Massa wins amid controversy

Eurosport - Sun, 24 Aug 17:33:00 2008

Felipe Massa won a controversial European GP ahead of Lewis Hamilton, as the Brazilian's Ferrari team were punished following a pit-lane incident.

In the first race at the Valencia street circuit, the Brazilian was released from his second pit stop into the path of Force India's Adrian Sutil and he was fined 10,000 euros.

The verdict will come as a relief to Massa, who could have been subjected to a time penalty or a 10-place grid penalty for the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps.

However, it was ruled that Massa gained "no sporting advtantage" from the incident, although Ferrari had acted in an unsafe manner.

In his post-race press conference, Massa said Sutil should have made way for him: "I think it was not very clever from his side, because even if he gets out in front of me he needs to let me by, so I think it was a shame."

Massa otherwise drove a perfect race, leading throughout after starting on pole position.
On an eventful day for Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen began to leave the pits with his fuel hose still attached and struck a mechanic, who was taken to the circuit's medical centre for treatment.

A team spokesman said the mechanic's injuries were "not too bad" and there would be a further update on his condition later on Sunday.

Minutes later the defending world champion retired with a blown engine and has fallen to third in the drivers' championship.

The Finn looked desperately out of sorts, even before those incidents, running well off the pace. Ferrari must be sorely tempted to throw their efforts behind Massa's championship challenge.

Hamilton, by contrast, drove a serene second place and increased his points lead to six, with 70, to Massa's 64 and Raikkonen's 57.

Fighting what he described as "health problems" Hamilton could not match Massa's pace but his second place never looked in danger.

The only downside for the Briton came on the podium, when the Spanish fans jeered him vociferously - a hangover from 2007 and his bitter rivalry with then-team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Third-placed Polish BMW driver Robert Kubica claimed his fifth podium finish of the season, the first in five races.

Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen of Finland came home fourth ahead of Italian 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.

The race was run in hot sunshine but produced few thrills for the 115,123 spectators packed into the grandstands around the Mediterranean harbour.

In a major disappointment for Spanish fans, their double world champion Fernando Alonso was forced to retire after the opening lap when his Renault and the Williams of Japan's Kazuki Nakajima collided.