2008 Japanese Grand Prix

2008 Japanese Grand Prix
Race 16 of 18 in the 2008 Formula One World Championship
Fuji Speedway
Race details
Date	12 October 2008
Official name	XXXIV Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location	Fuji Speedway, Oyama, Sunto District, Shizuoka, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.563 km (2.835 miles)
Distance	67 laps, 305.721 km (189.945 miles)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:18.404
Fastest lap
Driver	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
Time	1:18:426 on lap 55
Podium
First	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Second	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber
Third	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari

The 2008 Japanese Grand Prix was the sixteenth race of the 2008 Formula One season. It was held on 12 October at the recently revised Fuji Speedway, Oyama, Shizuoka and won for the second time by Fernando Alonso of Renault F1.

Background

The Grand Prix saw the debut of Bridgestone's Green Striped grooved tyres as part of the FIA's Make Cars Green campaign, an initiative demonstrating that Formula One’s teams and partners are backing the Make Cars Green campaign’s goal to reduce the impact of motoring on the environment.

Report

Practice

The first practice session saw McLaren's Lewis Hamilton take the fastest lap with a 1:18.91, beating Brazilian title hopeful Felipe Massa by 0.153s. 3rd was Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen who finished 2nd in 2007 to get his first ever podium. Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top 4, the Ferrari driver looking to keep his title hopes alive by hopefully winning the race and hoping Massa and Hamilton did not score points. The top 8 was finished by Fernando Alonso, Nelson Piquet Jr., Sebastian Vettel, and Polish driver Robert Kubica. The 2nd practice threw up a surprise, with Toyota's Timo Glock grabbing the fastest lap, ahead of Alonso.

Qualifying

In qualifying Lewis Hamilton did well, taking pole position. There was no such luck for Felipe Massa, who could only manage 5th. Fernando Alonso, who suprised everybody with his win at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, qualified well too, ahead of Massa in 4th. Kimi Räikkönen looked to have pole after a flyer at the end of Q3 but had to settle for second when Hamilton bettered his lap. Hamilton's McLaren team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen, got 3rd place. Robert Kubica, Jarno Trulli, Timo Glock, who was fastest in the 2nd practice session on Friday, Sebastian Vettel, and Sébastien Bourdais rounded out the top 10.

Race

The race was notable for incidents involving both the championship contenders, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa. At the start of the race, Kimi Raikkonen made a good start from P2 getting ahead of pole-sitter Hamilton. Hamilton, however, dived down the inside before the first corner, outbraking himself and running wide. This forced the drivers behind him to also go off track, including the cars of Raikonnen and Heiki Kovalainen, for which Hamilton was given a drive-through penalty.

The second incident happened soon after on the second lap when Massa ran wide leading into the chicane at turn 10. This allowed Hamilton to get alongside, but Massa rode the kerb and came back in at the next corner pushing the Mclaren into a spin in the process. Massa was given a drive-through penalty for this move. Hamilton, who was in 6th place behind Massa, dropped down to last place and managed to finish the race in 12th place.

The third notable incident happened on lap 50 between Massa and Sébastien Bourdais of Toro Rosso. Massa had worked himself into the top 8 after having dropped down to 13th as a result of the drive-through and the first pit-stop. Bordais, who was leaving the pitlane after having made his final stop, collided with Massa into the first corner. Massa was tipped into a spin, but rejoined the track and finished 8th. Bourdais finished the race in 6th place, but had 25 seconds added to his overall time as penalty for the incident, dropping him down to 10th place.

The race was won by Fernando Alonso for Renault, with Robert Kubica and Raikonnen in 2nd and 3rd. Kubica and Alonso had both benefited from the first-lap incident, though it was Kubica who was ahead of Alonso before the first pit-stops. The positions were reversed when Alonso made a later but shorter pitstop. He then set a series of fastest laps on a clear track with a lighter fuel-load, building up enough of a lead to eventually win the race. Kubica came under pressure from Raikonnen in the final few laps but managed to hold on for 2nd. Earlier, Kovalainen retired from the race with a hydraulics problem while running third on lap 19.

Massa picked up two points (7th place after Bourdais' penalty was imposed), trailing Hamilton by five points in the drivers' championship with two races to go. Ferrari, meanwhile, took 8 points from the race and went back atop the constructors' standings, ahead of Mclaren by 7 points.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Name	Constructor	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Grid
1	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:18.071	1:17.462	1:18.404	1
2	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:18.160	1:17.733	1:18.644	2
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:18.220	1:17.360	1:18.821	3
4	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:18.290	1:17.871	1:18.852	4
5	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:18.110	1:17.287	1:18.874	5
6	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:18.684	1:17.931	1:18.979	6
7	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:18.501	1:17.541	1:19.026	7
8	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:17.945	1:17.670	1:19.118	8
9	15	Sebastian Vettel	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:18.559	1:17.714	1:19.638	9
10	14	Sébastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:18.593	1:18.102	1:20.167	10
11	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:18.303	1:18.187		11
12	6	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Renault	1:18.300	1:18.274		12
13	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:18.372	1:18.354		13
14	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:18.640	1:18.594		14
15	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:18.740	1:18.672		15
16	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:18.835			16
17	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:18.882			17
18	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:19.100			18
19	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:19.163			19
20	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:19.910			20

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	67	1:30:21.892	4	10
2	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	67	+5.283	6	8
3	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	67	+6.400	2	6
4	6	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Renault	67	+20.570	12	5
5	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	67	+23.767	7	4
6	15	Sebastian Vettel	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	67	+39.207	9	3
7	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	67	+46.158	5	2
8	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	67	+50.811	13	1
9	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	67	+54.120	16
10	14	Sébastien Bourdais1	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	67	+59.085	10
11	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	67	+1:02.096	15
12	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	67	+1:18.900	1
13	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	66	+1 Lap	17
14	16	Jenson Button	Honda	66	+1 Lap	18
15	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	66	+1 Lap	14
Ret	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	21	Gearbox	20
Ret	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	16	Hydraulics	3
Ret	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	8	Tyre	19
Ret	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	6	Damage	8
Ret	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	0	Accident	11

• Template:Fnb Bourdais given a 25-second penalty for colliding with Massa.

External links

• Detailed Japanese Grand Prix results

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