2008 Turkish Grand Prix

The 2008 Turkish Grand Prix (officially the 2008 Formula 1 Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix ) [ 4 ] was a Formula One motor race held on 11 May 2008 at the Istanbul Racing Circuit , Tuzla , Turkey . The 58-lap race, the fifth of the 2008 Formula One World Championship , was won by Felipe Massa for the Ferrari team from pole position . Lewis Hamilton finished second in a McLaren , with Kimi Räikkönen third in the second Ferrari.

Massa claimed pole, with teammate Räikkönen fourth, the two Ferrari cars sandwiching the McLarens of Heikki Kovalainen and Hamilton. At the first corner Räikkönen clipped Kovalainen's rear tyre and gave him a puncture. The safety car was deployed on the first lap, after a collision, but only remained out for one lap. During the course of the race, Hamilton, intending to make one more pit stop than both Ferrari drivers, was faster than Massa due to carrying a lighter fuel load and overtook him on...

In the week running up to the grand prix, the Super Aguri team had withdrawn from Formula One, due to financial problems, leaving the sport with only ten teams. Massa's victory was his third consecutive pole position and victory in Turkey , having also won the race from pole in 2006 and 2007 . Rubens Barrichello celebrated his 257th Grand Prix start, breaking Riccardo Patrese 's previous record of 256. Due to the race result, Räikkönen's lead in the Drivers' Championship was lowered to seven poi...

The Grand Prix was contested by 20 drivers, in ten teams of two. The teams, also known as " constructors ", were Ferrari , BMW Sauber , Renault , Williams , Red Bull Racing , Toyota , Toro Rosso , Honda , Force India and McLaren . This was two drivers fewer than in previous rounds of the 2008 season , due to the withdrawal of the Super Aguri team from the sport following the previous race. [ 5 ]

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. [ 12 ] Early in the week before the Grand Prix, after team owner Aguri Suzuki revealed the extent of his difficulties, the team's trucks were blocked from entering the paddock by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), Formula One's governing body. This decision was taken by the FIA after being in...

Following the withdrawal of the Super Aguri team's two entries, minor changes were made to the qualifying procedure. [ 27 ] In the first qualifying session, which would run for 20 minutes, the five slowest cars (a reduction from the previous number of six) would be eliminated, leaving 15 drivers to continue into the second session. In the second session, which would last 15 minutes, the five slowest runners (again reduced from six) were to once again be eliminated, leaving the ten fastest driver...

"I am very happy to have taken a third consecutive pole at this circuit: it is really motivating and it would be fantastic to do the same again tomorrow in the race."

At the start, Hamilton immediately overtook Kovalainen to claim second behind Massa. [ 34 ] Räikkönen had a bad start and was squeezed into the first corner by Kovalainen. [ 35 ] The two cars made light contact, with Räikkönen's front wing touching Kovalainen's left rear tyre. This resulted in a puncture for the McLaren driver which forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop on the second lap, which dropped him to 18th and last position. [ 35 ] [ 36 ] Räikkönen damaged his front wing but continu...

"I thought he [Hamilton] was light – He pushed me hard"

Hamilton soon broke away from Massa, lapping over a second quicker than the Ferrari driver. [ 36 ] Further back, Bourdais spun off at turn twelve, with a rear suspension failure that put him out of the race. [ 35 ] [ 36 ] [ 40 ] The top five in the race were now Hamilton, Massa, Räikkönen, Kubica and Heidfeld. [ 36 ] Over the next six laps, Hamilton stretched his lead to over six seconds before pitting on lap 32. [ 35 ] He rejoined the race in third, 2.6 seconds behind second-placed Räikkönen. [...

Eight laps after Hamilton's pit stop, Ferrari called Massa in for his final stop of the afternoon, making Räikkönen the leader of the race once more. [ 36 ] This lead, however, only lasted for a couple of laps as the Finn pitted on lap 43, also making his final stop of the afternoon. [ 36 ] On lap 43, Hamilton led by 14.4 seconds from Massa with Räikkönen a further seven seconds behind. [ 35 ] Two laps later Hamilton was forced to make his third and final pit stop. [ 36 ] The McLaren driver rejo...

Further back in fourth and fifth were the two BMW Saubers of Kubica and Heidfeld and behind them were Alonso, Trulli, Webber, Rosberg and Coulthard, with Kovalainen pursuing closely behind them. [ 36 ] Kovalainen passed Coulthard on lap 48, and then on the next lap passed Rosberg. [ 36 ] However, Rosberg immediately overtook Kovalainen to regain his position, and Kovalainen was forced to pit on lap 50. [ 36 ] After his final pit stop, Kovalainen rejoined the circuit in 13th position. [ 36 ] Feli...

Ron Dennis , McLaren's team principal, commented on Hamilton's drive: "Today we saw a truly phenomenal drive from Lewis [Hamilton], in which he optimised a three-stop strategy that we were forced to adopt as a consequence of concerns we had with his tyres." [ 42 ] Hamilton said that he felt that McLaren had closed the gap on Ferrari, and that he was "very excited" about the next race in Monaco . [ 42 ]

Räikkönen said: "It was a difficult weekend for me but six points are definitely better than nothing. At the start, I was almost alongside Heikki but then he slowed and I had to brake too to avoid a heavy crash. We touched just enough to damage the end plate of the front wing on my car: it was not a very serious problem, but it definitely didn't help my race." [ 42 ] Räikkönen also said that he decided not to change his front wing, which was damaged after his collision with Kovalainen, the proce...

Fisichella, who had collided with Nakajima on the first lap, which caused both drivers to retire, blamed Bourdais: "I made a good start but then under braking Bourdais changed direction twice and I couldn't brake in time and went into the back of the Williams." [ 42 ] Nakajima said that, "I don't know exactly what happened; I just went into the first corner following the guy in front. I didn't change my line and I was suddenly hit from behind." [ 42 ]

Bourdais commented on his retirement: "Something broke at the back of the car... Going into Turn 12, I braked at the usual point and the car went sideways, I felt the right rear corner of the car drop and it spun me round." [ 42 ]

Räikkönen's lead in the Drivers' World Championship was reduced by two points to seven, ahead of Massa and Hamilton, the latter two on 28 points each. Kubica was in fourth, on 24 points, followed by his teammate Heidfeld on 20 points. In the Constructors' Championship, the Ferrari team increased its lead with a total of 66 points, whilst BMW Sauber were second with 44 points. McLaren were third with 42 points, Williams fourth with 13 points, and Red Bull were fifth, on ten. [ 44 ]

40°57′20.5″N 29°24′29.7″E  /  40.955694°N 29.408250°E  / 40.955694; 29.408250