2008 Spanish Grand Prix
Encyclopedia
The 2008 Spanish Grand Prix (formally the L Gran Premio de España Telefónica) was a Formula One
motor race held on April 27, 2008 at the Circuit de Catalunya
, Spain
. It was the fourth race of the 2008 Formula One season
. The race, contested over 66 laps, was won by Kimi Räikkönen
for the Ferrari
team after starting from pole position
. Felipe Massa
finished second in the other Ferrari, and Lewis Hamilton
was third in a McLaren.
Räikkönen began the race from pole position alongside Renault
driver Fernando Alonso
. Massa began from third, alongside BMW Sauber
driver Robert Kubica
. Hamilton, the eventual Drivers' Champion, began from fifth and passed Kubica into the first corner, as Massa passed Alonso. Räikkönen maintained his lead through most of the race, leading to Ferrari's one-two finish. The safety car
was deployed several times throughout the race, including for a serious crash involving McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen
, though the Finn escaped with only a minor concussion.
Prior to the race weekend, the event was put on probation by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
, the sport's governing body
, for racist taunting during pre-season testing at the circuit. Subsequently, no such racism was reported during the race weekend. The event was Super Aguri's
final Grand Prix, withdrawing afterwards due to financial pressures, leaving the sport with ten teams; this was also the last race for both of the team's drivers, Takuma Sato
and Anthony Davidson
. The result promoted Ferrari to the lead in the Constructors' Championship, 12 points ahead of BMW Sauber and 13 points ahead of McLaren. Räikkönen extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 29 points, nine points ahead of Hamilton and ten points ahead of Kubica. Massa moved into fourth place on 18 points, with 14 races remaining in the season.
, McLaren-Mercedes, Renault
, Honda, Force India
, BMW Sauber
, Toyota
, Red Bull Racing
, Williams
, Toro Rosso
and Super Aguri. Tyre
supplier Bridgestone
brought two different tyre compounds to the race; the softer of the two marked by a single white stripe down one of the grooves.
Prior to the race, Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen
led the Drivers' Championship with 19 points, and BMW Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld
was second with 16 points. McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton
, BMW driver Robert Kubica
and Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen
held the next three positions, all with 14 points. In the Constructors' Championship, BMW Sauber were leading with 30 points, one point ahead of Ferrari, and two ahead of McLaren-Mercedes.
After Hamilton won the season opener in Australia
, Ferrari had dominated the next two races in Malaysia and Bahrain. In the Malaysian Grand Prix
, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa
had claimed pole position
, and while he later spun off and retired, his teammate Räikkönen went on to win the race. Ferrari's form had continued at the Bahrain Grand Prix
, where Massa had led Räikkönen to a one-two finish. Despite the promising start to the season, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali
said the team was not celebrating prematurely:
With his team leading the Constructors' Championship, Heidfeld said BMW was outperforming expectations: "It's better than expected after the winter time, of course, but it could also be better. It can always be better." BMW had opened the season with podium finishes in each of the first three races, which team principal Mario Theissen
said put his team amongst the top three, along with Ferrari and McLaren.
After a poor race in Bahrain, where he narrowly avoided stalling
on the grid before colliding with Renault's Fernando Alonso
a lap later, Hamilton said he would return stronger in Spain: "I approach it in the same way and obviously I won't be making the same mistake again. This weekend being here, feeling fresh after a good break from racing, and making sure we come here fresh has been important. I feel good." His team said that they had made significant improvements to their car, the McLaren MP4-23
, in the three week break, but were reserving judgement until the race to see how their performance had improved in comparison to their rivals.
The event also took place under the shadow of incidents that had taken place at the same circuit during pre-season testing. At one of the test sessions, Hamilton was subjected to racist taunting by some of the spectators. In response, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
(FIA) launched a "Racing Against Racism" programme, and placed the Spanish and European
Grands Prix on probation, the latter event being held in the Spanish city of Valencia. During the course of the event itself, no such incidents were reported. Hamilton was particularly unpopular with the country's Formula One fans due to his acrimonious inter-team rivalry with Spaniard Alonso during the previous year's championship
, which had resulted in the latter leaving the McLaren team and returning to Renault for 2008.
The Super Aguri team had been in financial trouble since a proposed takeover deal backed by equity firm Dubai International Capital
, under the "Magma Group" banner, failed to take effect. The team narrowly avoided folding in mid-April, and were only given confirmation to compete by team owners Honda
on the Friday prior to the race. This would be the team's final Grand Prix, withdrawing after two years in Formula One prior to the Turkish Grand Prix
, leaving the sport with ten teams for the first time since the 2005 season
.
Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—two on Friday, and a third on Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions each lasted 90 minutes. The third session was held on Saturday morning and lasted an hour. The Ferraris were fastest in the first session; Räikkönen was quickest with a time of 1:20.649, ahead of Massa, who recovered from a spin and an off-track excursion on his first two laps to take second. Hamilton, Kubica and Kovalainen took the next three positions, ahead of home driver Alonso in sixth. Räikkönen repeated his morning effort in the second session, with a time of 1:21.935, as the frontrunners experimented with higher fuel loads. Renault driver Nelson Piquet was next quickest, ahead of Alonso, Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima
, Massa and Red Bull driver Mark Webber
. The McLarens had a less successful session; Kovalainen struggled with gearbox problems, and difficulty with Hamilton's set-up
meant he managed 11th after suffering from excessive oversteer. Heidfeld was quickest in the final session, his 1:21.269 benefiting from use of the quicker soft compound tyre. Webber's teammate David Coulthard
was next quickest, ahead of Alonso, Kubica, Toyota driver Jarno Trulli
and Sébastien Bourdais
of Toro Rosso. Ferrari and McLaren again ran heavier cars, and neither team managed better than ninth quickest. Mechanical problems meant Webber failed to set a time, his car coming to a halt in the pit-lane exit after two installation laps.
