2008 Spanish Grand Prix

The 2008 Spanish Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Telefónica 2008 ) [ 4 ] was a Formula One motor race held on 27 April 2008 at the Circuit de Catalunya , Montmeló , Spain . It was the fourth race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship . Kimi Räikkönen for the Ferrari team won the 66-lap race starting from pole position . Felipe Massa finished second in the other Ferrari, and Lewis Hamilton was third in a McLaren .

The Grand Prix was contested by 22 drivers, in 11 teams of two. [ 5 ] 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 . [ 5 ] 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. [ 6 ]

The real Ferrari is not the one we've seen at the Australian GP. The team reacted immediately and has shown the great potential of our package, which is extremely competitive. Having said that, we have to be aware. We're approaching the Spanish GP with a maximum effort, keeping our feet on the ground: we were not depressed after the first race and we are not euphoric after Bahrain. We need absolute motivation and we are aware of the fact that our competitors are getting better. [ 10 ]

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." [ 11 ] 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. [ 12 ]

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. [ 15 ] 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 . [ 15 ] During the course of the even...

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. [ 16 ] 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. [ 16 ] 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 team...

I've been chasing pole for a while now, but for one reason or another, it always escaped me. But today I got it. There is no better place to start so I will try and make the most of that tomorrow. It will be important to get off the line well, getting through the first corner without any problems. Then it will be down to exploiting the car's potential and that is definitely good. The race is what matters and tomorrow I want to bring home a nice result.

Räikkönen clinched his first pole position of the season with a time of 1:21.813. [ 24 ] Alonso would start alongside him on the grid, amid suspicions the Spaniard was fuelled light for the race. [ 25 ] Massa, Kubica and Hamilton qualified next quickest; just 0.2 seconds separated Hamilton's time from that of Räikkönen. [ 24 ] Kovalainen would line up on the third row of the grid next to his teammate; Webber and Trulli would start from the fourth row. [ 26 ] Heidfeld was disappointed with his ni...

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. [ 29 ] The Renault retired from the race immediately; Bourdais struggled back to the pit lane before Toro Rosso decided to retire his car. [ 29 ] The resulting debris ended Davidson's race when he retired on lap eight after sustaining radiator damage. [ 32 ] On lap 22 Kovalainen's front left tyre suffer...

Räikkönen, Massa, Hamilton, Kubica and Alonso, having already made their pit stops, trailed the safety car until it peeled off on lap 29. [ 31 ] 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. [ 27 ] Rosberg's engine also suffered a failure, and the Williams retired on lap 42 from seventh place. [ 31 ] Four laps later, Räikkönen set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:21.670, as Mas...

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. [ 5 ] Hamilton took third, ahead of Kubica, Webber and Button, who scored Honda's first points for the season. [ 32 ] 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 s...

If we had wanted we could have gone a bit faster but there is no point to push it when you don't need to. I think it was closer than we expected but saying that there were many safety cars, so without them maybe it would have been looking a little bit different. It was a good day – everything was brilliant. I am happy that Heikki [Kovalainen] seems to be okay after his accident. I cannot ask anything more as the guys did perfect work.

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." [ 37 ]

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." [ 37 ] 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." [ 37 ]

Despite his accident, Kovalainen suffered no physical injuries, except for minor concussion . [ 33 ] 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. [ 33 ] 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. [ 39 ] Kovala...

It was a serious accident and I managed to walk away. I was a bit lucky, but the safety standards the FIA has been pushing worked very well, ... The chassis, the impact, all the barriers took the impact well, the FIA medical team plus the marshals and the team took the job very well and did a fantastic job to get me out of there quickly in a short period of time ... I was able to make a recovery without any injuries. I think it is something that we must still keep working on, but the work paid o...

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. [ 7 ] Kubica and Massa were one and two points behind Hamilton, respectively; Heidfeld was fifth on 16 points, after failing to score. [ 7 ] 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. [ 7 ]

41°34′9.9″N 2°15′26.9″E  /  41.569417°N 2.257472°E  / 41.569417; 2.257472