Massa mastered Valencia this afternoon to take the first new venue for the European Grand Prix. 

The Brazilian dominated the race from start to finish with Hamilton unable to do anything about the Ferrari charge. 

Massa’s race nearly came to an early end when he was released in to the path of Sutil’s Force India in the pit lane. The pair narrowly missed contact and the stewards announced they would be investigated the incident, which resulted in the Ferrari team receiving a 10,000 Euro fine and a reprimand. 

Hamilton still remains at the top of the drivers’ championship thanks to Kimi Raikkonen having an engine failure today. 

The Finn wasn’t having a great time of it as it was, thanks to a poor qualifying result left him tucked up behind the McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen for much of the race. Then he tried to leave the pit lane with his fuel nozzle still attached, causing a nasty accident involving one of his mechanics. 

Kubica came in third but he was nearly 40 seconds behind the McLaren and the Ferrari. 

With pole position swopped over on the grid for the race start Massa, on the clean side of the track, had a clean getaway. Hamilton did not get as good a start and would remain second throughout the race. Kubica did try to get down the right-hand sweep but decided better of it and let Hamilton go. 

Alonso did not have a good home Grand Prix, courtesy of Nakajima who, coming through the turn four/five chicane hit the back of the Renault driver, ripping off the R28’s rear suspension. The Williams came out of it with a damaged front wing and Alonso would only travel as far as his garage and no further. 

Much of the race was processional. There were no thrills and spills to speak of. Massa always had it under control. 

The sister Ferrari did not share the same good fortune. After the disastrous pit stop incident Raikkonen had dropped back a place and setoff to reclaim his fifth position. A few laps later his race came to an end. This weekend it was his turn to see a Ferrari engine go up in smoke as his V8 gave up the ghost. 

Raikkonen’s retirement was welcome news for Williams as it enabled Rosberg to score the team’s first point since Turkey in May. 

Vettel had a great weekend of it. His Toro Rosso had performed superbly and the team’s efforts were rewarded with a sixth place finish.

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