Budapest: Car problems cost Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, giving McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen his first F1 victory at the expense of the leading drivers.
Kovalainen became the 100th different Formula One driver to win a GP, though it came after Massa's Ferrari engine blew with three laps to go, while Hamilton had an earlier tire puncture. Kovalainen took his chance and the British team earned its third straight victory.
"I have spent a lot of time to achieve this goal so to finally achieve it is very pleasing," the 26-year-old Finn said. "Today we had a little bit of luck on our side but it certainly won't do any harm for anyone in our team and not for myself either."
Kovalainen, who will remain at McLaren next year, recently said he wouldn't aid teammate Hamilton in the Briton's chase for the F1 championship.
However, Kovalainen's victory - along with Massa's dropout - allowed Hamilton to stretch his lead in the overall standings to five points over Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who finished third behind Timo Glock of Toyota.
Ferrari's Massa saw a potential three-point lead over Hamilton turn into an eight-point deficit.
"I was managing the race, I had a good advantage over second place after Hamilton was delayed with a problem and I was taking no risks whatsoever," the Brazilian driver said. "Unfortunately, racing can be a cruel sport."
Hamilton, who won from the pole last year, settled for fifth to lead Raikkonen by five points after a tire puncture dropped him halfway down the field in the midst of chasing Massa.
"I feel I could have had a go at passing him, but the damaged tire halted my progress," said Hamilton, who was coming off two dramatic victories at the British and German GPs. "I don't yet know what happened. But at least I scored four points and maintained my lead in the championship, so this result is not too bad for me."
Kovalainen - greeted by chants of "Heikki" from the large Finnish contingent in the stands - had narrowed Massa's lead to under six seconds before the Brazilian's engine started smoking.
"I just tried to put pressure on Massa hoping something would happen," Kovalainen said. "It worked out for me. I'm very, very glad to secure the victory."
Raikkonen recovered from qualifying sixth to finish ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso and give the Italians some needed points.
"We had the speed in the race. (It's qualifying) where we must sort it out," said Raikkonen, F1's defending champion. "We need to get something sorted. My car is fast and we need to just get in the front to use it."
Massa and Hamilton raced side-by-side into the first turn - Massa even locking up his brakes at one point - before the Brazilian stuck to his position to pull ahead and nudge out pole sitter Hamilton around the second corner.
The two were out front on their own and pitted within a lap of each other, with Massa enjoying a three-second edge after the first round of stops on the 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) track.
Massa's lead was around three seconds before Hamilton's puncture left the race Massa's to lose. Hamilton had most of the 4.381-kilometer (2.722-mile) circuit to navigate before a tire change and re-emerged 10th.
Kovalainen moved to within 7.5 seconds with laps running down on the 70-lap race.
"When I saw the car on fire on the straight, the smoke, I thought it could be Felipe but couldn't believe it," said the Finn, who won in his 28th race. "I was able to bring it home."
McLaren overtook BMW Sauber to sit second in the constructors' standings - 11 points behind Ferrari.
Glock secured his first podium - and Toyota's second third-place of the season - after overtaking BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica at the start and then holding off Raikkonen, who had got to under five seconds of the German driver.
"I just tried ... (to) stay in front of him," said the 26-year-old Glock, who rebounded from a violent crash at the German GP in his 15th start. "I didn't expect the podium ... it's just the perfect weekend."
Renault's Nelson Piquet Jr followed up a podium at Hockenheim with a sixth-place finish ahead of Toyota's Jarno Trulli.
Kubica, with at least 25,000 Polish fans cheering him on, crossed the finish line in eighth for his worst placing of the season to trail Hamilton by 13 points.
Sebastian Vettel retired after 22 laps when his engine overheated, while the Toro Rosso pit crew was forced to put out flash fires on his teammate Sebastien Bourdais' car at both of the Frenchman's pit stops.
"It all went to hell at the first pit stop, as the guys had to use the fire extinguisher and I got a lot of foam on my visor," said Bourdais, who finished 18th after pitting a third time to wipe off the excess foam.
The teams and drivers have three weeks before the next race on August 24 - the inaugural European GP at Valencia.
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