The qualifying session on Saturday afternoon was split into three parts. The first part ran for 20 minutes, and cars that finished the session 17th or lower were eliminated from qualifying. The second part of qualifying lasted 15 minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions 11 to 16. The final part of qualifying determined the positions from first to tenth, and decided pole position. Cars which failed to make the final session could refuel before the race, so ran lighter in those sessions. Cars which competed in the final session of qualifying were not allowed to refuel before the race, and as such carried more fuel than in the previous sessions.
Räikkönen clinched his first pole position of the season with a time of 1:21.813. Alonso would start alongside him on the grid, amid suspicions the Spaniard was fuelled light for the race. Massa, Kubica and Hamilton qualified next quickest; just 0.2 seconds separated Hamilton's time from that of Räikkönen. Kovalainen would line up on the third row of the grid next to his teammate; Webber and Trulli would start from the fourth row. Heidfeld was disappointed with his ninth place, after suffering from tyre problems on his final lap; Piquet, who made it into the final session for the first time in his career, qualified just ahead of Honda driver Rubens Barrichello
and Nakajima. Honda driver Jenson Button
and Timo Glock
of Toyota would occupy the seventh row; Williams driver Nico Rosberg
was outqualified by his teammate for the first time in the season, and would start from 15th, ahead of Bourdais. Coulthard failed to make it through the first session after failing to get sufficient heat into his tyres; Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Vettel
and the two Force Indias of Giancarlo Fisichella
and Adrian Sutil
took positions 18 to 20. The Super Aguris of Anthony Davidson
and Takuma Sato
would line up on the back row of the grid in their final race.
The conditions on the grid were dry before the race. The air temperature was 23 °C (73.4 °F) and the track temperature was 38 °C (100.4 °F); weather forecasts indicated a light wind, but otherwise calm conditions. Räikkönen held his lead into the first corner, as Massa passed Alonso to take second; Hamilton passed Kubica to take fourth. However, an incident further down the field brought out the safety car
. Sutil's car entered a spin after attempting to pass Coulthard; the resulting collision eliminated Sutil and Vettel from the Grand Prix. The race restarted on lap four when the safety car peeled off, Räikkönen quickly increased his lead over Massa to more than a second. The gap between the Ferraris increased as Räikkönen continued to lap the quickest on track; Hamilton began to close in on Alonso, only to see the Renault pit on lap 16, promoting the McLaren to third place.
Further down the field, several incidents reduced the field to 15 cars. Piquet, after running off the track on lap five, collided with Bourdais two laps later while attempting to pass at turn 10. The Renault retired from the race immediately; Bourdais struggled back to the pit lane before Toro Rosso decided to retire his car. The resulting debris ended Davidson's race when he retired on lap eight after sustaining radiator damage. On lap 22 Kovalainen's front left tyre suffered a rapid deflation, hurling his car into the barriers at an estimated 210 kilometres per hour (130.5 mph), with an impact of 26 g
. As the track marshals
extracted the McLaren from the barriers, the safety car was once again deployed. Heidfeld was forced to pit immediately as he was low on fuel, incurring a ten second stop-go penalty for coming in before the pit-lane was officially re-opened. Barrichello and Fisichella then collided in the pit-lane on lap 26, heavily damaging the Honda's front wing, and requiring Barrichello to drive the whole lap with a disintegrating car, before retiring into his team's garage.
Räikkönen, Massa, Hamilton, Kubica and Alonso, having already made their pit stops, trailed the safety car until it peeled off on lap 29. As Räikkönen again increased his lead over Massa to more than two seconds, Alonso pulled over to the side of the track, smoke billowing from his engine, and retired. Rosberg's engine also suffered a failure, and the Williams retired on lap 42 from seventh place. Four laps later, Räikkönen set the fastest lap
of the race, a 1:21.670, as Massa pitted from behind him. Räikkönen, Hamilton and Kubica followed into the pit-lane on lap 47. Coulthard and Glock collided on lap 53 after the Toyota driver attempted to pass the Red Bull at the first corner. Glock sustained front wing damage, and Coulthard suffered a puncture to his left rear tyre; both pitted soon after for repairs.
Räikkönen took his second win of the season when he crossed the line at the end of the 66th lap, 3.2 seconds ahead of the second-placed Massa. Hamilton took third, ahead of Kubica, Webber and Button, who scored Honda's first points for the season. Nakajima finished in seventh place, ahead of Trulli, who was running in sixth place before his team mistakenly called him into the pit-lane. Toyota had mistaken Glock's damaged car for Trulli, dropping the latter down the order after the stop. Heidfeld, recovering after his penalty, finished in ninth place ahead of Fisichella. Glock and Coulthard filled the next two positions after their late collision, ahead of Sato in 13th. Rosberg, Alonso, Barrichello, Kovalainen, Davidson, Bourdais, Piquet, Vettel and Sutil were the retirements from a punishing Spanish Grand Prix.
Massa said that the result was a good one for his team, as they moved ahead of BMW Sauber in the Constructors' Championship: "We did our homework and brought two Ferrari's in the front – first and second – which is very important for the Championship." Although Ferrari had performed well, Massa said their speed was not significantly better than their opponents, so "we need to keep working like crazy in the factory to improve the car in every area."
Hamilton agreed that the start was the most important part of the race: "Obviously when we qualified fifth we knew that it would be very difficult to beat the Ferraris. But the key was to get a good start and make as many places as possible and fortunately I was able to do that." Apart from the start of the race, only two passing manoeuvres were recorded: Heidfeld's lap 55 pass on Fisichella and Coulthard's lap 61 pass on Sato.
