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Felipe Massa wins European GP

VALENCIA: Felipe Massa won Sunday’s European Grand Prix for Ferrari on the new street circuit around the harbour in Valencia and revived his challenge for this year’s drivers’ championship.

The 27-year-old Brazilian came home ahead of championship leading Briton Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren-Mercedes with Poland’s Robert Kubica third for BMW Sauber.

Massa’s win lifted him up to second in the drivers championship with 64 points, six fewer than Hamilton on 70, with six of this year’s 18 races remaining.

It was Massa’s fourth win this season and helped him wipe away the disappointment of his enforced retirement, while leading, with three laps remaining in the Hungarian Grand Prix three weeks ago.

The win was the ninth in his career and was achieved in exemplary fashion as he drove from pole position to the chequered flag without a worry apart from a problem at his second pit-stop.

Then Ferrari released him a little early and dangerously and this resulted in a stewards investigation that was scheduled to take place after the race.

In another incident, his Ferrari teammate, defending champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen, was involved in a disastrous pit stop that left a mechanic injured two laps before his engine blew and forced him to retire.

Hamilton’s McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen of Finland came home fourth ahead of Italian veteran 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.

On a hot day with the sun blazing, Massa and Hamilton both set a blistering pace over the opening 15 laps, trading fastest laps, until the Brazilian came into the pits for the first time. Massa had built up a lead of 4.8 seconds before his stop and that cushion served him well as after all the leading drivers had made their first stop the Brazilian led by three seconds ahead of Hamilton.

Behind the leading duo, it was a sad story for the Spanish fans packed into the temporary grandstands around the Mediterranean harbour as their local hero Fernando Alonso was forced to retire after the opening lap. The two-time world champion was hit, from the rear, by Japanese Kazuki Nakajima and suffered serious damage to his Renault car. He pulled into the team garage in a bid to rejoin the race after repairs, but was forced to retire.

“We have suspension, gearbox and rear wing damage,” said Alonso. “It is too much. We tried to repair the car for the fans, so I could race, but it is too much and that is it.”

The top ten: 1. Felipe Massa (Ferrari), 1hr 35min 32.339s; 2. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) +00:05.611; 3. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) 00:37.353; 4. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) 00:39.703; 5. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 00:50.684; 6. Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) 00:52.625; 7. Timo Glock (Toyota) 01:07.990; 8. Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) 01:11.457; 9. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) 01:22.177; 10. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso).

Overall standings: Drivers: 1. Hamilton 70, 2. Massa 64, 3. Raikkonen 57, 4. Kubica 55, 5. Kovalainen 43, 6. Heidfeld 41, 7. Trulli 26, 8. Fernando Alonso 18, 9. Mark Webber 18, 10. Glock 15. Constructors: 1. Ferrari 121, 2. McLaren 113, 3. BMW Sauber 96, 4. Toyota 41, 5. Renault 31, 6. Red Bull 24, 7. Williams 17, 8. Honda 14, 9. Toro Rosso 11. — Agencies

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