Valencia: Massa wins easily from pole

Felipe Massa ran away in his Ferrari

Ferrari's Felipe Massa repeated his performance two weeks ago in Hungary by dominating the weekend, but this time his Ferrari engine did not blow up and he won the European Grand Prix F1 race in Valencia, Spain comfortably over McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. Massa took off from pole and never looked back, controlling the pace at will.

BMW's Robert Kubica finished where he started, third.

Rounding out the top-10 were Kovalainen, Trulli, Vettel, Glock, Rosberg, Heidfeld and Bourdais (84.0s) in tenth place.

Massa's Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen lost the engine in his Ferrari just as Massa did in Hungary, so there is some concern in the Ferrari camp that they may have a problem. However, There was a problem on his last pitstop and the engine may have overheated.

Massa's result awaits confirmation from the race stewards who will investigate Ferrari’s actions during the Brazilian’s second pit-stop.

Massa was released into the path of Force India’s Adrian Sutil in the pit-lane. The race stewards said they were investigating the incident on the grounds of the release being “unsafe". They later announced that they would make their decision after the race leaving the possibility of a time penalty, which could gift Hamilton the victory, however, we expect just a monetary fine will be issued and the result will stand.

Team-by-team summary: Sunday

FERRARI
Pole, fastest race lap and well-deserved victory for Felipe Massa, but a messy overall performance by the Ferrari team. The Brazilian, now 6 points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton, was lucky to escape a post-race stewards' investigation with only a 10,000 euro fine, after his crew released him from a pitstop into the path of Adrian Sutil's Force India. The operation of the sister car, meanwhile, was a disaster; not only another weak showing by Kimi Raikkonen, but – after Massa's Budapest failure – another blown V8 engine. Before that, the reigning world champion dropped the clutch before his crew had finished refueling and before he was shown a green light, and his rear wheel struck mechanic Pietro Timpini, who despite a trip to hospital only has a fractured foot.

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MCLAREN-MERCEDES
Despite finishing second to Massa, Hamilton – revealing he has struggled with the 'flu, fever and severe neck spasms all weekend and nearly didn't race at all – actually extended his overall championship lead from 5 points (to Raikkonen before the race) to 6 points (to Massa after the race) at Valencia. "We opted fairly early on to take the championship-strategic option of settling for second place," team boss Ron Dennis said. Over 30 seconds behind the primary MP4-23, Heikki Kovalainen finished fourth, ensuring that – with Raikkonen's failure to finish – McLaren actually also clawed back 3 points to Ferrari's narrowing lead in the constructors' championship.

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BMW-SAUBER
Half a minute behind Hamilton, Robert Kubica secured the final podium spot, his fifth this season, surviving a fright when a plastic bag got trapped under the car, robbing him of steering at one point. Nick Heidfeld started eighth but dropped back a position and didn't score points. "This was one of the worst races ever for me," said the German, who struggled for pace. "His pace was simply too slow," technical boss Willy Rampf said.

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TOYOTA
Along with Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel, Jarno Trulli was among the stars of the Valencia weekend, finishing fifth from seventh on the grid on Sunday. "This shows how good we are getting and how nice it is to race with a competitive car every weekend," he said. From 13th on the grid and with a heavy cold, Timo Glock climbed to P7 at the flag courtesy of an excellent start and a one-stop strategy. A further testimony to the reigning GP2 champion's input is the fact that, following his struggles on Friday, Trulli only began to resurrect his form after adopting the wholesale setup of Glock's car.

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TORO ROSSO-FERRARI
Vettel capped his excellent form throughout the Valencia weekend with a thoroughly-deserved three points for sixth place, although he was lucky to survive the first lap including a knock against Raikkonen's Ferrari. Albeit nearly 40 seconds further behind, Sebastien Bourdais – who for a long time carried front wing damage after a clash with Heidfeld – completed Toro Rosso's impressive weekend with P10.

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WILLIAMS-TOYOTA
More than a minute behind the winner, Nico Rosberg secured the final championship point on offer at Valencia — the team's first since Silverstone. "It shows we are getting back on track," he said. Kazuki Nakajima was just 15th, however, after nearly stalling on the grid and then incurring the wrath of the local crowd by hitting the popular Spaniard Fernando Alonso. "There was a bit of a battle going on in front and I couldn't avoid him," said the Japanese, who had to pit for a new nose while Alonso retired with rear damage.

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RENAULT
To the despair of his local supporters, crowd favorite Alonso retired from the second of his two home races this year after Williams' Nakajima crashed into the rear of his Renault. Nelson Piquet carried damage to the front of the sister R28 to 11th place. "It's a weekend to forget," said boss Flavio Briatore.

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RED BULL-RENAULT
Beaten comprehensively by the 'junior' team Toro Rosso this weekend, boss Christian Horner admitted Valencia has been "disastrous" for Red Bull. "We've got a lot of analysis to do," said Mark Webber, who finished P12. David Coulthard, dead last at the checker, was hit from behind at the start and later collided with a Force India as he tried to recover. "Sorry to them for that," he said after nursing his damaged RB4 home.

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HONDA
Amid perhaps the worst weekend performance of his long career, Honda opted to pull Rubens Barrichello's car out of parc ferme overnight – thus requiring him to start from pitlane – and change all his braking components. He finished 16th of the 17 runners at the checker. Jenson Button has fared better all weekend but was nonetheless still lapped.

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FORCE INDIA-FERRARI
An eventful but fruitless race for Sutil, who as well as being involved in the Massa pitlane incident, then exited the race by crashing into the barriers. "Adrian was honest enough to admit he made a mistake," said technical boss Mike Gascoyne. Giancarlo Fisichella crossed the checker 14th of the 17 finishers. "Our pace was good, it wasn't far off the others," he said.

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