Despite his accident, Kovalainen suffered no physical injuries, except for minor concussion. After spending the night under observation in a nearby hospital, the McLaren driver was cleared to race in the next Grand Prix, two weeks later. McLaren said that the wheel failure was due to a faulty wheel clamp which made it vulnerable to the rapid changes in load and pressure that a Formula One car
endures, eventually leading to the deflated tyre and Kovalainen's accident. Kovalainen praised Formula One's safety procedures and medical staff:
However, Mark Webber, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association
, said that standards at the track should have been better. Speaking in his regular BBC Online column, Webber said the "run-off on that corner is too tight and we need to have a look at it because any driver that has an error there is going to have a big crash. If Heikki's accident had happened two seconds later he would have been fine and controlled the car, but it probably happened on the worst section of that whole track."
Räikkönen's win increased his points tally in the Drivers' Championship to 29 points, nine ahead of second-placed Hamilton. Kubica and Massa were one and two points behind Hamilton, respectively; Heidfeld was fifth on 16 points, after failing to score. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari took the lead with 47 points, 12 points ahead of BMW Sauber and 13 points ahead of McLaren, with 14 races remaining in the season.
Notes
Constructors' Championship standings
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
motor race held on April 27, 2008 at the Circuit de Catalunya
Circuit de Catalunya
The Circuit de Catalunya is a racetrack in Montmeló, to the north of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit.-History:...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. It was the fourth race of the 2008 Formula One season
2008 Formula One season
The 2008 Formula One season was the 59th FIA Formula One World Championship season. It began on 16 March and ended on 2 November with eighteen Grand Prix races....
. The race, contested over 66 laps, was won by Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi Matias Räikkönen , nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish racing driver, who will drive in Formula One for Lotus in . After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship from 2009-2011.Räikkönen entered...
for the Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
team after starting from pole position
Pole position
The term "pole position", as used in motorsports, comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole. The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsports, a driver has pole position when he or she...
. Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:...
finished second in the other Ferrari, and Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire...
was third in a McLaren.
Räikkönen began the race from pole position alongside Renault
Renault F1
Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...
driver Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari....
. Massa began from third, alongside BMW Sauber
BMW Sauber
BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s , before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s...
driver Robert Kubica
Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica is the first Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test driver to race driver during 2006...
. Hamilton, the eventual Drivers' Champion, began from fifth and passed Kubica into the first corner, as Massa passed Alonso. Räikkönen maintained his lead through most of the race, leading to Ferrari's one-two finish. The safety car
Safety car
In motorsport, a safety car or pace car is a car which limits the speed of competing cars on a racetrack in the case of a caution period such as an obstruction on the track. During a caution period the safety car enters the track ahead of the leader...
was deployed several times throughout the race, including for a serious crash involving McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish Formula One racing driver who spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons with British based team McLaren and the 2010 and 2011 seasons with Team Lotus....
, though the Finn escaped with only a minor concussion.
Prior to the race weekend, the event was put on probation by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is a non-profit association established as the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users...
, the sport's governing body
Sport governing body
A sport governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sport governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport...
, for racist taunting during pre-season testing at the circuit. Subsequently, no such racism was reported during the race weekend. The event was Super Aguri's
Super Aguri F1
Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from to . The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan but operated from the former Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical Centre, Oxfordshire. The cars were referred to as Super Aguri Hondas, with the team...
final Grand Prix, withdrawing afterwards due to financial pressures, leaving the sport with ten teams; this was also the last race for both of the team's drivers, Takuma Sato
Takuma Sato
is a Japanese automobile racing driver and the most successful Japanese Formula One driver in history. He is currently racing for KV Racing Technology in IndyCar Series under the Lotus banner.-Junior Years:...
and Anthony Davidson
Anthony Davidson
Anthony Denis Davidson is a British former Formula One racing driver from England, born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. He has raced for Minardi, Super Aguri and been a test and/or reserve driver for the British American Racing, Honda and Brawn GP teams...
. The result promoted Ferrari to the lead in the Constructors' Championship, 12 points ahead of BMW Sauber and 13 points ahead of McLaren. Räikkönen extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 29 points, nine points ahead of Hamilton and ten points ahead of Kubica. Massa moved into fourth place on 18 points, with 14 races remaining in the season.
Background
The Grand Prix was contested by 22 drivers, in 11 teams of two. The teams, also known as "constructors", were FerrariScuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
, McLaren-Mercedes, Renault
Renault F1
Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...
, Honda, Force India
Force India
Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and...
, BMW Sauber
BMW Sauber
BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s , before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s...
, Toyota
Toyota F1
Panasonic Toyota Racing was a Formula One team owned by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after extensive testing with their initial car, dubbed the TF101, the team made their debut in 2002...
, Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the...
, Williams
WilliamsF1
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head...
, Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team...
and Super Aguri. Tyre
Formula One tyres
Formula One tyres play a significant role in the performance of a Formula One car. The tyres have undergone significant changes throughout the history of Formula One, with different manufacturers and specifications used in the sport.-History:...
supplier Bridgestone
Bridgestone
The is a multinational rubber conglomerate founded in 1931 by in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of ishibashi, meaning "stone bridge" in Japanese....
brought two different tyre compounds to the race; the softer of the two marked by a single white stripe down one of the grooves.
Prior to the race, Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi Matias Räikkönen , nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish racing driver, who will drive in Formula One for Lotus in . After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship from 2009-2011.Räikkönen entered...
led the Drivers' Championship with 19 points, and BMW Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld
Nick Heidfeld
Nick Lars Heidfeld is a German racing driver.Despite scoring regular podium finishes in and , Heidfeld has yet to win a race since entering Formula One in . This means that amongst the current drivers, he has had the most GP starts without standing at the top spot on the podium...
was second with 16 points. McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire...
