| 13.30 | Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of the 70-lap Hungarian Grand Prix. It’s very hot and sunny - the race gets underway in just over 30 minutes time. The cars are now leaving the pits and making their way around to the dummy grid. |
| 13.32 | Lewis Hamilton claimed a very convincing pole position yesterday afternoon in his McLaren from team-mate Heikki Kovalainen. Hamilton claimed the position by over two-tenths of a second as he looks to win his third straight Grand Prix to further extend his championship advantage. |
| 13.34 | With just one podium position to his credit so far this year, Kovalainen really does need a good race if he is to remain in the championship battle. He currently trails Hamilton by 30 points and will be looking to make up ground of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica who are ahead of him in the standings. |
| 13.36 | Felipe Massa set the fastest lap in the second round of qualifying and in fact broke Michael Schumacher’s lap record around the circuit set back in 2004 – the V10 era. With almost no fuel on board, Massa has shown good speed and this is something he will be hoping he can carry into the race from third position on the grid. |
| 13.38 | Robert Kubica starts fourth in the leading BMW Sauber after a very good lap at the end of qualifying. The BMW Sauber does not look like a race victory contender unless something dramatic unfolds ahead. Team-mate Nick Heidfeld starts 15th complaining of traffic on his run yesterday. |
| 13.40 | Timo Glock has impressed all weekend in his Toyota and starts the race from fifth position, his best starting position to date. The Toyota looks very well balanced and Glock is looking smooth so he and the team will be looking for a good points haul this afternoon. |
| 13.42 | Kimi Raikkonen starts sixth after admitting he made a small error on his hot lap yesterday. The reality is that Raikkonen has not been on the pace of the front-runners all weekend and unless something such as tyre pressures that can be altered for the race are to blame, Raikkonen will be looking just to score as many points as possible. |
| 13.44 | Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet start seventh and tenth for the Renault team. After slipping back in recent races, Alonso will be looking to move forward or at least retain position while Piquet will simply be chasing points as he has actually looked the more comfortable of the two Renault drivers this weekend. Piquet of course finished second last time out in Germany – a real confidence boost. |
| 13.46 | Mark Webber leads the Red Bull challenge from eighth position on the grid ahead of Jarno Trulli in the second Toyota and Piquet’s Renault. |
| 13.48 | Sebastian Vettel very nearly made it into the top ten in qualifying, just missing out by a fraction of a second to Piquet. Vettel, who missed almost all Friday running, did a good job to qualify in 11th position and will be looking to mix it with the likes of Piquet, Trulli, Webber and his German sparring partner, Alonso. |
| 13.50 | Jenson Button starts 12th after a good effort in the updated Honda RA108. Button just made it into the second round of qualifying after bumping Nick Heidfeld out of the session and then lapped comfortably faster than David Coulthard and Sebastian Bourdais for the sixth row start. |
| 13.52 | Sebastien Bourdais had expected to start from 14th position in the second Toro Rosso, but was penalised for blocking Heidfeld. Quite how this decision was reached is a bit of a mystery as apparently he should be able to teleport himself out of the way – or evaporate - should a BMW Sauber driven by Nick Heidfeld show up in his mirrors. Bourdais starts back in 19th. |
| 13.54 | With Bourdais taking a five position hit, Nico Rosberg lines up in 14th position after a hydraulic issue halted him in the second round of qualifying. The Williams driver starts ahead of Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW Sauber, Kazuki Nakajima, Rubens Barrichello, Giancarlo Fisichella, Bourdais and Adrian Sutil. |
| 13.56 | It is another sunny and hot day in Hungary. Based on the final round of qualifying yesterday, the super-soft (option) tyre tends to drop off in pace, so most of the front-runners will probably opt for the soft (prime) tyre for the start of the race and then move to the option for the final stint. For simplicity, I’ll refer to the tyres as hard and soft from now on. |
| 13.58 | The drivers are all in the cars on the grid as the countdown continues. |
| 13.59 | The grid is now being cleared and the engines fired up. |
| 14.00 | The parade lap is now underway as Hamilton leads the field away from the dummy grid. |
| 14.00 | As suspected, it seems that they are all on the harder prime tyre. |
| 14.01 | Soft tyres for Coulthard. |
| 14.02 | Hamilton lines up on the pole position with Kovalainen, Massa, Kubica, Glock, Raikkonen, Alonso, Webber and the rest taking up position. |
