2008 Formula One World Championship

The 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 62nd season of Formula One motor racing, recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) – the governing body of motorsport – as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The championship was contested over eighteen races commencing in Australia on 16 March and ending in Brazil on 2 November. The 2008 season saw the debut of the Singapore Grand Prix , which was held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit , in Mari...

Lewis Hamilton won the Drivers' title by a single point – by overtaking Toyota's Timo Glock on the final corner of the final lap of the final Grand Prix of the season to claim the required 5th-place finish to win the championship – from Brazilian Felipe Massa , who had finished the race in first place; his team and family already celebrating the championship when the final overtake occurred. Massa's teammate, the reigning World Champion Kimi Räikkönen , was ranked third, with two wins. Scuderia ...

Eleven teams competed in the championship, although Super Aguri withdrew on 6 May due to financial troubles, having completed four races. New technical rules for 2008 included the banning of traction control after it was re-introduced in 2001 , at the Spanish Grand Prix . Fernando Alonso won the first World Championship race held in Singapore; however, only after teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed to cause a Safety Car period which helped Alonso's strategy. When Piquet admitted this...

This was the last season for the Honda team before they withdrew from Formula One later in December due to the financial difficulties. Ross Brawn then bought the team, and renamed it to Brawn GP in February 2009 using the Mercedes-Benz engines. Honda returned as an engine supplier from 2015 to 2021. This was also the last Formula One season to race with grooved tyres, used since 1998 , before slick tyres returned to Formula One in 2009 . 2008 was the last season to feature 2001 runner up David C...

2008 was the first year in the history of Formula One in which all teams used the same two drivers throughout the season, and the only year in which two Finnish drivers won races, Räikkönen in Malaysia and Spain and Heikki Kovalainen in Hungary . As of 2024, this season marks the most recent World Drivers' Championship win by the driver of a McLaren (at that time powered by Mercedes-Benz engines), although Hamilton later won six more drivers' championships with the Mercedes team . 2008 also stan...

There were a total of seven teams signed up to compete in the championship through an agreement with Formula One Management , with the other four major manufacturers in the Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association (GPMA) having signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix . All teams in both groups have two spots each on the 2008 grid. The following teams and drivers competed in the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship . [ 3 ] Teams competed with tyres supplied by Bridgest...

On 14 February 2006 the FIA president Max Mosley announced that all teams interested in competing in the 2008 World Championship would have a seven-day window during which they would have to submit an application to compete. [ 36 ] All eleven current teams applied, as well as several others. On 28 April 2006 the FIA announced that all of the current teams' applications for the 2008 season were granted, along with a new team Prodrive , fronted by the ex- BAR and - Benetton principal David Richard...

2005 and 2006 World Champion Fernando Alonso left McLaren after a single season to rejoin Renault . He was replaced at McLaren by Heikki Kovalainen , who had replaced Alonso at Renault the previous season. Giancarlo Fisichella , Renault's other driver from 2007, moved to the newly renamed Force India team, in place of erstwhile Spyker driver Sakon Yamamoto , who became Renault's test development driver. Fisichella's place at Renault was taken by the team's test driver Nelson Piquet Jr. (son of t...

After an unsuccessful test for Force India in December 2007, Ralf Schumacher left Toyota to drive for Mücke Motorsport in the DTM series . 2007 GP2 champion Timo Glock , who had also been the test driver for BMW Sauber , returned to a Formula One race seat in place of Schumacher. Christian Klien , previously the test driver for Honda , and the Estonian driver Marko Asmer took up test driver roles at BMW Sauber.

Sébastien Bourdais , who won his fourth consecutive Champ Car title in 2007 , joined Toro Rosso in 2008, replacing Vitantonio Liuzzi , who moved to Force India as their test driver.

The FIA World Council approved the 2008 schedule on 24 October 2007. Singapore was Formula One's first ever night race. [ 47 ]

The first multi-team test session started in Jerez on 14 January 2008. Ferrari , McLaren and Toyota all tested their 2008 cars. Williams tested a modified version of the FW29 whilst Renault and Red Bull tested their 2007 entries. Honda , Toro Rosso , Super Aguri and Force India also attended. BMW Sauber was not in attendance as they were launching the F1.08 . [ 65 ] Testing then moved to Valencia on 22 January. Renault and Williams were the only teams on the track for the first day of testing. T...

On 12 February testing returned to Jerez. Red Bull and Williams were the only teams in action on the first day. [ 70 ] The second day of testing saw all teams but Ferrari and Toyota (who were still in Bahrain) attending. After postponing their SA08 launch and cancelling testing at Valencia, Super Aguri turned up to test their SA07B interim car for the first time. [ 71 ]

Testing moved to Barcelona on 19 February. The first day of tests got underway in rain with Williams, Red Bull, Renault and Toyota present. Nico Rosberg topped the time sheets for Williams. BMW were instead testing on their own in Jerez. [ 72 ] Super Aguri did not turn up despite promising a Q&A with the media. They blamed circumstances beyond their control. On the second day Ferrari turned up and topped the time sheets with Felipe Massa on another wet track. McLaren joined on the final day and ...

Hamilton took pole and his fifth career victory at the first race in Australia . BMW Sauber 's Nick Heidfeld finished second while Williams 's Nico Rosberg sealed his first podium finish. The race saw only seven drivers finish the race, reduced to six after Honda 's Rubens Barrichello was disqualified for exiting the pits under a red light. Despite an engine problem, Toro Rosso debutant Sébastien Bourdais completed over 90% of the race distance, earning him points in seventh.

A grid penalty for impeding drivers and a pit stop mishap left Hamilton in fifth place at Malaysia , while Räikkönen took his 16th career victory after he qualified in second position. BMW Sauber 's Robert Kubica finished second for the first time with McLaren 's Heikki Kovalainen third.

Hamilton qualified third at Bahrain despite a crash, with Kubica taking his first pole position. Massa won the race with teammate Räikkönen in second. Kubica made it onto the podium, while Hamilton had a bad race, finishing 13th. He was back in the points at Barcelona , while Räikkönen took Ferrari's third consecutive victory, Massa making it another 1–2.

Massa took pole and won for the third successive Istanbul race, Hamilton splitting the Ferraris on the podium. At Monaco , Ferrari locked out the front row with Massa on pole, but on a bad day for Ferrari, with Räikkönen ruining what could have been Sutil's chance to score, Hamilton won the race despite a mid-race barrier scrape causing him a puncture. Kubica finished second and Massa was third.

Hamilton was on pole position at Montreal for the first time since the beginning of the season, a drought of five races, however a pit lane mishap involving himself and Räikkönen eliminated both drivers from the race. Kubica (who also got caught up in the mess but made it through safely) won for the first time with teammate Heidfeld second.

In a scandal that became known as " Crashgate " in the media, during the 2009 season around the time of the Belgium Grand Prix, allegations by former Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. about his crash in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix led to charges of race-fixing against Renault and the departure of team boss Flavio Briatore and engineering director Pat Symonds.

In March 2023, in an interview with German website F1-Insider , former Formula One Group chief executive Bernie Ecclestone was quoted saying that both he and then-FIA president Max Mosley were made aware of Renault's deliberate manipulation of the Singapore Grand Prix "during the 2008 season". He added: "We had enough information in time to investigate the matter. According to the statutes, we should have cancelled the race in Singapore under these conditions. That means it would never have happ...

In March 2024, Massa filed a lawsuit against Formula One, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone in the London High Court. He is seeking in excess of $80 million in damages and a declaration from the FIA that he would have won the championship had the governing body not breached its regulations. [ 76 ]

Points are awarded to drivers and constructors as follows: [ 78 ]