, BMW driver Robert Kubica
Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica is the first Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test driver to race driver during 2006...
and Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish Formula One racing driver who spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons with British based team McLaren and the 2010 and 2011 seasons with Team Lotus....
held the next three positions, all with 14 points. In the Constructors' Championship, BMW Sauber were leading with 30 points, one point ahead of Ferrari, and two ahead of McLaren-Mercedes.
After Hamilton won the season opener in Australia
2009 Australian Grand Prix
The 2009 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 29 March 2009 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia. It was the first race of the 2009 Formula One season. The race, contested over 58 laps, was won by Jenson Button for the Brawn GP team after...
, Ferrari had dominated the next two races in Malaysia and Bahrain. In the Malaysian Grand Prix
2009 Malaysian Grand Prix
The 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on April 5, 2009 at the Sepang International Circuit in Sepang, Malaysia. It was the second race of the 2009 Formula One season. The race was due to be contested over 56 laps, but due to torrential rain, the race was stopped after...
, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:...
had claimed pole position
Pole position
The term "pole position", as used in motorsports, comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole. The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsports, a driver has pole position when he or she...
, and while he later spun off and retired, his teammate Räikkönen went on to win the race. Ferrari's form had continued at the Bahrain Grand Prix
2009 Bahrain Grand Prix
The 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on April 26, 2009, at the Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain. It was the sixth Bahrain Grand Prix and fourth race of the 2009 Formula One season....
, where Massa had led Räikkönen to a one-two finish. Despite the promising start to the season, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali
Stefano Domenicali
Stefano Domenicali is an Italian manager, currently the team principal of the Ferrari Formula One team.He was born to a prominent banker in Imola. He studied business administration at Bologna University, graduating in 1991...
said the team was not celebrating prematurely:
With his team leading the Constructors' Championship, Heidfeld said BMW was outperforming expectations: "It's better than expected after the winter time, of course, but it could also be better. It can always be better." BMW had opened the season with podium finishes in each of the first three races, which team principal Mario Theissen
Mario Theissen
Dr. Mario Theissen is the former BMW Motorsport Director and was team principal of BMW Sauber, the company's Formula One team from 2005 until 2009, when BMW sold the team back to Peter Sauber....
said put his team amongst the top three, along with Ferrari and McLaren.
After a poor race in Bahrain, where he narrowly avoided stalling
Stall (engine)
A stall is the slowing or stopping of a process, and in the case of an engine, refers to a sudden stopping of the engine turning, usually brought about accidentally....
on the grid before colliding with Renault's Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari....
a lap later, Hamilton said he would return stronger in Spain: "I approach it in the same way and obviously I won't be making the same mistake again. This weekend being here, feeling fresh after a good break from racing, and making sure we come here fresh has been important. I feel good." His team said that they had made significant improvements to their car, the McLaren MP4-23
McLaren MP4-23
The McLaren MP4-23 was Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes' Formula One car for the 2008 Formula One season. It was revealed at Mercedes-Benz's motor sport museum in Stuttgart on 7 January 2008, and it had its first on-track appearance at Jerez in Spain on 9 January...
, in the three week break, but were reserving judgement until the race to see how their performance had improved in comparison to their rivals.
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is a non-profit association established as the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users...
(FIA) launched a "Racing Against Racism" programme, and placed the Spanish and European
2008 European Grand Prix
The 2008 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on August 24, 2008 at the Valencia Street Circuit, Valencia, Spain. It was the 12th race of the 2008 Formula One season. The race, contested over 57 laps, was won by Felipe Massa for the Ferrari team after starting from pole...
Grands Prix on probation, the latter event being held in the Spanish city of Valencia. During the course of the event itself, no such incidents were reported. Hamilton was particularly unpopular with the country's Formula One fans due to his acrimonious inter-team rivalry with Spaniard Alonso during the previous year's championship
2007 Formula One season
The 2007 Formula One season was the 58th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship, which began on 18 March and ended on 21 October after seventeen events. The Drivers' Championship was won by Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen by one point at the...
, which had resulted in the latter leaving the McLaren team and returning to Renault for 2008.
The Super Aguri team had been in financial trouble since a proposed takeover deal backed by equity firm Dubai International Capital
Dubai International Capital
Dubai International Capital is the international investment arm of Dubai Holding, a holding company and sovereign wealth fund of the government of Dubai and its ruling family and has been over-leveraged to the point whereby the company is not able to service its interest payments in a normal fashion...
, under the "Magma Group" banner, failed to take effect. The team narrowly avoided folding in mid-April, and were only given confirmation to compete by team owners Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
on the Friday prior to the race. This would be the team's final Grand Prix, withdrawing after two years in Formula One prior to the Turkish Grand Prix
2008 Turkish Grand Prix
The 2008 Turkish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on May 11, 2008 at the Istanbul Racing Circuit, Istanbul, Turkey. It was the fifth race of the 2008 Formula One season. The race, contested over 58 laps, was won by Felipe Massa for the Ferrari team after starting from pole...
, leaving the sport with ten teams for the first time since the 2005 season
2005 Formula One season
The 2005 Formula One season was the 56th FIA Formula One World Championship season, contested over a record 19 Grands Prix. It commenced on March 6, 2005, and ended October 16....
.
Practice and qualifying
Kazuki Nakajima
is a Formula One driver from Japan who drove for the Williams-Toyota team from to . Prior to that he had been their test driver, as well as a competitor in the GP2 Series for the DAMS team....
