F1 On this day: Kovalainen gets first win at the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix
F1 News
On this day in 2008, Heikki Kovalainen picked up his first and only win during his career in Formula 1. With just three laps remaining, Felipe Massa was leading and the win seemed like an easy achievement for the Brazilian from that moment onwards.
However, the Ferrari driver suffered a sudden engine failure which forced him to retire from the race. An engine failure that eventually prevented him from winning the 2008 Formula 1 world championship...! (So it wasn't all Timo Glock!!)
Massa managed to overtake pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton at the start of the race. The then McLaren driver suffered a puncture which pushed him down to sixth by the end of the race.
His McLaren teammate Kovalainen took Massa's engine issue as an opportunity to win his first race after starting the Hungarian Grand Prix from the front row.
Timo Glock finished the race in second as Kimi Raikkonen completed the podium. Just four drivers from the 2008 event will race in the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix.