Heikki Kovalainen claimed his first win in Formula One after an eventful Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon.

Lewis Hamilton maintained his championship lead after finishing fifth.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa gifted the Finn victory after his car ground to a halt with just three laps of the race remaining.

Massa jumped both McLarens at turn one and the race looked to be his after Hamilton suffered a punctured tyre.

But bad luck hit Massa and Kovalainen took the flag ahead of Toyota's Timo Glock and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

Fernando Alonso matched his best finish of the season for Renault in fourth ahead of former team-mate Hamilton, whose fifth place was decent damage limitation.

Renault's Nelson Piquet, Jarno Trulli in the second Toyota and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica collected the rest of the points.

Hamilton now has a five-point lead in the championship, but from Raikkonen, with Massa a further three points adrift.

Up until lap 67 of the race it had appeared that Hamilton would be heading into F1's summer break trailing Massa in the championship.

Such an eventuality would certainly have gone against the recent trend seen in the sport - Hamilton appearing a picture of confidence this weekend as, chasing a third straight win, he started as favourite.

Starting third on the grid, Massa passed Kovalainen at the lights and then, bearing down on Hamilton (who started on pole), the Ferrari aggressively locked its brakes heading into turn one.

The red and silver cars then duelled side-by-side through the corner, with Massa standing his ground and passing Hamilton around the outside for the lead.

The Ferrari edged out a 2.8-second lead by lap 10, with Hamilton in turn 4.9 seconds ahead of his team-mate.

Massa was 3.8 seconds ahead by the time he pitted at the end of lap 18, rejoining in fourth. Hamilton assumed the lead but only for a single lap, the McLaren subsequently rejoining in sixth place.

Kovalainen also led for just the one lap before Massa resumed control on lap 22 ahead of Alonso and Raikkonen, with the World Champions then making their opening stops in tandem - the Spaniard just getting the drop in the pitlane.

Massa now led Hamilton by 3.1s, with Kovalainen back up to third place after Piquet made his opening stop on lap 25. Glock was fourth, ahead of Alonso, Raikkonen, Piquet and Trulli.

McLaren's longer pit stop suggested Hamilton had taken on more fuel than his chief rival. He proceeded to try and keep himself within touching distance of the lighter Ferrari - the intention being for him to run several laps longer and get ahead at the second stops.

Although the five-second lead Massa held by lap 40 suggested it was not going to be Hamilton's day, what ultimately sealed his fate was the left front puncture he then suffered.

His second stop was therefore brought forward and, fuelled to the end of the race, he rejoined in 10th place ahead of Red Bull's David Coulthard.

Massa therefore had the race in the bag, holding as he did a 23.6-second lead over Kovalainen. He made his second stop on lap 44 and rejoined in second place ahead of Glock.

Kovalainen made his second stop on lap 47, with Massa now leading Alonso and Raikkonen. The leading Renault pitted on lap 50, with the reigning World Champion jumping ahead after stopping one lap later.

Massa by now led Kovalainen by 15.4 seconds, with Glock another 8.2 seconds behind in third. Hamilton had climbed to eighth and then moved up two more places after Trulli and Piquet made their second stops.

The closing laps saw Raikkonen - for the first time during the course of the weekend - really finding his groove as he closed in on Glock, the Finn setting the fastest lap of the race nine laps from the finish with a 1:21.195s.

Then, with three laps to go, came scenes which encapsulated Ferrari's summer thus far. On the start-finish straight Massa's car appeared trailing smoke - an engine failure bringing retirement on the spot.

As Massa trudged back to the pits, Kovalainen assumed the lead and duly took the chequered flag seven seconds ahead Glock, with Raikkonen third after Massa's retirement prompted him to back off.

Hungarian Grand Prix results:

1. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren 1hr 37min 27.067secs
2. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota +00:11.061
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 00:16.856
4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 00:21.614
5. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 00:23.048
6. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 00:32.298
7. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 00:36.449
8. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 00:48.321
9. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault 00:58.834
10. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 01:07.709
11. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull - Renault 01:10.407
12. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1 lap
13. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams - Toyota 1 lap
14. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota 1 lap
15. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India - Ferrari 1 lap
16. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 2 laps
17. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 3 laps
18. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 3 laps
r. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India - Ferrari 8 laps
r. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso - Ferrari 48 laps

(rank: r = retired, nc = not classified)