McLaren's driver Heikki Kovalainen won his first Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday after Ferrari's Felipe Massa was forced to retire.

Massa's Ferrari ground to a halt with apparent engine failure at the start-finish line 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 a challenge by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen to finish second for his first podium place, while Renault's Fernando Alonso was fourth.

Nelson Piquet Jnr of Renault 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.

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.

"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.

However, all hopes Hamilton had of mounting a challenge in the second half of the race went on lap 41 of the 70 laps when he suffered a puncture on his front left 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.