2008 Chinese Grand Prix

The 2008 Chinese Grand Prix (officially the 2008 Formula 1 Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix ) was a Formula One motor race held on 19 October 2008 at the Shanghai International Circuit . It was the 17th and penultimate race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship . Lewis Hamilton for the McLaren team won the 56-lap race from pole position . Ferrari driver Felipe Massa finished second, and Kimi Räikkönen was third in the other Ferrari.

The result extended Ferrari's lead over McLaren in the Constructors' Championship from seven to 11 points. Third-placed in the Drivers' Championship, Robert Kubica 's sixth place at the Grand Prix eliminated his hopes of winning the Championship, and reduced his lead over fourth-placed Räikkönen to six points. Nelson Piquet Jr. scored his last world championship points at this race.

The Grand Prix was contested by 20 drivers, in ten teams of two. [ 3 ] The teams, also known as " constructors ", were Ferrari , McLaren - Mercedes , Renault , Honda , Force India , BMW Sauber , Toyota , Red Bull Racing , Williams and Toro Rosso . [ 3 ] As is normal for a Formula One race, 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. [ 4 ]

We will approach it the same as always. We won't be taking risks, but we will be attacking as much as we can to win the race. If I'm in a position where we are looking to gain good points, and it's an unnecessary risk to make a manoeuvre, then I won't be doing that. It's always important to be fast, but it's not necessarily the fastest car that wins. Being fast is great for positioning, and maybe getting out in front, and then afterwards trying to stay calm. [ 9 ]

With ten points on offer for the winner of the Grand Prix, it was possible that Hamilton would clinch the Championship in Shanghai. [ 9 ] Massa remained confident, saying that the race was just like any other: "You have a pressure but it is a different pressure, but you have always the pressure on your side." [ 10 ]

Renault driver and two-time Championship winner Fernando Alonso created controversy when he said "if I can help, I will help Massa." [ 11 ] Alonso's departure from McLaren after driving for the British team in 2007 had been acrimonious, and Alonso's dislike for the rookie Hamilton was well documented. [ 12 ] Talking about Hamilton's penalty in Japan, Alonso said "I don't know what he did, but it's good he's punished anyway." [ 13 ] Hamilton refused to be drawn into the controversy: "I don't part...

Hamilton clinched his seventh pole position of the season with a time of 1:36.303. [ 22 ] He was joined on the front row of the grid by Räikkönen, who qualified 0.342 seconds behind Hamilton's time. [ 23 ] Massa took third place, needing a good result to retain the possibility of a Championship victory. Alonso qualified in fourth ahead of Kovalainen, who took fifth after struggling for tyre grip during the final session. [ 21 ] [ 24 ] Webber was sixth fastest in the final session, but was demote...

Webber was able to climb from 16th on the grid to take 12th behind Glock, and passed the Toyota on the second lap. [ 27 ] Kubica, further up the field, improved on his grid position, moving from 11th to take eighth behind Vettel. [ 28 ] However, Hamilton was the quickest on track, as he set new fastest laps on laps three, six and eight, to extend his lead over Räikkönen to more than four seconds. [ 27 ] This trend continued until lap 10 when Räikkönen fought back and closed the gap. [ 27 ] Howev...

The Red Bull of Mark Webber was the first to pit, on lap 12. [ 30 ] Webber had passed Barrichello and Piquet in separate manoeuvres to take ninth, but his pit stop dropped him back down to 18th position. [ 25 ] Massa and Alonso came in to pit on lap 14, from third and fourth. [ 30 ] Kovalainen took the lead of the Grand Prix when Hamilton and Räikkönen paused their battle to take harder tyres and fuel on lap 15. [ 25 ] By the time Kovalainen and Heidfeld had pitted on laps 17 and 18, [ 30 ] Hami...

Kovalainen suffered a puncture on lap 35. [ 27 ] The McLaren limped around the track back to the pit lane on the disintegrating tyre, rejoining in 17th on a replacement. [ 28 ] [ 31 ] Alonso, Massa, Hamilton and Räikkönen all pitted for the final time over laps 36 to 38. [ 30 ] Coming out of the second round of pit stops, Hamilton led Räikkönen by 13 seconds, Räikkönen more than 2.5 seconds ahead of Massa. [ 27 ] The gap between the Ferraris began to close, and Massa eased past Räikkönen on the ...

Hamilton took his fifth win of the season when he crossed the line at the end of the 56th lap, almost 15 seconds ahead of the second-placed Massa. [ 3 ] Räikkönen took third ahead of Alonso. Heidfeld managed to jump from ninth on the grid to finish in fifth place, just ahead of his teammate Kubica, who climbed from eleventh on the grid. [ 3 ] A one-stop pit strategy worked well for Glock as he finished seventh; Piquet took eighth. [ 32 ] Vettel, Coulthard, Barrichello and Nakajima took the next ...

Well, it was quite straightforward actually. I managed to get everything right on the formation lap. I was perfectly in my position and it was a great start, it was really probably one of the best we've had. I felt it was one of the best we've had this year which was needed. I got into turn one quite clear, I took it easy the first few corners then I started to bridge the gap. Fortunately we were just very, very consistent and I think every lap was faster and very, very few errors throughout the...

The top three finishers appeared on the podium and in the subsequent press conference , where Hamilton praised his team: "they have done a phenomenal job and the car is really a dream to drive." [ 33 ] Looking ahead to the next race in Brazil , where Hamilton would enter with a seven-point advantage, the Championship leader seemed confident: "It will be tough and [Ferrari] will be pushing us hard but hopefully as a team we can pull through." [ 33 ] Massa admitted that McLaren had the stronger ca...

For us we were completely driving on the limit trying to reduce the gap but it was not possible. I was trying to push as Kimi was trying to push to get closer to Lewis but it was not possible. So today unfortunately Lewis had the better car for the whole weekend. [ 33 ]

Asked about his pass on Räikkönen in the closing laps, Massa said that "it was the best time for me in the race, I was quite strong and then I caught him and I passed him." [ 33 ] Since the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix , where Barrichello ceded the lead to Michael Schumacher , team orders have been banned in Formula One. Räikkönen appeared unbothered when asked about Massa's pass: "I mean we know what we want as a team and that's what we did it. It is normal in these situations." [ 33 ] No investiga...

Kovalainen's car had apparently been fitted with mismatched tyres at the front of the car during the first stint , meaning that the tyres spun in the opposite direction to which they were designed, causing his understeer . [ 34 ] At his first pit stop his team, not realising the cause of the problem, had adjusted his front wing to compensate for the understeer and replaced the tyres correctly. [ 35 ] This caused further handling problems, and eventually led to his retirement. [ 35 ]

31°20′20″N 121°13′11″E  /  31.33889°N 121.21972°E  / 31.33889; 121.21972