Budapest - McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen claimed his first Formula One Grand Prix win Sunday after Ferrari's Felipe Massa was forced to retire as he appeared to be coasting to victory.

Massa's Ferrari ground to a halt with engine failure at the start-finish line of the Hungaroring with just three laps remaining, allowing the Finnish driver to triumph.

It was a victory which also benefited McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton who had to make do with fifth place following a puncture.

Toyoto driver Timo Glock of Germany held off Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen to finish second, 11 seconds behind Kovalainen, for his first podium place, while Renault's Fernando Alonso was fourth.

Renault's Nelson Piquet Jnr of Brazil was behind Hamilton in sixth, with Toyoto's Jarno Trulli of Italy seventh and BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica of Poland eighth.

It leaves Hamilton still top of the drivers' standings, on 62 points, with defending champion Raikkonen moving second on 57, three points ahead of Massa, with Kubica moving to 49.

Massa appeared to be on the way to a commanding victory which would have put on top of the standings after a brilliant start in which he overtook both Kovalainen and Hamilton on pole.

The Brazilian was more than 7 seconds ahead of Kovalainen and apparently easing his way home when he was forced to stop with smoke billowing from the rear of his car.

Kovailainen had been ordered to keep the pressure on, and McLaren team boss Ron Dennis said the fact that Massa had to keep pushing may have contributed to the later engine problem.

The 26-year-old Finn finished the 70 laps in an overall time of 1 hour 37 minutes 27.067 seconds, his first GP victory coming after 28 races.

"To finish first you first have to finish," said Dennis.

"It is a little unfortunate we didn't quite have a one-two but that is motor-racing," he said.

Kovalainen said: "I am very happy. There have been various incidents earlier this year and I have been in a position to fight for victory but always something had gone wrong." he said.

"I tried to put pressure on Massa hoping something would happen. I was catching him quite a bit chunk every lap and I tried to put pressure on him.

"It's a great moment and it is a moment I have been targeting for many years. To finally achieve this goal is very pleasing. Hopefully this is the first of many."

Hamilton's hopes of a hat-trick of Grand Prix victories had earlier been dented by a puncture soon after the half-way mark of the race.

The McLaren-Mercedes driver was lying in second place, some 4 seconds behind Massa when he had to limp into the pits.

Massa had the pace to stay out in front, without ever being able to shake off the Briton, who had won the previous two races in Britain and Germany.

Hamilton had taken on a larger fuel amount at the end of his first stint in the hope of overhauling Massa later in the race.

However, all hopes he had of mounting a challenge went on lap 41 of the 70 laps when he suffered a puncture on his left-front tyre.

He managed to steer his car into the pits but was down to 10th by the time he emerged, with the rest of the race turned into a bid to get into the points.

Massa's misfortune at least allowed the Briton to move up from sixth to fifth place to retain his lead in the standings, with the Brazilian left empty-handed.

"I think I did the best of the worst if you like, in the end," Hamilton said.

"Congratulations to Heikki who drove a great race and he deserves his win. We have taken points from our rivals today and made the best of things. It could have been a whole lot worse."

Glock's best-ever performance meanwhile comes only two weeks after a bad crash at the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim in which he escaped injury.

"I have had a great feeling since Friday. In the last lap I still couldn't believe I was going to be on the podium," said the 26-year-old who had started from fifth place in his 15th race.

Glock had been pressured hard by Raikkonen in the closing stages but after Massa's engine problem, the Finn was told to ease off and the German was able to enjoy a margin of nearly six seconds as he took second spot.

Ferrari retain their lead in the constructors' championship, advancing to 111 points, with McLaren moving second on 100 ahead of BMW Sauber on 90.

The Formula One season now takes a brief summer break before returning in Valencia, Spain in three weeks for the European Grand Prix. (dpa)