, Massa and Red Bull driver Mark Webber
Mark Webber
Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career...
. The McLarens had a less successful session; Kovalainen struggled with gearbox problems, and difficulty with Hamilton's set-up
Racing setup
In auto racing, the racing setup or car setup is the set of adjustments made to the vehicle in order to optimize its behaviour...
meant he managed 11th after suffering from excessive oversteer. Heidfeld was quickest in the final session, his 1:21.269 benefiting from use of the quicker soft compound tyre. Webber's teammate David Coulthard
David Coulthard
David Marshall Coulthard, MBE, , sometimes known as DC, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland.Coulthard, who was born in Dumfries and raised nearby in Twynholm, made his Formula One debut in 1994 and won 13 Grands Prix in a career spanning 15 seasons...
was next quickest, ahead of Alonso, Kubica, Toyota driver Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli is an Italian Formula One racing driver. He has been a regular in Formula One since 1997, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Toyota. He won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix for Renault, his only Grand Prix victory to date. He is known for being a qualification expert...
and Sébastien Bourdais
Sébastien Bourdais
Sébastien Olivier Bourdais is a French race car driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the Champ Car World Series, having won four successive championships from 2004 to 2007....
of Toro Rosso. Ferrari and McLaren again ran heavier cars, and neither team managed better than ninth quickest. Mechanical problems meant Webber failed to set a time, his car coming to a halt in the pit-lane exit after two installation laps.
The qualifying session on Saturday afternoon was split into three parts. The first part ran for 20 minutes, and cars that finished the session 17th or lower were eliminated from qualifying. The second part of qualifying lasted 15 minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions 11 to 16. The final part of qualifying determined the positions from first to tenth, and decided pole position. Cars which failed to make the final session could refuel before the race, so ran lighter in those sessions. Cars which competed in the final session of qualifying were not allowed to refuel before the race, and as such carried more fuel than in the previous sessions.
Räikkönen clinched his first pole position of the season with a time of 1:21.813. Alonso would start alongside him on the grid, amid suspicions the Spaniard was fuelled light for the race. Massa, Kubica and Hamilton qualified next quickest; just 0.2 seconds separated Hamilton's time from that of Räikkönen. Kovalainen would line up on the third row of the grid next to his teammate; Webber and Trulli would start from the fourth row. Heidfeld was disappointed with his ninth place, after suffering from tyre problems on his final lap; Piquet, who made it into the final session for the first time in his career, qualified just ahead of Honda driver Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable...
and Nakajima. Honda driver Jenson Button
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British...
and Timo Glock
Timo Glock
Timo Glock is a German motor racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for the Virgin Racing team. At the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix, standing in for Giorgio Pantano who had a contract dispute with Jordan Grand Prix, he joined a select group of drivers who have scored a World Championship...
of Toyota would occupy the seventh row; Williams driver Nico Rosberg
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career...
was outqualified by his teammate for the first time in the season, and would start from 15th, ahead of Bourdais. Coulthard failed to make it through the first session after failing to get sufficient heat into his tyres; Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and ....
and the two Force Indias of Giancarlo Fisichella
Giancarlo Fisichella
Giancarlo Fisichella , also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian racing driver. He has driven in Formula One for Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, Force India and Ferrari. Nowadays, he drives for AF Corse's GT2 Ferrari in various sportscar events...
and Adrian Sutil
Adrian Sutil
-Biography:Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, a Uruguayan. He has two brothers named Daniel and Raphael. He weighs 165 pounds and is 6 feet tall. A talented pianist, Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002...
took positions 18 to 20. The Super Aguris of Anthony Davidson
Anthony Davidson
Anthony Denis Davidson is a British former Formula One racing driver from England, born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. He has raced for Minardi, Super Aguri and been a test and/or reserve driver for the British American Racing, Honda and Brawn GP teams...
and Takuma Sato
Takuma Sato
is a Japanese automobile racing driver and the most successful Japanese Formula One driver in history. He is currently racing for KV Racing Technology in IndyCar Series under the Lotus banner.-Junior Years:...
would line up on the back row of the grid in their final race.
Race
Safety car
In motorsport, a safety car or pace car is a car which limits the speed of competing cars on a racetrack in the case of a caution period such as an obstruction on the track. During a caution period the safety car enters the track ahead of the leader...
. Sutil's car entered a spin after attempting to pass Coulthard; the resulting collision eliminated Sutil and Vettel from the Grand Prix. The race restarted on lap four when the safety car peeled off, Räikkönen quickly increased his lead over Massa to more than a second. The gap between the Ferraris increased as Räikkönen continued to lap the quickest on track; Hamilton began to close in on Alonso, only to see the Renault pit on lap 16, promoting the McLaren to third place.
G-force
The g-force associated with an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall. This acceleration experienced by an object is due to the vector sum of non-gravitational forces acting on an object free to move. The accelerations that are not produced by gravity are termed proper accelerations, and...
. As the track marshals
Motorsport marshal
Motorsport marshals contribute to more enjoyable, more efficient, and safer motor racing. They are responsible for the safety of competitors and are stationed at various points of danger around race tracks to assist them in case of any collisions, accidents or track problems...
extracted the McLaren from the barriers, the safety car was once again deployed. Heidfeld was forced to pit immediately as he was low on fuel, incurring a ten second stop-go penalty for coming in before the pit-lane was officially re-opened. Barrichello and Fisichella then collided in the pit-lane on lap 26, heavily damaging the Honda's front wing, and requiring Barrichello to drive the whole lap with a disintegrating car, before retiring into his team's garage.
