Victory for Felipe Massa at the end of a perfect weekend for the Ferrari driver, who led from pole and was never headed apart from during the run of pit stops to take his fourth victory of the season, the ninth of his career.

Victory for Felipe Massa at the end of a perfect weekend for the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver, who led from pole and was never headed apart from during the run of pit stops to take his fourth victory of the season, the ninth of his career. However, it was a bitter sweet day for the Scuderia, as there were two negative points, with Kimi Raikkonen's race ending in a huge cloud of white smoke that saw him park his F2008 alongside the main straight with a handful of laps remaining. In addition, during the Finn's second pit stop, a member of the pit crew was knocked to the ground as Kimi tried to drive off while the fuel line was still attached. Fortunately, he was not seriously hurt.

In terms of the championships, Felipe now moves up to second place, six points off Lewis Hamilton who brought his McLaren-Mercedes home in second place. Robert Kubica joined these two on the podium, third for BMW-Sauber. Ferrari heads the Constructors' classification, although its lead over the Anglo-German squad has dropped from eleven to eight points.

The first ever Formula 1 race at this interesting new Valencia street circuit got underway with track temperatures nudging the mid 40s and the air a hot and sticky 29. The two F2008s lined up with Felipe Massa having an unimpeded view of the track from pole, while Kimi Raikkonen's line of site had just the McLaren-Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, both these men on the dirty side of the 5.440 km track. Barrichello in the Honda and Sutil in the Force India started from pit lane and all cars, except Rosberg in the Williams, were on the harder of the two Bridgestone tyres.

At the start, Felipe maintained his lead, but Kimi was passed by the clean side starting Kovalainen thus dropping to fifth. Nakajima and Alonso collided and to the dismay of the Spanish crowd, the two times world champion was in the garage for a replacement rear wing, but the damage was too bad and the local hero was out of his home race. The Japanese driver got a new nose and continued. After three laps, Felipe had a lead of 1.8 over Hamilton, while Kimi was 1.1 behind Kovalainen. After five laps, the order was Felipe, Hamilton, Kubica, Kovalainen, Kimi, Vettel, Trulli, Rosberg, Heidfeld, Glock, Bourdais, Webber, Button, Fisichella, Sutil, Coulthard, Piquet, Barrichello and Nakajima nineteenth and last. On lap 9, Felipe dipped under the 1.40 barrier to record another fastest race lap and extend his lead to 3.6s. Further down the order Coulthard clipped Sutil as the Red Bull tried to pass the Force India: the Scotsman was spun round but continued.

Felipe was the first driver to make a pit stop (9.1) fitting another set of the harder tyres, coming back on track in fourth place just ahead of his Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team-mate, so Hamilton now led Kubica by 13.1 seconds. The Englishman came in on lap 16 (8.9) and Vettel came in from sixth. When Kubica refuelled Kovalainen, yet to pit was the new leader in the McLaren, ahead of Felipe and Hamilton, with Trulli pitting from fourth on lap 19, (8.8.) After Kimi stopped he dropped to ninth, although Heidfeld and Glock ahead of him had yet to pit. Kovalainen came in on lap 20, so that Felipe was now back in the lead, heading Hamilton by 3.5 seconds. Kimi was up to sixth on lap 22, when Heidfeld pitted. At just over the half distance on lap 29, Felipe had extended his lead over Hamilton to 7.8 seconds, with Kubica a further 16 seconds behind. Kovalainen was fourth, Glock had yet to pit in fifth and Kimi sixth, 34.2 seconds behind his team-mate. The Toyota man finally came in next time round, leaving Kimi to chase a 5.4 gap to fourth placed Kovalainen. By lap 35, he had reduced his deficit to 2.9.

Felipe made his second and final 8.5 second stop on lap 37, but there was a heart stopping moment as Sutil, also in pit lane in the Force India nearly collided with the Ferrari as they exited pit lane. The Brazilian would now tackle the final twenty laps on the softer tyres. The gap between the two Finns had come down to 2.1. At the front, Hamilton now led Massa by 13.4, as the Race Director announced that Felipe was being investigated for "unsafe release from pit." Lap 39 saw Hamilton make his final stop, putting Felipe back in the lead, as Kimi had closed to within 1.3 of his fellow countryman, in their battle for third, as Kubica had pitted the BMW for his second refuelling. Kovalainen and Kimi came down pit lane nose to tail on lap 43 and for a moment it looked as though Kimi would get out first, but he attempted to pull away while the fuel nozzle was still attached, before being released and his right rear wheel hit a member of the pit crew in the back. Kimi now dropped to sixth behind Trulli. But his race ended in a huge cloud of white smoke, as he was forced to park his car at the side of the main straight.

However, out in front, Felipe continued on his majestic way to become the first winner at this track, finishing 5.6 seconds ahead of Hamilton, with Kubica taking the third spot on the podium. The rest of the points went to Kovalainen in fourth, followed by Trulli, Vettel, Glock and Rosberg.