After the terrible Massa incident yesterday, Kimi Raikkonen delivered Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro a fantastic morale boosting second place podium finish in the Hungarian Grand Prix, his second podium of the season and the team’s third. Once again, KERS played a decisive role, as the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro man was able to move up three places at the start. The race was won by Lewis Hamilton, taking his and the McLaren-Mercedes team’s first victory of the year. Joining them on the podium was Mark Webber for Red Bull Renault. The eight points that come with second place, see Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro move into third place, overtaking Toyota in the Constructors’ Championship. Sporting Director Stefano Domenicali dedicated the second place result to Felipe Massa.

As the cars lined up on the grid, the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team went through its pre-race preparation with its usual professionalism and commitment, however, everyone’s thoughts were with Felipe Massa, in hospital in Budapest , after his accident in qualifying. In fact, the team lined up on the side of the grid with a pit board, wishing the Brazilian luck and saying their thoughts were with him. Kimi Raikkonen was on the clean side of the grid in seventh spot, with the temperature hovering around 25 degrees.

Alonso led from pole and the effect of the clean side of the track and the power boost of KERS combined to produce the following order, Webber, Hamilton, Kimi, Rosberg, Kovalainen, Vettel who dropped from second after making contact with the Ferrari driver, Nakajima, Button and Trulli rounding off the top ten. On lap 5, Hamilton passed Webber for second and Vettel was challenging Kovalainen for sixth. Kimi was just under a second behind the Red Bull and the same distance ahead of Rosberg. Hamilton was the fastest man on track and began closing the 2.1 second gap to leader Alonso. These two were pulling away from the field so that on lap 8 third placed Webber was four seconds off the leader. Lap 9 and Hamilton was 1.2 off the leading Renault and Kimi had dropped to 1.5 behind Webber, but two laps later the Finn had reduced it to 0.7. It was on this lap that the Stewards announced that “an incident involving car 4 (Raikkonen) would be investigated after the race,” a reference to the wheel banging in the opening moments after the start. In the end, no action was taken.

Alonso was the first to refuel, coming in on lap 12, but the Spaniard immediately appeared to slow and after a few corner, the front right wheel fell off and he drove slowly round to the pits on three wheels, lucky to get back in the race. Kimi was therefore third now, behind leader Hamilton and one second behind Webber. Alonso retired in the pits on lap 16, presumably because of his previous problem.

Kimi came in on lap 19 for his stop as did Webber and the Red Bull crew nearly released the Australian into the Ferrari man’s path. Hamilton stopped on lap 20, as did Rosberg. Kovalainen and Vettel came in on lap 21. Kimi was down in sixth but three cars ahead of the F60 had yet to visit pit lane. Button brought the Brawn in on lap 25, leaving Trulli, behind leader Hamilton the only front runner not to have refuelled. Kimi was back to third at this point, seven seconds behind the leader. Trulli finally brought the Toyota in for tyres and fuel on lap 28, Kimi now second, 6.5 behind Hamilton . Second in the championship, Vettel made two unscheduled visit to the pits, retiring there on lap 30.

At half distance (lap 35,) Kimi trailed Hamilton by 6.6, with a comfortable 12.0 cushion to third placed Webber, who had Kovalainen right on his tale. Behind them came Rosberg, Glock, Trulli, with Button in the last point position, eighth. Kovalainen initiated the second series of pit stops coming in from fifth on lap 44 and Kimi came in next time round, the Finn taking his time to get going again, because of a problem with the right hand exhaust on his F60, rejoining fourth, while leader Hamilton pitted on lap 46. Lap 49 saw Hamilton still in the lead, 1.4 ahead of Webber, yet to make his final pit visit, then Kimi in third, with Glock’s Toyota just half a second behind him. Webber came in on lap 50, which meant Kimi was back in second place, 16.2 behind Hamilton with 19 laps remaining. After Glock pitted, dropping to sixth, the order remained unchanged to the flag: Hamilton, Raikkonen, Webber, Rosberg, Kovalainen, Glock, Button and Trulli taking the final point for eighth.

Stefano Domenicali: “We dedicate this result to Felipe: at this time, all our thoughts are with him and his family and I think this sentiment also applies to those who are close to him and to fans all over the world. Kimi drove a great race and the team worked in impeccable fashion, concentrating on the job despite what happened yesterday. We got the best result we were capable of. Please allow me on behalf of everyone at Ferrari to send our best wishes to Felipe. We love you and we are all thinking of you.”

Kimi Raikkonen: “Today’s result is very important for the team in such a difficult weekend because of what happened to Felipe yesterday. I am pleased with second place, even if it is not completely satisfying as I always race to win. On this type of track, we are certainly closer to the best than at other circuits and today, honestly we were actually even closer than we had expected to be. I got a good start, ending up fourth after the first few corners. We knew it would be crucial to make up places at the start to be in with a chance of fighting for the podium. After the first pit stop we began to have problems with the right hand exhaust and so, at the second stop, the team asked to leave using a different procedure to usual. It lost me a bit of time but I still had a reasonable advantage over Webber so I could manage the situation. Today, the car wasn’t bad, but it was not quick enough to go for the win.”

Chris Dyer: “A super result on a difficult weekend for the whole team. Kimi drove a great race, starting with a really fantastic opening lap, followed by a very good second stint on the softer tyres. In between those phases, the team pulled off a great pit stop to put Kimi ahead of Webber. We were a bit worried about a problem with an exhaust and so we told the driver to be very careful at the second pit stop. We lost a bit of time and then in the final part, we had to deal with a fast closing Webber, who was very quick, but all the same, we managed to respond well enough to comfortably manage the situation to the finish.”

Source  - Ferrari Media