2008 Bahrain Grand Prix

26°1′57″N 50°30′38″E  /  26.03250°N 50.51056°E  / 26.03250; 50.51056

The 2008 Bahrain Grand Prix (formally the 2008 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix ) was a Formula One motor race held on 6 April 2008 at the Bahrain International Circuit , in Sakhir , Bahrain . It was the third race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship . Felipe Massa for the Ferrari team won the 57-lap race. Kimi Räikkönen was second in the other Ferrari, and BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica was third.

Kubica's strong finish promoted BMW Sauber to the lead in the Constructors' Championship , after BMW driver Nick Heidfeld finished fourth. Ferrari and McLaren trailed, one and two points behind, respectively. Räikkönen took the lead in the Drivers' Championship, with 19 points, three points ahead of Heidfeld and five ahead of Hamilton, Kubica and Kovalainen, with 15 races remaining in the season.

The Grand Prix was contested by 22 drivers, in 11 teams of two. [ 4 ] The teams, also known as " constructors ", were Ferrari , McLaren - Mercedes , Renault , Honda , Force India , BMW Sauber , Toyota , Red Bull Racing , Williams , Toro Rosso and Super Aguri . [ 4 ] 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. [ 5 ]

Ferrari dominated the previous round in Malaysia , where Felipe Massa had claimed pole position , and led his teammate Räikkönen in second place through the opening stages of the race, before spinning off and retiring midway through. [ 7 ] Räikkönen went on to win the race, and expressed his optimism about Bahrain: "I have finished third in three successive Grands Prix in Bahrain. Time and again something has gone wrong. Sakhir is one of those circuits where I really want to win. Finally." [ 8 ]

A week before the start of the Grand Prix weekend, the News of the World alleged that Max Mosley , the president of Formula One's governing body , the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), had engaged in sexual acts with five prostitutes . [ 12 ] While Mosley denied the allegations, he cancelled his scheduled appearance at the Bahrain Grand Prix. [ 13 ] Several teams condemned Mosley's alleged actions and asked for his resignation, and while for a time the controversy threatened to ov...

I am very happy. I missed the chance to take pole position in Australia, but this time it worked out well ... We knew before the season that the car was good due to the results of the computer simulation and the wind tunnel work. Finally it has paid off that we never gave up working hard. I want to thank the entire team who have worked so hard over the last months. We will now study the data and prepare for tomorrow. A long race lies ahead of us.

Kubica clinched the first pole position of his career with a time of 1:33.096. [ 22 ] Massa qualified less than 0.03 seconds behind the BMW and joined Kubica on the front row of the grid . [ 22 ] Hamilton took third place, using his team's spare chassis ; Räikkönen was next quickest, and despite being critical of his car's set-up was confident in its racing ability. [ 21 ] [ 23 ] Kovalainen would line up fifth on the grid alongside Heidfeld, who had trouble maximising performance from his tyres....

By lap 10, Massa had opened his lead over Räikkönen to 4.4 seconds, ahead of Kubica, Heidfeld, Kovalainen and Trulli. [ 26 ] [ 29 ] Kubica was the first of the frontrunners to pit, on lap 17. [ 30 ] Räikkönen and Trulli followed on lap 20; Massa pitted from the lead one lap later. [ 30 ] Following the first round of pit stops, the gap between the Ferraris was 5.4 seconds, however by lap 31 Räikkönen had closed to within four seconds of his teammate. [ 26 ] Massa held a 3.6 second lead over Räikk...

Coulthard and Button collided on lap 18 when Button attempted to pass the Red Bull on the inside at turn eight; the Honda lost its front wing and retired a lap later after two pit stops. [ 25 ] Hamilton continued his climb back through the field; he moved from 18th, passing Piquet, Davidson, Sutil and Bourdais in separate manoeuvres, to sit in 14th by the time he pitted on lap 31. [ 29 ] [ 30 ] Piquet retired on lap 42 with transmission failure, requiring a gearbox change before the next race. [...

Massa took his first win of the season when he crossed the line at the end of the 57th lap, 3.3 seconds ahead of the second-placed Räikkönen. [ 4 ] Kubica took third, ahead of his teammate Heidfeld, and Kovalainen, who set the fastest lap of the race on lap 49, with a time of 1:33.193, despite being slower than the frontrunners for much of the race. [ 4 ] [ 31 ] Trulli, Webber, Glock and Alonso rounded out the top ten, after Glock's Toyota held off a quick Alonso late in the race. [ 4 ] [ 31 ] B...

It didn't change anything starting second because we had a good a start. I think Robert [Kubica] didn't have a good start and I passed him. Then the race was pretty difficult in the beginning because there was a lot of oil on the track. We almost went off, me and Robert, and it was pretty difficult. During the race the car was just very good. I didn't push completely to the limit because I saw the gap increasing and then Kimi [Räikkönen] was behind but I could manage to keep the gap to him and t...

The top three finishers appeared on the podium and in the subsequent press conference , where Massa appeared relieved: "For sure the race was pretty difficult because I didn't want to make any mistakes. I didn't push as much either, just tried to bring the car home and just controlling the pace as well." [ 32 ] Massa said that he struggled with grip early, owing to oil in the middle sector of the course. [ 32 ] Räikkönen's second place promoted him to the lead in the Drivers' Championship, and h...

The whole weekend has been pretty difficult, one of those things when we cannot really get the car right ... We are leading the Championship which is the main thing and we know that we have the speed once we get everything right. The race was quite difficult but anyhow I am happy with second. [ 32 ]

Kubica said that his poor start was due to wheelspin off the line, and the presence of oil on the track impeded the performance of his car, leading to Räikkönen's pass: "But anyway I think it was a good result: third and fourth for the team and leading the Constructors' Championship, so it was good weekend." [ 32 ]

Hamilton accepted responsibility for his near stall on the grid: "I hadn't hit the switch early enough and therefore we were not in the launch map and went straight into anti-stall, and when everyone else was in their launch mode, I wasn't." [ 27 ] Renault dismissed suggestions that Alonso had brake tested Hamilton in the incident that led to the McLaren's wing breaking off. [ 33 ] Pat Symonds , Renault's head of engineering, said his team's telemetry indicated Alonso was on full throttle down t...