2008 British Grand Prix

The 2008 British Grand Prix (officially the 2008 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix ) [ 1 ] [ 5 ] was a Formula One motor race held on 6 July 2008 at the Silverstone Circuit , Silverstone , England. It was the ninth race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship . The race was held over 60 laps with a practice and qualifying round preceding the race.

Heikki Kovalainen started from pole position alongside Mark Webber in second and Kimi Räikkönen in third on the grid . On the first corner, Lewis Hamilton rose from fourth on the grid to second overtaking Webber and Räikkönen. Hamilton shadowed Kovalainen for the early stages of the race, until he took the lead on lap five. The race was won by Hamilton, racing for McLaren Mercedes ahead of Nick Heidfeld for BMW Sauber in second and Rubens Barrichello third in a Honda . Räikkönen made the fastest...

This was also McLaren’s last win at Silverstone until Lando Norris in the 2025 British Grand Prix .

The 2008 British Grand Prix was held on 6 July 2008 at the Silverstone Circuit , Silverstone , England. The grand prix was contested by 20 drivers, in 10 teams of two. [ 4 ] The teams, also known as " constructors ", were Scuderia Ferrari , McLaren Mercedes , Renault F1 , Honda Racing F1 , Force India -Ferrari, BMW Sauber , Toyota F1 , Red Bull Racing -Renault, WilliamsF1 -Toyota and Scuderia Toro Rosso -Ferrari. [ 4 ]

There's something about racing in your home country that affects you. The constant support of the crowd gives you a boost throughout the whole weekend. It's not something you experience anywhere else, but it does make you that bit more determined to succeed.

Despite wins for Hamilton at the Australian and Monaco Grand Prix , [ 15 ] [ 16 ] he was facing pressure approaching Silverstone. He had fallen from first to fourth in the Drivers' Championship after failing to score in the previous two races. [ 16 ] At the Canadian Grand Prix, he had retired after making contact with a stationary Raikkonen who was waiting at a red light in the pit lane. [ 13 ] This led to a ten-place grid penalty for the following race at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours where...

Three days of testing took place at the Silverstone circuit, from 25 to 27 June. Massa set the fastest time on the first day with a 1:20.188, 0.3 faster than Heikki Kovalainen , but was unable to escape the track after suffering a mechanical failure with 30 minutes to go which forced the session to be red-flagged . [ 19 ] Kovalainen improved on the second day to go fastest with a 1:20.015. [ 20 ] Strong winds caused Giancarlo Fisichella to crash heavily at Becketts corner; he was uninjured, alth...

In the second session, Kovalainen was fastest, over half a second ahead of Red Bull driver Mark Webber , Hamilton, and Webber's teammate David Coulthard. Massa missed the first half of the session as his car was still being repaired, and was eighth-fastest. Both Toyota drivers had problems: Timo Glock stopped on the track with a clutch problem; and Jarno Trulli crashed heavily at Stowe after a problem with his rear wing, although he was not hurt. [ 28 ] [ 29 ] Alonso set the fastest time in the ...

We've been going really well all weekend after finding some good pace during testing last week. I've spent a lot of time racing in the UK so it feels great to have scored my first ever Formula One pole position at Silverstone. The car feels just fantastic at the moment; I was able to steadily improve throughout all three qualifying session and I'm confident our pace is going to be strong tomorrow.

The qualifying session on Saturday afternoon was split into three rounds. The first lasted 20 minutes and eliminated the cars which finished the session 16th or lower. The second lasted 15 minutes and eliminated cars which finished in positions 11 to 15. The final round of qualifying determined the order of the top ten drivers. Cars which competed in the final session of qualifying were not allowed to refuel before the race, and so they carried more fuel than in the previous sessions. [ 26 ]

Kovalainen took his first Formula One pole position with a time of 1:21.049, half a second faster than anyone else. Webber would start alongside him on the front row , the Red Bull team's best qualifying result to date, and Räikkönen would start from third. [ 32 ] Hamilton qualified fourth, opting for a more conservative approach to his second flying lap after he had pushed too hard on his first run and slid into the gravel. [ 32 ] Nick Heidfeld was fifth quickest for BMW Sauber, ahead of Alonso...

Kubica did not set a time in the final session due to a technical problem with his car, meaning he started from tenth; the first race all season he had qualified behind teammate Heidfeld. [ 34 ] Webber's teammate David Coulthard qualified eleventh for his final British Grand Prix, narrowly missing out on the last part of qualifying, and blamed problems with his car earlier in the day which had reduced his practice time. [ 35 ] Sébastien Bourdais was thirteenth splitting the two Toyota cars of Gl...

There was persistent rain in the morning, leaving standing water on the track, although it had abated by the time the race began. [ 37 ] The track temperature was 16 °C (61 °F) and the air temperature was 15 °C (59 °F). [ 38 ] All drivers chose to start on the intermediate wet tyres. [ 39 ] Rosberg started from the pit lane after a number of set-up changes. [ 40 ]

The front three drivers (Kovalainen, Webber and Räikkönen) all struggled for grip off the start, allowing Hamilton to edge ahead into the first corner. [ 41 ] Kovalainen who had the better line, however, retook the lead after brushing tyres with Hamilton, who tucked in behind his teammate. [ 37 ] A number of drivers struggled with the standing water on the first lap: Webber spun coming onto the Hangar straight, falling from fourth to last place; Massa spun going into Bridge, where he was passed ...

Alonso showed good early pace, passing Piquet and Heidfeld on laps two and three respectively, and setting the fastest time of any driver on laps four and five. [ 40 ] Massa spun for the second time during his third lap, dropping him to the back of the field. [ 37 ] Hamilton shadowed Kovalainen closely for several laps, and passed him going into Stowe on lap five. Hamilton quickly extended his lead over Kovalainen, and there was already a six-second gap by the tenth lap when Kovalainen spun and ...

McLaren gave Hamilton a new set of intermediate wet tyres; in contrast, Ferrari gambled that the track would continue to dry and refuelled Räikkönen without changing his tyres. Despite his pit stop being longer by half a second, Hamilton exited just in front of Räikkönen (Heidfeld briefly took the lead until his pitstop the following lap). [ 41 ] [ 43 ] McLaren were vindicated in their decision almost immediately: the rain returned and Räikkönen was unable to find grip, falling back from Hamilto...

Kubica overtook Kovalainen for third place, shortly before Kovalainen pitted for the second time. Despite the rain getting heavier he opted for a new set of intermediate tyres. Both Kubica and Glock left the track and rejoined; however Glock lost a place to his teammate Trulli. On lap 37, both Hondas elected to change onto the extreme wet-weather tyres, Button queuing behind his teammate in the pitlane while waiting to be serviced. Nelson Piquet Jr. spun off the track and beached his car in a gr...

Massa, the last car on the road still running in 13th position, spun for the fifth time during the race. He continued without any damage, and made a pit stop the following lap for new tyres and fuel. The final few laps saw a battle for fourth place, as first Räikkönen and then Kovalainen passed Alonso. [ 45 ] Hamilton crossed the finish line on lap 60 to win the Grand Prix by 68 seconds from Nick Heidfeld in second. The margin of victory was the largest since the 1995 Australian Grand Prix . [ 4...

The top three finishers appeared on the podium to receive trophies and took part in the subsequent press conference . Hamilton commented on the difficult conditions, comparing them to the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix , and the limited visibility: "I couldn't see through my visor, so through turn one and two I had to clean visor, put it up and back down again. I had to do that on every lap especially when it was rained. I couldn't see anything. It was so extreme, so tough, a real mental challenge." [...

Heidfeld said it was vital to make the correct tyre decisions, and also spoke about the challenging weather: "The most difficult moments in the race were when cars were overtaking me who had been lapped, but were just on better tyres for the conditions at that time. There was so much water and I couldn't see where it was lying." [ 47 ] Barrichello, who took his first podium since the 2005 United States Grand Prix , described it as a "perfect race". [ 48 ] He said that after he switched to extrem...

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