Robert Kubica, who finished eighth after finding his BMW Sauber car uncompetitive at the Hungaroring, slipped to 13 points behind Hamilton, ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld and Kovalainen.

The 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix was the 11th of the 18th rounds of the 2008 Formula One World Championship and occurred at the 4.381 km (2.722 mi) Hungaroring circuit, in Mogyoród, Hungary, on 3 August 2008.

[1] The teams, also known as "constructors", were Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, Renault, Honda, Force India-Ferrari, BMW Sauber, Toyota, Red Bull-Renault, Williams-Toyota and Toro Rosso-Ferrari.

BMW drivers Robert Kubica (48) and Nick Heidfeld (41) were fourth and fifth in the championship, followed by Heikki Kovalainen, who had scored 28 points in the second McLaren.

McLaren team principal Ron Dennis said the establishment of FOTA was intended to encourage greater co-operation between the teams, particularly in framing new sporting and technical regulations, and to act as a counterweight to the sport's existing governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the company responsible for its commercial management, Formula One Management (FOM).

[11] On July 31, the day before the event's first free practice sessions took place, McLaren confirmed the team would retain Kovalainen for 2009 alongside Hamilton, while the organisers of the Hungarian Grand Prix signed a deal with Bernie Ecclestone, the president of FOM, to continue hosting the race until 2016.

Ferrari altered the F2008 chassis's cooling system and bodywork following high brake wear and engine water temperatures at the German Grand Prix.

McLaren and Force India introduced revised aerodynamic packages for their MP4-23 and VJM01 chassis, aimed at increasing the amount of downforce, and therefore grip, produced by the bodywork.

[1] The Renault drivers were again quick—Piquet in second and Alonso fourth—although the team's Executive Director of Engineering, Pat Symonds, admitted both cars were running with slightly lower fuel loads than normal, improving their performance.

[19] Massa set the session's fastest time of 1:19.068 during its second part, but was delayed by other cars, which prevented him from heating his tyres sufficiently to achieve the maximum grip possible.

Kubica achieved his competitive time despite handling problems, which led him to describe his lap as his best so far of the season,[19] while Glock recorded the best qualifying result of his career thus far.

[18] Alonso qualified in seventh position with Piquet in tenth on a heavy fuel load; the Renault teammates were split by Webber and Trulli.

[1] His teammate, Bourdais, set the 14th-fastest lap, but was penalised five positions on the grid for impeding Heidfeld during the first part of qualifying, a delay which limited the BMW Sauber driver to the 16th-fastest time.

[15] The Toro Rosso drivers were split before Bourdais' penalty by Jenson Button—who found his Honda's revised suspension a significant improvement—and David Coulthard, who believed the Hungaroring did not suit the handling characteristics of his Red Bull RB4 chassis.

[18] Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Rubens Barrichello (Honda) and Force India drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil failed to advance beyond the first part of qualifying, and thus completed the final rows of the grid.

[1] Massa made a good start on his only remaining new set of Soft tyres, moving ahead of Kovalainen from the grid and drawing alongside Hamilton into the first corner.

At the completion of the first lap, Massa led from Hamilton, Kovalainen, Glock, Kubica, Alonso, Räikkönen, Webber, Trulli, Piquet, Coulthard, Heidfeld, Barrichello, Button, Vettel, Bourdais, Rosberg, Nakajima, Fisichella and Sutil.

[20] On lap 3, Button overtook his teammate Barrichello for 13th position, but both Honda drivers were stuck behind Heidfeld, who was carrying a heavier fuel load than them.

[1] Piquet was the last of the leading runners to make a pit stop, on lap 25, allowing him to jump ahead of Kubica, Trulli and Webber.

The race order was Massa leading from Hamilton, Kovalainen, Glock, Coulthard (who was yet to pit), Alonso, Räikkönen, Piquet, Trulli, Kubica, Webber, Heidfeld, Button, Barrichello, Bourdais, Rosberg, Nakajima, Fisichella and Sutil.

[23] Massa began to pull away again, easing the gap open to 4 seconds by lap 32, while Hamilton locked his front-left wheel as he tried to keep up with the Ferrari, flat-spotting the tyre in the process.

[1] Three of these drivers experienced delays during their pit stops which dropped them down the running order: Barrichello and Bourdais suffered flash fires, while Rosberg's fuel hose jammed, losing him time.

[1] At the conclusion of lap 59, with the scheduled pit stops completed, the running order was Massa leading from Kovalainen, Glock, Räikkönen, Alonso, Hamilton, Piquet, Trulli, Kubica, Webber, Heidfeld, Coulthard, Button, Nakajima, Rosberg, Fisichella, Sutil, Barrichello and Bourdais.

Hamilton caught Alonso at a similar rate, but his rear Super Soft tyres began to overheat and he was unable to make any further impression after closing the gap to 1.5 seconds.

[26] Trulli finished seventh, ahead of Kubica, who was extremely disappointed with the uncompetitive performance of his car at the Grand Prix closest to his home country of Poland.

All the hard work that the whole team has put in the last few months, through difficult times, we just kept pushing and it is very respectable and I am very, very glad to score my first victory."

"[31] Journalist Mark Hughes described it as "almost certainly his best race to date",[24] and colleague Simon Arron termed it as "one of the finest afternoons of his F1 career".

[32] Hughes described the Grand Prix as "a throwback race", in that the leaders had suffered from unreliability, and the winner had not been in contention on speed alone; It was a situation reminiscent of earlier times in the sport, when the cars were generally less reliable.

[20] Bridgestone director of motorsport Hirohide Hamashima said Hamilton's puncture was probably caused by debris, although as a result of the damage the tyre had sustained, the precise nature of the failure was impossible to determine.

[32] After the eventual conclusion of the championship in Hamilton's favour by one point, the Hungarian Grand Prix was highlighted as one of Massa's most obvious lost opportunities in his bid to win the title.