Fastest lap
In motorsport, the fastest lap is the quickest lap run during a race. Some series, like A1 Grand Prix and the GP2 series, award bonus points to the driver/team with the fastest lap...
of the race, a 1:21.670, as Massa pitted from behind him. Räikkönen, Hamilton and Kubica followed into the pit-lane on lap 47. Coulthard and Glock collided on lap 53 after the Toyota driver attempted to pass the Red Bull at the first corner. Glock sustained front wing damage, and Coulthard suffered a puncture to his left rear tyre; both pitted soon after for repairs.
Räikkönen took his second win of the season when he crossed the line at the end of the 66th lap, 3.2 seconds ahead of the second-placed Massa. Hamilton took third, ahead of Kubica, Webber and Button, who scored Honda's first points for the season. Nakajima finished in seventh place, ahead of Trulli, who was running in sixth place before his team mistakenly called him into the pit-lane. Toyota had mistaken Glock's damaged car for Trulli, dropping the latter down the order after the stop. Heidfeld, recovering after his penalty, finished in ninth place ahead of Fisichella. Glock and Coulthard filled the next two positions after their late collision, ahead of Sato in 13th. Rosberg, Alonso, Barrichello, Kovalainen, Davidson, Bourdais, Piquet, Vettel and Sutil were the retirements from a punishing Spanish Grand Prix.
Post-race
The top three finishers appeared on the podium and in the subsequent press conference, where Räikkönen said his pole position start was an important factor in his victory: "This circuit is very difficult to overtake. The start is the best place and when you have a lot of things going with the safety car you might be lucky or very unlucky, so the best place to try to win is always from the front. It was good yesterday and it really helped us today."Massa said that the result was a good one for his team, as they moved ahead of BMW Sauber in the Constructors' Championship: "We did our homework and brought two Ferrari's in the front – first and second – which is very important for the Championship." Although Ferrari had performed well, Massa said their speed was not significantly better than their opponents, so "we need to keep working like crazy in the factory to improve the car in every area."
Hamilton agreed that the start was the most important part of the race: "Obviously when we qualified fifth we knew that it would be very difficult to beat the Ferraris. But the key was to get a good start and make as many places as possible and fortunately I was able to do that." Apart from the start of the race, only two passing manoeuvres were recorded: Heidfeld's lap 55 pass on Fisichella and Coulthard's lap 61 pass on Sato.
Despite his accident, Kovalainen suffered no physical injuries, except for minor concussion. After spending the night under observation in a nearby hospital, the McLaren driver was cleared to race in the next Grand Prix, two weeks later. McLaren said that the wheel failure was due to a faulty wheel clamp which made it vulnerable to the rapid changes in load and pressure that a Formula One car
Formula One car
A modern Formula One car is a single-seat, open cockpit, open wheel racing car with substantial front and rear wings, and an engine positioned behind the driver. The regulations governing the cars are unique to the championship...
endures, eventually leading to the deflated tyre and Kovalainen's accident. Kovalainen praised Formula One's safety procedures and medical staff:
Grand Prix Drivers' Association
The Grand Prix Drivers' Association , is the trade union of Formula One drivers.-History:The GPDA was founded in 1961 and was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Then, as now, the GPDA's primary objective was to improve and maintain safety standards...
, said that standards at the track should have been better. Speaking in his regular BBC Online column, Webber said the "run-off on that corner is too tight and we need to have a look at it because any driver that has an error there is going to have a big crash. If Heikki's accident had happened two seconds later he would have been fine and controlled the car, but it probably happened on the worst section of that whole track."
Räikkönen's win increased his points tally in the Drivers' Championship to 29 points, nine ahead of second-placed Hamilton. Kubica and Massa were one and two points behind Hamilton, respectively; Heidfeld was fifth on 16 points, after failing to score. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari took the lead with 47 points, 12 points ahead of BMW Sauber and 13 points ahead of McLaren, with 14 races remaining in the season.
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Name | Constructor | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Kimi RäikkönenKimi Räikkönen Kimi Matias Räikkönen , nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish racing driver, who will drive in Formula One for Lotus in . After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship from 2009-2011.Räikkönen entered... |
Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:20.701 | 1:20.784 | 1:21.813 | 1 |
| 2 | 5 |  Fernando AlonsoFernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari.... |
Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
1:21.347 | 1:20.804 | 1:21.904 | 2 |
| 3 | 2 |  Felipe MassaFelipe Massa Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:... |
Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:21.528 | 1:20.584 | 1:22.058 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 |  Robert KubicaRobert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica is the first Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test driver to race driver during 2006... |
BMW Sauber BMW Sauber BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s , before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s... |
1:21.423 | 1:20.597 | 1:22.065 | 4 |
| 5 | 22 |  Lewis HamiltonLewis Hamilton Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire... |
McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
1:21.366 | 1:20.825 | 1:22.096 | 5 |
| 6 | 23 | Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish Formula One racing driver who spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons with British based team McLaren and the 2010 and 2011 seasons with Team Lotus.... |
McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
1:21.430 | 1:20.817 | 1:22.231 | 6 |
| 7 | 10 |  Mark WebberMark Webber Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career... |
Red Bull Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
1:21.494 | 1:20.984 | 1:22.429 | 7 |
| 8 | 11 |  Jarno TrulliJarno Trulli Jarno Trulli is an Italian Formula One racing driver. He has been a regular in Formula One since 1997, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Toyota. He won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix for Renault, his only Grand Prix victory to date. He is known for being a qualification expert... |
Toyota Toyota F1 Panasonic Toyota Racing was a Formula One team owned by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after extensive testing with their initial car, dubbed the TF101, the team made their debut in 2002... |
1:21.158 | 1:20.907 | 1:22.529 | 8 |
| 9 | 3 |  Nick HeidfeldNick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld is a German racing driver.Despite scoring regular podium finishes in and , Heidfeld has yet to win a race since entering Formula One in . This means that amongst the current drivers, he has had the most GP starts without standing at the top spot on the podium... |
