Finn Heikki Kovalainen secured his maiden Formula One victory in dramatic circumstances on Sunday - and preserved McLaren Mercedes team-mate Briton Lewis Hamilton's lead in this year's drivers world championship.

In an amazing and dramatic race of unpredictable twists and turns, the 26-year-old Kovalainen took full advantage when luckless Brazilian Felipe Massa's Ferrari engine blew up three laps from the end to win the Hungarian Grand Prix.

As smoke billowed from his car, Massa slowed and stopped, gifting the quiet Nordic driver his first win in his first season with the McLaren team after spending his rookie year at Renault last season.

For Massa, an almost-certain victory was thrown away by a reliability problem that may have cost him his chance of lifting the world drivers' title as luck appeared to be on Hamilton's side.

The Latin American driver looked sure to win for the fourth time this season to revive his title hopes, but instead he was left to reflect on what might have been and plan a revival for him and his team.

"It happened without warning, with no prior notice at all," Massa said. "We had no idea about it and it was sudden and unexpected. Obviously, I am very disappointed, but we will fight back from here."

"The confidence is there. I think after a race like that, even with the bad result at the end with two laps to go, it still counts what we did in the race," Massa added.

"We showed a great performance, a great pace and great teamwork. That is very good for the next races," he said.

The first corner

Hamilton, who started from pole, lost the lead to Massa at the first corner, was out-raced by the Brazilian and suffered a puncture before finishing fifth - but ended up with an increased lead of five points in the title race ahead of defending champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen.

Raikkonen, in the other Ferrari, came home third behind the amazing German Timo Glock who was second for Toyota just a fortnight after leaving the German Grand Prix in an ambulance following a big crash.

Raikkonen who started the race from sixth on the grid said, "I think we could have done the race a little bit better, but we were stuck behind Alonso."

"I was stuck behind him until the second stop so it was a bit late by that point. I had a good car and I was able to catch Timo (Glock), but I had to back off in one moment," he said.

"We were a bit lucky with some of the other guys. We have the speed, but if we cannot get qualifying (fixed), then we will have the same problems. We have to sort it out," he added.

"If we can be in front we can fight for wins. The guys did a good job but we need to fix the problems and for sure we can be back in the hunt for wins," said Raikkonen.

Two-times world champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso, the man who swapped seats with Kovalainen, was fourth for Renault ahead of Hamilton.