| Lap 1 | The Hungarian Grand Prix is underway. |
| Lap 1 | Massa makes a storming start and moves passed both Kovalainen and Hamilton to take the lead. |
| Lap 1 | So Massa leads Hamilton, Kovalainen, Glock, Kubica, Alonso, Raikkonen, Piquet. |
| Lap 1 | Piquet runs wide and loses position to Webber and Trulli. |
| Lap 2 | Vettel runs wide into the final turn and loses four positions. |
| Lap 2 | So Massa made a great start to slot second and then braved it out around the outside of Hamilton through turn one. |
| Lap 3 | Hamilton runs second just behind Massa. |
| Lap 3 | Button and Barrichello have traded positions with the latter now running 13th ahead of Button, Vettel, Bourdais, Rosberg, Nakajima, Fisichella and Sutil. |
| Lap 4 | Kovalainen runs third behind Massa and Hamilton. Glock is fourth ahead of Kubica, Alonso, Raikkonen, Webber, Trulli, Piquet and Coulthard. |
| Lap 5 | Massa is pulling a small lead at the moment with the gap out to over a second. |
| Lap 6 | Rosberg runs in 17th having started 14th. That will not please the Williams team. |
| Lap 7 | Massa leads Hamilton, Kovalainen, Glock, Kubica, Alonso, Raikkonen, Webber, Trulli, Piquet, Coulthard, Heidfeld, Button, Barrichello, Vettel, Bourdais, Rosberg, Nakajima, Fisichella and Sutil. |
| Lap 8 | Massa extends his lead to nearly two seconds. Kovalainen is dropping back in third at the moment as he's four seconds behind Hamilton. Glock is a further three seconds back. |
| Lap 9 | We're having problems with our timing system, so my apologies. |
| Lap 9 | Raikkonen, seventh, is already 16 seconds behind race leader and team-mate Massa. |
| Lap 10 | After his lap one error Vettel is now trying to pass right on the back of Barrichello. |
| Lap 11 | Raikkonen is now close to Alonso but passing is all but impossible at this circuit. |
| Lap 12 | Kubica runs in fifth position having lost one position to Glock at the start. Glock is three seconds behind Kovalainen who is five seconds behind Hamilton. |
| Lap 13 | Out front, Massa gets the gap out to almost three seconds. This is not what we expected after qualifying, despite Massa's pace in Q2 yesterday. |
| Lap 14 | Trulli remains in ninth position just behind Webber. |
| Lap 14 | The question now.. Is any driver on a three stop strategy? |
| Lap 16 | Massa leads Hamilton, Kovalainen, Glock, Kubica, Alonso, Raikkonen, Webber, Trulli, Piquet, Coulthard, Heidfeld, Button, Barrichello, Vettel, Bourdais, Rosberg, Nakajima, Fisichella and Sutil. |
| Lap 16 | Our timing system is still down. So more apologies. |
| Lap 17 | The gap between Massa and Hamilton remains static now at roughly three seconds. |
| Lap 18 | Heidfeld runs 12th and is slow at the moment. He must be on a heavy fuel load as he's 8s behind Coulthard with Button close behind. |
| Lap 18 | Raikkonen is close to Alonso, but no way ahead at the moment. |
| Lap 19 | Massa pits from the lead with a 3s lead. |
| Lap 19 | Kubica also pits. He was fifth. |
| Lap 19 | Webber also pits. |
| Lap 19 | Massa exited ahead of Alonso and Raikkonen. |
| Lap 20 | Hamilton pits from the lead. |
| Lap 20 | Hamilton exits behind Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen. He will be hoping they pit soon so he does not lose time to Massa. |
| Lap 21 | Glock pits from what was fourth ahead of the stops. |
| Lap 21 | Vettel pits from 16th position. |
| Lap 22 | Kovalainen pits his McLaren. |
| Lap 22 | Kovalainen exits behind Piquet. So Massa resumes in the lead from Alonso and Raikkonen who have yet to stop. Hamilton is now fifth ahead of Trulli, Piquet and Glock. |
| Lap 23 | Alonso and Raikkonen both pit. |
| Lap 23 | No change as Raikkonen exits right behind Alonso. |
| Lap 24 | Trulli and Vettel both pit. |
| Lap 25 | Massa leads Hamilton still with Piquet now third having not stopped. |
| Lap 26 | Piquet now pits his Renault. |
| Lap 26 | Vettel has been in the pits for some time, so that must be a retirement. |
| Lap 26 | Piquet exits behind Raikkonen and Alonso. |
| Lap 26 | Massa leads Hamilton by three seconds now with Kovalainen third ahead of Glock and Coulthard. Alonso is seventh ahead of Raikkonen, Trulli, Kubica, Webber, Heidfeld, Button, Barrichello and Bourdais. Rosberg is still 16th ahead of Nakajima, Fisichella and Sutil. |
| Lap 29 | No changes. Coulthard running fifth has yet to pit. |
| Lap 30 | Coulthard now pits the Red Bull and changes to the hard tyre. |
| Lap 30 | Coulthard defends position from Barrichello exiting the pits. |
| Lap 31 | Welcome back. We are having some issues today so I can only say sorry. |
| Lap 31 | Rosberg pits from 16th. He was just ahead of Nakajima. |
| Lap 32 | Fisichella has disappeared. Force India team-mate Sutil just pitted. |
| Lap 32 | Kubica has been the big loser in the stops. |
| Lap 33 | Bourdais is in the pits and covered in foam from a fire hose by the look of it. He rejoins. |