BMW Sauber BMW Sauber BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s , before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s... |
1:21.466 | 1:20.815 | 1:22.542 | 9 |
| 10 | 6 | Nelson Piquet Jr. |
Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
1:21.409 | 1:20.894 | 1:22.699 | 10 |
| 11 | 17 | Rubens Barrichello Rubens Barrichello Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable... |
Honda | 1:21.548 | 1:21.049 | 11 | |
| 12 | 8 |  Kazuki NakajimaKazuki Nakajima is a Formula One driver from Japan who drove for the Williams-Toyota team from to . Prior to that he had been their test driver, as well as a competitor in the GP2 Series for the DAMS team.... |
Williams WilliamsF1 Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head... -Toyota Toyota F1 Panasonic Toyota Racing was a Formula One team owned by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after extensive testing with their initial car, dubbed the TF101, the team made their debut in 2002... |
1:21.690 | 1:21.117 | 12 | |
| 13 | 16 | Jenson Button Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British... |
Honda | 1:21.757 | 1:21.211 | 13 | |
| 14 | 12 | Timo Glock Timo Glock Timo Glock is a German motor racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for the Virgin Racing team. At the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix, standing in for Giorgio Pantano who had a contract dispute with Jordan Grand Prix, he joined a select group of drivers who have scored a World Championship... |
Toyota Toyota F1 Panasonic Toyota Racing was a Formula One team owned by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after extensive testing with their initial car, dubbed the TF101, the team made their debut in 2002... |
1:21.427 | 1:21.230 | 14 | |
| 15 | 7 | Nico Rosberg Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career... |
Williams WilliamsF1 Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head... -Toyota Toyota F1 Panasonic Toyota Racing was a Formula One team owned by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after extensive testing with their initial car, dubbed the TF101, the team made their debut in 2002... |
1:21.472 | 1:21.349 | 15 | |
| 16 | 14 |  Sébastien BourdaisSébastien Bourdais Sébastien Olivier Bourdais is a French race car driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the Champ Car World Series, having won four successive championships from 2004 to 2007.... |
Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:21.540 | 1:21.724 | 16 | |
| 17 | 9 | David Coulthard David Coulthard David Marshall Coulthard, MBE, , sometimes known as DC, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland.Coulthard, who was born in Dumfries and raised nearby in Twynholm, made his Formula One debut in 1994 and won 13 Grands Prix in a career spanning 15 seasons... |
Red Bull Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
1:21.810 | 17 | ||
| 18 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and .... |
Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:22.108 | 18 | ||
| 19 | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo Fisichella , also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian racing driver. He has driven in Formula One for Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, Force India and Ferrari. Nowadays, he drives for AF Corse's GT2 Ferrari in various sportscar events... |
Force India Force India Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:22.516 | 19 | ||
| 20 | 20 | Adrian Sutil Adrian Sutil -Biography:Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, a Uruguayan. He has two brothers named Daniel and Raphael. He weighs 165 pounds and is 6 feet tall. A talented pianist, Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002... |
Force India Force India Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:23.224 | 20 | ||
| 21 | 19 | Anthony Davidson Anthony Davidson Anthony Denis Davidson is a British former Formula One racing driver from England, born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. He has raced for Minardi, Super Aguri and been a test and/or reserve driver for the British American Racing, Honda and Brawn GP teams... |
Super Aguri Super Aguri F1 Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from to . The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan but operated from the former Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical Centre, Oxfordshire. The cars were referred to as Super Aguri Hondas, with the team... -Honda |
1:23.318 | 21 | ||
| 22 | 18 | Takuma Sato Takuma Sato is a Japanese automobile racing driver and the most successful Japanese Formula One driver in history. He is currently racing for KV Racing Technology in IndyCar Series under the Lotus banner.-Junior Years:... |
Super Aguri Super Aguri F1 Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from to . The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan but operated from the former Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical Centre, Oxfordshire. The cars were referred to as Super Aguri Hondas, with the team... -Honda |
1:23.496 | 22 | ||
Race
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Kimi Räikkönen Kimi Räikkönen Kimi Matias Räikkönen , nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish racing driver, who will drive in Formula One for Lotus in . After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship from 2009-2011.Räikkönen entered... |
Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
66 | 1:38:19.051 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 2 | Felipe Massa Felipe Massa Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:... |
Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
66 | + 3.228 | 3 | 8 |
| 3 | 22 | Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire... |
McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
66 | + 4.187 | 5 | 6 |
| 4 | 4 | Robert Kubica Robert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica is the first Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test driver to race driver during 2006... |
BMW Sauber BMW Sauber BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s , before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s... |
66 | + 5.694 | 4 | 5 |
| 5 | 10 | Mark Webber Mark Webber Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career... |
Red Bull Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
66 | + 35.938 | 7 | 4 |
| 6 | 16 | Jenson Button Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British... |
Honda | 66 | + 53.010 | 13 | 3 |
| 7 | 8 | Kazuki Nakajima Kazuki Nakajima is a Formula One driver from Japan who drove for the Williams-Toyota team from to . Prior to that he had been their test driver, as well as a competitor in the GP2 Series for the DAMS team.... |
Williams WilliamsF1 Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head... -Toyota Toyota F1 Panasonic Toyota Racing was a Formula One team owned by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after extensive testing with their initial car, dubbed the TF101, the team made their debut in 2002... |
66 | + 58.244 | 12 | 2 |
| 8 | 11 | Jarno Trulli Jarno Trulli Jarno Trulli is an Italian Formula One racing driver. He has been a regular in Formula One since 1997, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Toyota. He won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix for Renault, his only Grand Prix victory to date. He is known for being a qualification expert... |
