughout the race the Finn was ever so slightly slower than his teammate Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain, but Hamilton’s dream to cap the race was ruined by a puncture on Lap 40.
      After this, only Brazil’s Felipe Massa separated Kovalainen from the number one position. But just three laps before the chequered flag, the engine on Massa’s Ferrari decided to terminate its contract and blew up, after which Kovalainen had the easiest of tasks to drive home safely and secure the victory.
     
But the misfortunes of his rivals did little to dampen Kovalainen’s jubilation at notching up a first win.
      “I still get ten points”, the Finn smiled.
      “It felt weird to see a car in front of me with fire and smoke coming out of it. In a way I knew it had to be Massa. I feel sorry for him. I know exactly how it feels. But after that I was on cloud nine driving to the finish line.”
     
From the helmet radio Kovalainen heard McLaren boss Ron Dennis’s voice: “Welcome to the winners’ club. This was the first of your many victories.”
      “In fact, winning felt so good that I might as well do it again”, joked Kovalainen, who had been slightly crestfallen after hapless performances in the previous two races.
      When asked how he was going to celebrate his win, Kovalainen answered: “I am not sure. I should probably ask Kimi”, referring to his countryman Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari), the current world champion and a driver who is known to be an excellent party animal at times.
     
”This was just one intermediate goal. The next one is to repeat the victory – and this time without the involuntary assistance of others.”
      “In the previous races my aggressive driving style has spoiled the tyres. This time we made radical changes in the tuning, and they were definitely a step in the right direction”, Kovalainen explained.
      “Especially in the end, when driving on soft tyres, they felt great, like new. This was the most important lesson learned from the race and will aid me in the coming rounds.”
     
In the drivers’ table Kovalainen is currently 24 points behind the leader Lewis Hamilton, lying in sixth spot.
      “I am not thinking about that. I’m taking the races one at a time and will simply try to collect more points than others.”
     
The mishaps of others also aided Kimi Räikkönen in his attempt to renew his bid for a second championship title. With Massa failing to score points and Hamilton finishing only fifth, Räikkönen is now in second place in the drivers' standings just five points behind the British driver and three points ahead of the Brazilian.
      Räikkönen admitted that he was more than lucky to score more points than two drivers ahead of him in the points table.
      The Finn acknowledged that his problems lie in qualifying. “Even today the car was really fast, but if I don’t get to start the race from the front of the grid it does not help.”
      “This is something I have to improve myself.”
     
Räikkönen started the race sixth on the grid and was immediately overtaken by Fernando Alonso (Renault) of Spain. Only after the second pit stop did Räikkönen finally manage to ditch Alonso and get to show what his Ferrari was capable of. The Hungaroring circuit is notoriously difficult to overtake on.
      The Finn clocked the fastest lap-time of the race and narrowed down the gap between himself and Timo Glock (Toyota) of Germany by nearly a second per lap. In the end Glock finished the race as runner-up, 11 seconds behind Kovalainen and a comfortable 5.8 seconds ahead of Räikkönen.
      Practically at the same moment as Massa’s engine quit, something also happened to Räikkönen’s Ferrari, causing him to back off from his promising attack on Glock.
      Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali admitted that there was a mechanical problem at the rear of the car.
      In the Budapest pits it was rumoured that the suspension on the rear wheels would have broken in some way. It was fortunate for Räikkönen that the problem was minor enough to simply force him to ease off the gas.
     
The drivers will next be in action at the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain on August 24th.
      That will be the 12th race of the 18-race season.
      Things are nicely balanced at this stage, with only eight points separating Hamilton (62 points) and 3rd-placed Massa, and Robert Kubica (BMW), who was 8th in Budapest, is not far away with 49 points.
      Ferrari lead the way on the constructors' side, with 111 points to McLaren's 100 and BMW's 90. It is then a long way to 4th-placed Toyota, with 35 points.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Hamilton wins in the wet; Räikkönen rues a succession of mishaps (26.5.2008)

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