| Lap 33 | Barrichello pits. It was a small fuel spill from the Toro Rosso pit and nothing major for Bourdais. |
| Lap 34 | Barrichello has a very long stop as the fuel hose would not disengage. |
| Lap 34 | Massa now leads Hamilton by four seconds with Kovalainen a distant third ahead of Glock, Alonso, Raikkonen, Piquet, Trulli and Kubica. |
| Lap 35 | Heidfeld runs 11th and is the only driver not to pit. He has Webber ahead of him and Coulthard behind. Clearly he is trying to do as Piquet did in Germany... a lucky one stop race. |
| Lap 37 | Massa remains four seconds in the lead. |
| Lap 38 | Bourdais, Glock and Barrichello all had fueling problems. Barrichello and Bourdais lost some time whereas Glock did not. |
| Lap 40 | Nakajima is the leading Williams driver in 14th position. Rosberg fell behind Fisichella and Nakajima in his first stop. Rosberg's having a poor run since Monaco qualification. |
| Lap 41 | Massa gets the lead out to five seconds. |
| Lap 41 | Hamilton runs off track - he has a puncture on the left front! |
| Lap 42 | Hamilton pits for a set of soft tyres. |
| Lap 42 | Heidfeld makes his one and only stop from 11th |
| Lap 43 | Hamilton exits ahead of Coulthard so he now runs in 11th position. |
| Lap 43 | Hamilton is now on the soft tyre but has a long way to go and the tyres might not last. |
| Lap 44 | Massa now leads Kovalainen by over 20 seconds. |
| Lap 44 | Massa pits from the lead. |
| Lap 45 | A set of soft tyres from Massa who exits just behind Kovalainen and ahead of Glock. |
| Lap 45 | Hamilton lost over a minute with that puncture and now runs in tenth position behind Webber. |
| Lap 46 | Glock now runs third and is staying with Massa at the moment. |
| Lap 47 | Sutil and Bourdais both pit from towards the rear of the field. |
| Lap 48 | Glock pits from third position. It was another slow stop for Bourdais a minute ago. |
| Lap 48 | Now Webber pits from ninth position. That is good news for Hamilton who has been catching Webber. |
| Lap 49 | Kovalainen pits from the lead. He exits behind Alonso and Raikkonen again. |
| Lap 50 | Raikkonen runs wide into turn two and drops off the back of Alonso. |
| Lap 51 | Alonso pits from second position. Kubica also in the pits for a final time. |
| Lap 52 | Raikkonen now pits for the final time. His battle is with Alonso. |
| Lap 52 | Raikkonen has exited ahead of Alonso. Not sure how that happened as Alonso had a small cushion. |
| Lap 53 | Fisichella made slight contact with Nakajima a lap ago and that cost the latter two positions. Nakajima now runs 16th. |
| Lap 53 | Button pits the Honda. |
| Lap 54 | Trulli and Coulthard both pits for the final time. |
| Lap 55 | Piquet pits his Renault from what is fourth position at the moment. |
| Lap 55 | Piquet exits ahead of Trulli who tries a pass around the outside and fails at turn one. |
| Lap 56 | Hamilton now runs in sixth position, four seconds behind Alonso who in turn is losing ground to Raikkonen. |
| Lap 58 | Heidfeld's one stop is not helping him a great deal. He runs just ahead of Coulthard in 11th position. |
| Lap 59 | Massa is allowing Kovalainen to close in a little as the gap now is 11 seconds. He is undoubtedly just looking after the car in the final laps. |
| Lap 60 | Glocks runs wide as Raikkonen is now starting to close the gap to the Toyota driver. |
| Lap 60 | Rosberg pits from 14th as Raikkonen has now woken up finally as he starts to close on Glock. |
| Lap 62 | Sutil ran wide at turn one with what seems to a tyre going down. |
| Lap 63 | Raikkonen has now closed the gap to Glock to less than three seconds. |
| Lap 64 | Sutil pits after a slow lap with the puncture. He takes a set of hard tyres. |
| Lap 65 | Hamilton is sixth and closing now on Piquet. He must be confident the soft tyre will go the distance. |
| Lap 66 | Raikkonen has now caught Glock who runs third. |
| Lap 66 | Sutil pulls in and retires the Force India. |
| Lap 67 | The only real battle is between Glock and Raikkonen for third as Hamilton has dropped back from Alonso. |
| Lap 68 | Massa has stopped! The engine has failed and he is out of the race! |
| Lap 68 | That is cruel luck for Massa who drove a brilliant race and was two laps from home... |
| Lap 68 | Massa pulled the car off line on the main straight with the engine failure. |
| Lap 69 | So it is Kovalainen's lucky day. He leads from Glock, Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton. |
| Lap 69 | Raikkonen has backed off from his battle with Glock. |
| Lap 70 | The chequered flag is out and Heikki Kovalainen takes his first Grand Prix win. A great result for Glock in second with Raikkonen third. |
| Lap 70 | Alonso is fourth ahead of Hamilton, Piquet, Trulli and Kubica. |
| Lap 70 | Webber is ninth ahead of Heidfeld, Coulthard, Button, Nakajima, Rosberg, Fisichella, Barrichello and Massa is classified 17th ahead of Bourdais. |
| Lap 70 | A real shame for Massa, but it is Kovalainen's lucky day in Hungary. |