Toyota Toyota F1 Panasonic Toyota Racing was a Formula One team owned by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after extensive testing with their initial car, dubbed the TF101, the team made their debut in 2002... |
66 | + 59.435 | 8 | 1 |
| 9 | 3 | Nick Heidfeld Nick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld is a German racing driver.Despite scoring regular podium finishes in and , Heidfeld has yet to win a race since entering Formula One in . This means that amongst the current drivers, he has had the most GP starts without standing at the top spot on the podium... |
BMW Sauber BMW Sauber BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s , before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s... |
66 | + 1:03.073 | 9 | |
| 10 | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo Fisichella , also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian racing driver. He has driven in Formula One for Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, Force India and Ferrari. Nowadays, he drives for AF Corse's GT2 Ferrari in various sportscar events... |
Force India Force India Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
65 | + 1 lap | 19 | |
| 11 | 12 | Timo Glock Timo Glock Timo Glock is a German motor racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for the Virgin Racing team. At the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix, standing in for Giorgio Pantano who had a contract dispute with Jordan Grand Prix, he joined a select group of drivers who have scored a World Championship... |
Toyota Toyota F1 Panasonic Toyota Racing was a Formula One team owned by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after extensive testing with their initial car, dubbed the TF101, the team made their debut in 2002... |
65 | + 1 lap | 14 | |
| 12 | 9 | David Coulthard David Coulthard David Marshall Coulthard, MBE, , sometimes known as DC, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland.Coulthard, who was born in Dumfries and raised nearby in Twynholm, made his Formula One debut in 1994 and won 13 Grands Prix in a career spanning 15 seasons... |
Red Bull Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
65 | + 1 lap | 17 | |
| 13 | 18 | Takuma Sato Takuma Sato is a Japanese automobile racing driver and the most successful Japanese Formula One driver in history. He is currently racing for KV Racing Technology in IndyCar Series under the Lotus banner.-Junior Years:... |
Super Aguri Super Aguri F1 Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from to . The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan but operated from the former Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical Centre, Oxfordshire. The cars were referred to as Super Aguri Hondas, with the team... -Honda |
65 | + 1 lap | 22 | |
| Ret | 7 | Nico Rosberg Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career... |
Williams WilliamsF1 Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head... -Toyota Toyota F1 Panasonic Toyota Racing was a Formula One team owned by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after extensive testing with their initial car, dubbed the TF101, the team made their debut in 2002... |
41 | Engine | 15 | |
| Ret | 5 | Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari.... |
Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
34 | Engine | 2 | |
| Ret | 17 | Rubens Barrichello Rubens Barrichello Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable... |
Honda | 34 | Collision damage | 11 | |
| Ret | 23 | Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish Formula One racing driver who spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons with British based team McLaren and the 2010 and 2011 seasons with Team Lotus.... |
McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
21 | Accident | 6 | |
| Ret | 19 | Anthony Davidson Anthony Davidson Anthony Denis Davidson is a British former Formula One racing driver from England, born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. He has raced for Minardi, Super Aguri and been a test and/or reserve driver for the British American Racing, Honda and Brawn GP teams... |
Super Aguri Super Aguri F1 Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from to . The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan but operated from the former Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical Centre, Oxfordshire. The cars were referred to as Super Aguri Hondas, with the team... -Honda |
8 | Holed radiator | 21 | |
| Ret | 14 | Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Olivier Bourdais is a French race car driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the Champ Car World Series, having won four successive championships from 2004 to 2007.... |
Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
7 | Collision damage | 16 | |
| Ret | 6 | Nelson Piquet Jr. |
Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
6 | Collision | 10 | |
| Ret | 20 | Adrian Sutil Adrian Sutil -Biography:Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, a Uruguayan. He has two brothers named Daniel and Raphael. He weighs 165 pounds and is 6 feet tall. A talented pianist, Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002... |
Force India Force India Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
0 | Collision | 20 | |
| Ret | 15 | Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and .... |
Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
0 | Collision | 18 | |
Notes
- 1. – Heikki Kovalainen's accident was caused by a wheel rim failure.
- 2. Last race: Takuma SatoTakuma Satois a Japanese automobile racing driver and the most successful Japanese Formula One driver in history. He is currently racing for KV Racing Technology in IndyCar Series under the Lotus banner.-Junior Years:...
and Anthony DavidsonAnthony DavidsonAnthony Denis Davidson is a British former Formula One racing driver from England, born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. He has raced for Minardi, Super Aguri and been a test and/or reserve driver for the British American Racing, Honda and Brawn GP teams...
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kimi Räikkönen Kimi Räikkönen Kimi Matias Räikkönen , nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish racing driver, who will drive in Formula One for Lotus in . After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship from 2009-2011.Räikkönen entered... |
29 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire... |
20 |
| 3 | Robert Kubica Robert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica is the first Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test driver to race driver during 2006... |
19 |
| 4 | Felipe Massa Felipe Massa Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:... |
18 |
| 5 | Nick Heidfeld Nick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld is a German racing driver.Despite scoring regular podium finishes in and , Heidfeld has yet to win a race since entering Formula One in . This means that amongst the current drivers, he has had the most GP starts without standing at the top spot on the podium... |
16 |
Constructors' Championship standings
| Pos | Constructor | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
47 |
| 2 | BMW Sauber BMW Sauber BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s , before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s... |
35 |
| 3 | McLaren-Mercedes | 34 |
| 4 | Williams WilliamsF1 Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head... -Toyota |
12 |
| 5 | Toyota |
9 |
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.