Cloud has silver lining for Lewis

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), August 4, 2008

Byline: By IAN PARKES Sports Correspondent

LEWIS HAMILTON was relieved to see his main title rivals fail to benefit from his fifth-place finish in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Briton was forced to pit and fell from second to 11th place after suffering a puncture on lap 41.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Hamilton's closest rival in the drivers' championship, looked set to cruise to victory but suffered an engine blow-out three laps from the finish - allowing McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen to take the chequered flag with Timo Glock second and Kimi Raikkonen third.

"It's the best of the worst.What can you do when you have a puncture?" said Hamilton.

"It just went in turn one. I never knew it was a puncture.

"It's nowhere near as bad as it could have been. I could have had Felipe and Kimi right at the front."

Hamilton started on pole but was overtaken by Massa off the line, and he admitted he was surprised at his team's lack of overall superiority over Ferrari.

"I was a little disappointed with the fact I had been passed, but he (Massa) just did a better job and it was better to play safe than sorry," he added.

"It was a surprise that we weren't as quick as we should have been. We were quick at the beginning but struggled with our tyres."

Meanwhile, race winner Kovalainen could end up with a considerable hangover if he accepted Raikkonen's offer of a night out to celebrate his first Formula One grand prix victory.

Just three days after being handed a new contract with McLaren for the 2009 season, Kovalainen underlined his potential with a lucky, but deserved success becoming the 100th F1 winner.

However, given Raikkonen's renowned love of vodka and reputation for partying, Kovalainen may yet regret asking his fellow Finn for a suggestion on how to mark his maiden success.

"I will take him out!" replied Raikkonen with a grin.

Kovalainen, though, would appear to prefer a quieter celebration as he said: "I haven't been to my real home in north Finland for a long time, so I think I will go there at the end of the week."

CAPTION(S):

WINNER: Finland's Heikki Kovalainen celebrates his victory after the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring, Budapest. The McLaren driver Kovalainen finished ahead of Timo Glock (Toyota) and Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari).