2008 Japanese Grand Prix

2008 Japanese Grand Prix
Previous←	2008 Singapore Grand Prix
Round	16 of 2008
Next→	2008 Chinese Grand Prix
Fuji Speedway
Race Details
Date	12 October, 2008
Race Number	801
Official Name	2008 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix XXXIV フジテレビ日本グランプリ
Location	Fuji Speedway Oyama, Sunto District, Shizuoka, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.563 km (2.835 mi)
Distance	67 laps, 305.721 km (189.966 mi)
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
Second	Robert Kubica
Third	Kimi Räikkönen
Lap Leaders

The 2008 Japanese Grand Prix, formally known as the 2008 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix (XXXIV フジテレビ日本グランプリ in Japanese), was the sixteenth race of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Fuji Speedway in Sunto District, Japan, on 12 October 2008. The race would see Fernando Alonso sweep to victory for the second race in succession, after title protagonists Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa clashed.

Championship leader Hamilton was the man to beat in qualifying, the Brit sweeping to pole position ahead of Kimi Räikkönen of Ferrari. Heikki Kovalainen and Alonso would share the second row, leaving Massa down in fifth ahead of Robert Kubica.

The start of the race saw Räikkönen get the jump on Hamilton, easing ahead of the #22 McLaren-Mercedes on the run to the first corner. Hamilton tucked in behind the Finn before sending a lunge inside the #1 Ferrari, which forced both wide and into the path of Kovalainen.

Kubica hence emerged from the first corner in the lead ahead of Alonso, while further down the field a series of collisions saw Giancarlo Fisichella smack into the back of Rubens Barrichello, while David Coulthard hit both Sébastien Bourdais and Nelson Piquet, Jr. Hamilton, meanwhile, would rejoin in sixth behind Massa, with Räikkönen on his tail, with Hamilton placed under investigation for his antics at turn one.

A lap later however and Massa was the man under scrutiny for a mistake at the turn ten chicane saw the Brazilian let Hamilton through, before smacking into the McLaren mid-corner. Hamilton was left to limp back to the pits for a new set of tyres, while Massa dropped to eighth before being slapped with a drive-through penalty. Hamilton was given the same penalty for his turn one incident.

Hamilton would serve his penalty instantly having climbed up to fifteenth, while Massa first took a pitstop before serving his punishment, dumping him down to fourteenth. Out front, meanwhile, Kubica would lead through until he made his stop on lap seventeen, joined by Räikkönen in the pitlane, while Alonso stayed out a lap longer and took on less fuel to grab the de facto lead.

Once those on longer first stints pitted the order read as Alonso leading from Kubica and Räikkönen, with the rest of the field spreading out as Massa and Hamilton inched back towards the top ten. Yet, there would be no major changes tot he order in the middle stint, with Alonso pitting and rejoining ahead of Kubica, who would himself retain second from Räikkönen.

Massa's challenge would be damaged during the second pit-phase, for the Brazilian collided with Bourdais as the Frenchman exited the pits sending the Brazilian into a spin, recovering to eighth, while Bourdais was slapped with a post-race time penalty. Hamilton, meanwhile, would fail to make an impact with the Brit carrying a fair amount of damage, and would never threaten the top ten.

Out front, meanwhile, Alonso held a commanding lead through to the chequered flag, securing his second straight victory. Behind, Kubica fended off a challenge from Räikkönen to secure second, while the Finn just kept Piquet at bay to retain third and complete the podium. They were followed by Jarno Trulli, Bourdais, Sebastian Vettel and Massa, although once Bourdais served his penalty Mark Webber would be promoted into eighth.

Background

Lewis Hamilton managed to increase his Championship lead as a result of the mid-race chaos in the Singapore Grand Prix, leaving the city-state seven points clear of his closest challenger. Indeed, Felipe Massa had lost ground in the title hunt after his team's pit-lane mistakes, although he was still a safety thirteen point clear of third placed Robert Kubica. Behind, Kimi Räikkönen was running out of time to make a title bid in fourth, while Nick Heidfeld had retained his top five status.

There was a change in the Constructors Championship as McLaren-Mercedes hit the top of the title hunt, leaving Singapore with 135 points. With Ferrari failing to score the British squad had established a one point lead over the Scuderia, with those two still the main protagonists for the title. BMW Sauber were still in contention in third but were fifteen points off the lead, while Renault had moved into fourth ahead of Toyota as a result of Fernando Alonso's controversial triumph.

Entry list

The full entry list for the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
1	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F2008	Ferrari	056 2008 2.4 V8	B
2	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F2008	Ferrari	056 2008 2.4 V8	B
3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	F1.08	BMW	P86/8 2.4 V8	B
4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	F1.08	BMW	P86/8 2.4 V8	B
5	Fernando Alonso	ING Renault F1 Team	Renault	R28	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
6	Nelson Piquet, Jr.	ING Renault F1 Team	Renault	R28	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
7	Nico Rosberg	AT&T Williams	Williams	FW30	Toyota	RVX-08 2.4 V8	B
8	Kazuki Nakajima	AT&T Williams	Williams	FW30	Toyota	RVX-08 2.4 V8	B
9	David Coulthard	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB4	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
10	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB4	Renault	RS27 2.4 V8	B
11	Jarno Trulli	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF108	Toyota	RVX-08 2.4 V8	B
12	Timo Glock	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF108	Toyota	RVX-08 2.4 V8	B
14	Sébastien Bourdais	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR3	Ferrari	056 2007 2.4 V8	B
15	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR3	Ferrari	056 2007 2.4 V8	B
16	Jenson Button	Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	RA108	Honda	RA808E 2.4 V8	B
17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	RA108	Honda	RA808E 2.4 V8	B
20	Adrian Sutil	Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM01	Ferrari	056 2007 2.4 V8	B
21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM01	Ferrari	056 2007 2.4 V8	B
22	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-23	Mercedes	FO 108V 2.4 V8	B
23	Heikki Kovalainen	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-23	Mercedes	FO 108V 2.4 V8	B
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes		2	1:18.071		3	1:17.462		1	1:18.404	1
2	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari		4	1:18.160		7	1:17.733		2	1:18.644	2
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes		5	1:18.220		2	1:17.360		3	1:18.821	3
4	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault		6	1:18.290		8	1:17.871		4	1:18.852	4
5	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari		3	1:18.110		1	1:17.287		5	1:18.874	5
6	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber		14	1:18.684		9	1:17.931		6	1:18.979	6
7	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota		10	1:18.501		4	1:17.541		7	1:19.026	7
8	12	Timo Glock	Toyota		1	1:17.945		5	1:17.670		8	1:19.118	8
9	15	Sebastian Vettel	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		11	1:18.559		6	1:17.714		9	1:19.638	9
10	14	Sébastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		12	1:18.593		10	1:18.102		10	1:20.167	10
11	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault		8	1:18.303		11	1:18.187				11
12	6	Nelson Piquet, Jr.	Renault		7	1:18.300		12	1:18.274				12
13	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault		9	1:18.372		13	1:18.354				13
14	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota		13	1:18.640		14	1:18.594				14
15	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota		15	1:18.740		15	1:18.672				15
16	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber		16	1:18.835							16
17	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda		17	1:18.882							17
18	16	Jenson Button	Honda		18	1:19.100							18
19	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari		19	1:19.163							19
20	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari		20	1:19.910							20
Source:

• ^T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car to set their best time in that session.
• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Lewis Hamilton	2
	______________	Kimi Räikkönen
Row 2	3	______________
	Heikki Kovalainen	4
	______________	Fernando Alonso
Row 3	5	______________
	Felipe Massa	6
	______________	Robert Kubica
Row 4	7	______________
	Jarno Trulli	8
	______________	Timo Glock
Row 5	9	______________
	Sebastian Vettel	10
	______________	Sébastien Bourdais
Row 6	11	______________
	David Coulthard	12
	______________	Nelson Piquet, Jr.
Row 7	13	______________
	Mark Webber	14
	______________	Kazuki Nakajima
Row 8	15	______________
	Nico Rosberg	16
	______________	Nick Heidfeld
Row 9	17	______________
	Rubens Barrichello	18
	______________	Jenson Button
Row 10	19	______________
	Adrian Sutil	20
	______________	Giancarlo Fisichella

