| 13.30 | Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of the 57-lap European Grand Prix. It is a warm and sunny day in Valencia and the race, gets underway in just over 30 minutes time. |
| 13.32 | Felipe Massa starts from Pole Position, the 13th of his career, as he looks to make up for the disappointment of the Hungarian Grand Prix three weeks ago. The Brazilian claimed the pole position with a best lap of 1:38.989s, two-tenths clear of Lewis Hamilton who lines up second. |
| 13.34 | Hamilton seems pretty happy with his McLaren despite starting from second position and he will be hoping that this weekend he can live with the pace of Massa and make a race of it for the victory. He also will recall how Massa got the jump on his last race at the start and be looking to return the favour. |
| 13.36 | Robert Kubica starts third in his BMW Sauber but last time out in Hungary, the F1.08 slipped back throughout the race. Today Kubica will be seeking to retain position and get the team back onto the podium. |
| 13.38 | Kimi Raikkonen starts fourth in the second Ferrari and it was notable that in qualifying that he opted to remain on the harder tyre while those ahead of him opted for the super-soft option tyre. This could be a factor in Raikkonen’s grid position, but starting fourth he will need to make quick progress off the grid to challenge his team-mate for the victory. |
| 13.40 | Heikki Kovalainen, the winner last time out in Hungary, lines up fifth in the second McLaren Mercedes but has not been amongst the front runners this weekend. Now out of championship contention, Kovalainen will be looking to score well and help McLaren in the constructors’ championship. |
| 13.42 | Sebastian Vettel starts an excellent sixth in his Toro Rosso Ferrari. The German was in fact the fastest man in Q2 yesterday showing that the STR3 package is very well tuned to this street circuit. What for Vettel to possibly challenge some of the bigger names ahead of him on the grid. |
| 13.44 | Jarno Trulli was also impressive in qualifying yesterday and starts seventh for Toyota. The Italian veteran missed all of the Saturday practice session and did a great job to make the top ten with so little track time. |
| 13.46 | Nick Heidfeld starts eight in the second BMW Sauber and while not always particularly fast, has an uncanny knack of securing good results using strategy. |
| 13.48 | Nico Rosberg is having a better weekend with Williams Toyota and starts ninth as he looks to get back in the points for the first time since Turkey, round five of the championship. Team-mate Kazuki Nakajima starts 11th, his best starting position to date. |
| 13.50 | Sebastien Bourdais starts tenth in the second Toro Rosso and looks set to try and take advantage of strategy to move up into the points as he is some 1.7s slower than Massa in qualifying suggesting a heavy fuel load. |
| 13.52 | Renault powered cars have not shown well at this circuit with suggestions that the V8 engine just cannot compete at the moment. Local fan-favourite Fernando Alonso starts 12th in the Renault ahead of Timo Glock in the second Toyota and the Renault-powered cars of Mark Webber and Nelson Piquet. |
| 13.54 | Jenson Button was very disappointed to line up 16th in his Honda and could be able to make some gains in the race if he can get his RA108 to work with the tyres. David Coulthard is 17th in the second Red Bull ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella, Rubens Barrichello and Adrian Sutil. |
| 13.56 | It is a sunny afternoon in Valencia. All the drivers are in the cars awaiting the start of the parade lap. |
| 13.58 | Many have predicted that the safety car will play a significant role in this race, but so far, not one driver has made significant contact with the retaining walls that line this circuit. Those starting outside of the top ten and indeed in the lower top ten, may well gamble with a one stop strategy and hope the race comes to them in the longer run. |
| 13.59 | The grid is now being cleared. Sutil and Barrichello are starting from the pit lane. |
| 14.00 | The parade lap is now underway. |
| 14.00 | It seems that most are on the hard tyre for the first stint of this race. |
| 14.01 | Rosberg is on the soft tyre from P9. |
| 14.02 | Massa lines up on the pole position with Hamilton, Kubica, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Vettel, Trulli, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Bourdais and the rest taking up positions. |
| Lap 1 | The European Grand Prix is now underway. All eyes on braking for turn two... |
| Lap 1 | Massa leads Hamilton, Kubica. A clea start. |
| Lap 1 | Heidfeld has lost one position and is now behind Rosberg. The rest as it was on the grid. |
| Lap 1 | Alonso is slow on track. |
| Lap 1 | Massa leads Hamilton by a large margin at the end of lap one. |
| Lap 2 | Alonso and Nakajima are in the pits. He ran into teh back of Alonso halfway around lap one. |
| Lap 2 | Alonso's car is being pushed into the garage. He has rear wing damage. |
| Lap 2 | Nakajima is back out with a new front wing. |
| Lap 3 | I missed it on lap one but Kovalainen did get ahead of Raikkonen. So Massa leads Hamilton, Kubica, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Vettel, Trulli, Rosberg, Heidfeld and Glock. |
| Lap 4 | Massa now has a two second lead over Hamilton with Kubica a similar distance behind. |
| Lap 4 | Fisichella and Sutil have made progress from 18th on the grid and the pit lane as they run 14th and 15th. |
| Lap 5 | Coulthard passes Piquet for 16th position. |
| Lap 5 | Massa pulls seven-tenths of a second alone on that lap and is now three seconds clear. |
| Lap 6 | With Alonso out and Piquet down in 17th, it looks a tough race for Renault. |
| Lap 6 | Sutil is now right with team-mate Fisichella in a fight for 14th. |
| Lap 7 | Heidfeld runs in ninth having started eighth and is now under pressure from Glock who has gained from the Alonso-Nakajima incident |
| Lap 7 | Coulthard brakes too late and clips Sutil and spins. |
| Lap 8 | So Coulthard made a bit of a rash move trying to get the Force India driver and drops behind Barrichello as a result. |
| Lap 8 | Actually Sutil is now ahead of Fisichella, so it must have been Fisichella Coulthard made contact with. |
| Lap 9 | A slow lap from Kubica who now has Kovalainen all over him. |
| Lap 9 | Kubica is all of a sudden eight seconds behind Hamilton but is now getting back up to speed. |
| Lap 10 | Kubica is sliding a lot under braking. He has some kind of issue. |
| Lap 11 | Kubica, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Vettel, Trulli all run closely. Bourdais has some debris in the front of his STR. |
| Lap 11 | Barrichello runs down an escpae road and hands 17th back to Coulthard. |
| Lap 12 | Out front Massa is pulling away still and is now over four seconds clear of Hamilton. |
| Lap 13 | Raikkonen has closed on the back of Kovalainen, but can he pass? |
| Lap 14 | Kubica has now pulled clear of Kovalainen who is now under pressure for his fourth position. |
| Lap 14 | Despite pitting for a new wing, Nakajima has now caught Barrichello who is having a terrible weekend. |
| Lap 15 | Coulthard pits from 17th. |
| Lap 15 | Massa pits from the lead. An early stop? |
| Lap 16 | Not the fastest stop for Massa who exits just ahead of Raikkonen, so that will now ruin Raikkonen's race. |
| Lap 16 | So now Massa runs behind Kovalainen. |
| Lap 17 | Hamilton has picked up the pace. The question is how far he can run as he was four seconds behind Massa. |
| Lap 17 | Hamilton pits his McLaren from the lead. |
| Lap 18 | Hamilton exits the pits behind both Massa and Raikkonen. |
| Lap 18 | Vettel has just pitted his STR as well from sixth position. |
| Lap 19 | Kubica and Raikkonen both pit. |
| Lap 19 | Bourdais pits his STR. |
| Lap 19 | Kovalainen leads but has yet to pit. |
| Lap 20 | Trulli pits his Toyota from fourth. |
| Lap 20 | Sutil pits. Massa is now second behind Kovalainen and ahead of Hamilton and Rosberg. |
| Lap 21 | Kovalainen pits from the lead. |
| Lap 21 | Rosberg also in the pits. |
| Lap 21 | Kovalainen exits ahead of Heidfeld. An important move as Heidfeld tends to opt for a strategy run with lost of fuel. |
| Lap 21 | So Massa leads Hamilton by 3s again at the front. |
| Lap 22 | Raikkonen runs in seventh behind Glock and Heidfeld who have yet to stop but may be on a one stop strategy. Vettel lost a position to Trulli in the first round of stops. |
| Lap 23 | Heidfeld has just pitted so he too is on a two stop race, just with a long first stint. |
| Lap 24 | Heidfeld is back down to 11th after his first stop and should move back to ninth wehn Glock and Webber pit. |
| Lap 25 | Massa is pulling away from Hamilton again. Kubica is no threat in third while Kovalainen is lapping within four seconds of Kubica. |