Race

Results

The full results for the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix are outlined below:

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	+5.283s	6	8
3	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	67	+6.400s	2	6
4	6	Nelson Piquet, Jr.	Renault	67	+20.570s	12	5
5	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	67	+23.767s	7	4
6	15	Sebastian Vettel	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	67	+39.207s	9	3
7	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	67	+46.158s	5	2
8	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	67	+50.811s	13	1
9	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	67	+54.120s	16
10*	14	Sébastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	67	+59.085s	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	Engine	3
Ret	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	8	Puncture	19
Ret	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	6	Damage	8
Ret	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	0	Accident	11
Source:

• ^T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car.
• * Bourdais was handed a 25 second time penalty for causing a collision.

Milestones

• 200th Grand Prix entry for Jarno Trulli.
• Lewis Hamilton claimed the 140th pole position for McLaren as a constructor.
• Fernando Alonso secured his 21st victory.
• Renault claimed their 35th win as a constructor.
  • 115th win for Renault as an engine supplier.
• Felipe Massa recorded his tenth career fastest lap.
• Nelson Piquet, Jr's last points.

Standings

Lewis Hamilton saw his Championship lead cut by two points as a result of the Japanese Grand Prix, and hence left the Fuji Speedway with a five point advantage. Felipe Massa had hence closed in on the Brit at the head of the field, and was one of only two drivers who could deny Hamilton the crown. Indeed, Robert Kubica still entertained hopes of becoming the 2008 World Champion, although he would have to outscore Hamilton by three points in China just to stay in the hunt.

In the Constructors Championship Ferrari had moved back to the top of the pack, largely due to the fact that McLaren-Mercedes had failed to score. Indeed, the Brit squad had gone from holding a one point lead to trailing the Scuderia by seven points, with those two still the main protagonists with two rounds to go. BMW Sauber were still in the hunt in third, fourteen off the lead, but had long since acknowledged that their focus was on the 2009 season.

World Championship for Drivers Pos. Driver Pts. +/- 1 Lewis Hamilton 84 — 2 Felipe Massa 79 — 3 Robert Kubica 72 — 4 Kimi Räikkönen 63 — 5 Nick Heidfeld 56 — 6 Heikki Kovalainen 51 — 7 Fernando Alonso 48 — 8 Sebastian Vettel 30 — 9 Jarno Trulli 30 — 10 Mark Webber 21 ▲1 11 Timo Glock 20 ▼1 12 Nelson Piquet, Jr. 18 ▲1 13 Nico Rosberg 17 ▼1 14 Rubens Barrichello 11 — 15 Kazuki Nakajima 9 — 16 David Coulthard 8 — 17 Sébastien Bourdais 4 — 18 Jenson Button 3 —

World Championship for Constructors Pos. Team Pts. +/- 1 Ferrari 142 ▲1 2 McLaren-Mercedes 135 ▼1 3 BMW Sauber 128 — 4 Renault 66 — 5 Toyota 50 — 6 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 34 — 7 Red Bull-Renault 29 — 8 Williams-Toyota 26 — 9 Honda 14 —

Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

References

Images and Videos:

• Morio, 'File:Kazuki Nakajima 2008 Japan free practice.jpg', wikimedia.commons.org, (WikiMedia: Commons, 10/10/2008), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kazuki_Nakajima_2008_Japan_free_practice.jpg, (Accessed 19/03/2020)
• Morio, 'File:Sebastien Bourdais and Felipe Massa 2008 Japan.jpg', commons.wikimedia.org, (WikiMedia: Commons, 12/10/2008), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sebastien_Bourdais_and_Felipe_Massa_2008_Japan.jpg, (Accessed 19/03/2020)
• Morio, 'File:Kimi Raikkonen and Nelsinho Piquet 2008 Japan.jpg', wikimedia.commons.org, (WikiMedia: Commons, 12/10/2008), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kimi_Raikkonen_and_Nelsinho_Piquet_2008_Japan.jpg, (Accessed 19/03/2020)

References:

v·d·e

Nominate this page for Featured Article