| Lap 26 | Raikkonen remains behind Glock but is making no impression at all and is in fact dropping back a little. He is now over half a minute behind Massa and someone needs to wake him up as Trulli is closing... |
| Lap 27 | Piquet has a broken top element on his front wing. |
| Lap 28 | Piquet continues to chase the man he replaced at Renault.. Fisichella who is 13th. |
| Lap 29 | So Glock (5th) is certainly on a one stop and it is working well. |
| Lap 29 | Webber and Fisichella pit. |
| Lap 30 | Glock is now less then two seconds behind Kovalainen. |
| Lap 30 | Button pits his Honda. |
| Lap 30 | Massa now eight seconds clear of Hamilton. |
| Lap 31 | Glock pits from fifth position. |
| Lap 31 | Glock is now on the soft tyre to finish the race on. |
| Lap 31 | Barrichello and Nakajima both pit. |
| Lap 32 | Glock is now in ninth position ahead of Heidfeld. He does not need to stop again and his target will be Kubica and Kovalainen when they pit. |
| Lap 33 | Coulthard pits for the second time. A race to forget for him. |
| Lap 33 | Raikkonen has woken up a little at alsr and is now closing on Kovalainen now that Glock is no longer in the way. |
| Lap 33 | Glock is almost a minute behind Massa. Assuming a pit stop is half a minute, then he should be able to battle with Kovalainen. |
| Lap 34 | Piquet pits for his one and only stop. |
| Lap 34 | Massa is pushing hard at the front ahead of his second stop. |
| Lap 36 | Fisichella is smart in letting Hamilton lapping him but Massa is now ten second ahead of the McLaren driver. |
| Lap 36 | Raikkonen remains in fifth position and remains about three seconds behind Kovalainen. |
| Lap 37 | Massa pits from the lead with a ten second advantage. Sutil also pits. |
| Lap 38 | Massa and Stil got very close in the pits as the Ferrari crew released Massa into the traffic of Sutil. |
| Lap 38 | Bourdais pits. |
| Lap 39 | Massa now runs second 13s behind Hamilton. Rosberg pits his Williams. Will Massa get a penalty for leaving the pits into the path of Sutil? |
| Lap 39 | Massa is under investigation. |
| Lap 39 | Hamilton pits from the lead. |
| Lap 40 | Vettel is in the pits. A slgiht delay but he is back out. |
| Lap 41 | Kubica pits from third position. |
| Lap 41 | So Massa leads Hamilton by a reduced gap of six seconds. |
| Lap 42 | Trulli pits from fifth position. He is fighting with Vettel. |
| Lap 42 | Heidfeld makes his second stop. |
| Lap 43 | Sutil has nosed his Force India into the tyres and is out of the race. He was 16th. |
| Lap 43 | The FIA will announce any Massa penalty after the race. Hardly great for the fans is it? A race that isn't... |
| Lap 44 | Kovalainen and Raikkonen both pit |
| Lap 44 | Raikkonen went too early with the fuel hose attached. He gets under way but behind Trulli. |
| Lap 44 | So Raikkonen went too aerly and the refueller was hit by the rear wheel. |
| Lap 45 | So Massa leads Hamilton Kubica, Kovalainen, Trulli and Raikkonen. |
| Lap 45 | So a real mess in the Ferrari pits for both Massa and Raikkonen. Massa leads but may get a time penalty after teh race, but I doubt it. Hamilton is now seven seconds behind Massa and will need to stay close in case there is a time penalty. |
| Lap 47 | Raikkonen has stopped on track. A disaster for Ferrari. |
| Lap 47 | He was in sixth position and the engine failed on the start finish straight. |
| Lap 48 | So another failure for an engine that is said to be frozen. Makes one wonder. |
| Lap 48 | Raikkonen's engine failure promotes Vettel to sixth position ahead of Glock and Rosberg. |
| Lap 49 | So Massa is on target for the win that may or may not be taken away from him. This is a poor decision from the FIA as he may win and no one knows for sure if he has won. |
| Lap 49 | Fisichella saves his car after running wide. |
| Lap 51 | Kovalainen is keeping Kubica in sight in the battle for third position. Towards the back, Nakajima has caught Barrichello. |
| Lap 54 | Massa remains nine seconds ahead of Hamilton and if the order remains unchanged, Hamilton will lead the championship with 70 points with Massa on 64 and Raikkonen dropping away to 57. |
| Lap 56 | Massa is now on his last lap. |
| Lap 57 | Felipe Massa wins the European Grand Prix, his fourth win of the season. |
| Lap 57 | Hamilton is second just under six seconds behind. |
| Lap 57 | Kubica is third for BMW Sauber ahead of Kovalainen, Trulli, Vettel, Glock and Rosberg. |
| Lap 57 | Hamilton remains at the head of the championship with 70 points with Massa on 64, Raikkonen on 57 and Kubica in 55. |
