2008 Bahrain Grand Prix
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Race details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race 3 of 18 in the 2008 Formula One season. | ||
 The Bahrain Circuit in Sakhir |
||
| Date | April 6, 2008 | |
| Official name | V Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix | |
| Location | Bahrain International Circuit Sakhir, Bahrain |
|
| Course | Permanent racing facility 3.37 mi / 5.412 km |
|
| Distance | 57 laps, 191.530 mi / 308.238 km | |
| Weather | Sunny, widespread dust | |
| Pole position | ||
| Driver |  Robert Kubica |
BMW Sauber |
| Time | 1:33.096 | |
| Fastest lap | ||
| Driver |  Heikki Kovalainen |
McLaren-Mercedes |
| Time | 1:33.193 on lap 49 | |
| Podium | ||
| First |  Felipe Massa |
Ferrari |
| Second | Kimi Raikkonen |
Ferrari |
| Third | Robert Kubica |
BMW Sauber |
The 2008 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race and was the third round of the 2008 Formula One season. It took place on the weekend of the 4–6 April at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain.
Going into the race, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton led the Championship by 3 points from current World Champion Kimi Räikkönen of Ferrari and Nick Heidfeld of BMW. McLaren also led the Constructors' Championship by 5 points from BMW and 13 points from World Champions Ferrari.
Contents |
[edit] Report
[edit] Practice
Practice was marked by a big accident by Lewis Hamilton in Friday's second session. The McLaren driver went too wide over the exit kerb at Turn 7 and spun into the left side wall, destroying one side of the car.
 |
Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] Qualifying
[edit] Session 1
Sato ran wide at the final turn and spun his car close to the pit entrance, damaging the rear of his car. The session was red-flagged to drag his damaged car in at the 16th minute. Of the results, Davidson and Sato in their Super Aguri cars collected their two back-end slots on the grid, both Force Indias, Coulthard's Red Bull and Vettel's Toro Rosso are among the ones that didn't make it into Q2.
[edit] Session 2
Massa in managed to push almost 0.8 seconds in a light Ferrari with fresh tires, making a time of 1:31.188. Both the Red Bull and Toro Rosso failed to progress pass this session. Alonso produced a late fast lap to place himself into the top-10, and so is Button in his sister Honda. Webber, Barrichello, Glock, Piquet Jr., Bourdais and Nakajima were the ones that were knocked out after this session, and took up the grid 11 to 16 respectively.
[edit] Session 3
Kubica showed the raw pace his BMW is capable of, and snatched the pole position with a stunning time of 1:33.096. Massa was not able to break the time and ranked second, with Hamilton separating the Ferrari duo in his McLaren, in third. Räikkönen shared the second row with Hamilton in fourth. Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Trulli, Rosberg, Button and Alonso completed the top-10 line up.
[edit] Race
At the start both Massa and Kubica started well yet Massa managed to pass Kubica's BMW. Lewis Hamilton got away very slowly, dropping right into the midfield. Kovalainen jumped this chance and advanced into fourth as the pack traveled into the first corner. Further back at the grid, Vettel's car was damaged at turn four, with its engine blown at turn five. Hamilton completed the first lap in ninth, behind Alonso in his Renault. Button was hit from behind and punctured his rear tire. He pitted before rejoining the race
On lap two Hamilton crashed into the back of Alonso's Renault, destroying his own front wing and a chance of winning points. Piquet also spun in his Renault, after complaining for gearbox trouble during the formation lap. Coulthard had also pitted, having a puncture as well.
Lap three saw Trulli, Rosberg and Webber battling for the 6th, 7th and 8th places respectively, though none were able to pass the other during the first stage of the race. At the front, Räikkönen passed Kubica for the second place and putting two Ferrari cars ahead of the rest. At the end of the lap saw Heidfeld in fourth place, having overtaken Kovalainen at turn 10 despite making a mistake.
On lap 18, Kubica entered the pits for refueling. Rosberg soon followed suit in his Williams. At the back of the pack Button tried to pass Coulthard from the inside of turn 6 and it went wrong. Button was not able to respond with Coulthard blocking the inside for passing and crashed into the Red Bull, damaging his front wing and his suspension. Eventually Button retired on lap 20.
Later on, Piquet's Renault developed enough gearbox trouble and retired on lap 41. In the front, Webber passed Rosberg for 7th, and started chasing Trulli's Toyota hard. Despite the Australian spending the entire latter third of the race chasing Trulli, a pass was never materialized. Eventually Webber settled for 7th.
At the end, Massa won his first race of the season, leading his team-mate Räikkönen by 3.3 seconds and producing a Ferrari one-two finish. Kubica claimed the final podium of third and Heidfeld finished fourth in the sister BMW. Kovalainen was the only McLaren driver to finish in points, in fifth. Trulli, Webber and Rosberg completed the final points-paying finishes. Timo Glock was finally able to finish the race, despite being classified 9th and out of points.
[edit] Post-Race
In his Middle East debut, R&B singer Akon performed for ticketholders on the starting grid after the race.
[edit] Classification
[edit] Qualifying
| Pos | No | Name | Constructor | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Robert Kubica |
BMW Sauber | 1:32.893 | 1:31.745 | 1:33.096 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | Felipe Massa |
Ferrari | 1:31.937 | 1:31.188 | 1:33.123 | 2 |
| 3 | 22 |  Lewis Hamilton |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:32.750 | 1:31.922 | 1:33.292 | 3 |
| 4 | 1 | Kimi Räikkönen |
Ferrari | 1:32.652 | 1:31.933 | 1:33.418 | 4 |
| 5 | 23 | Heikki Kovalainen |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:33.057 | 1:31.718 | 1:33.488 | 5 |
| 6 | 3 |  Nick Heidfeld |
BMW Sauber | 1:33.137 | 1:31.909 | 1:33.737 | 6 |
| 7 | 11 |  Jarno Trulli |
Toyota | 1:32.493 | 1:32.159 | 1:33.994 | 7 |
| 8 | 7 | Nico Rosberg |
Williams-Toyota | 1:32.903 | 1:32.185 | 1:34.015 | 8 |
| 9 | 16 | Jenson Button |
Honda | 1:32.793 | 1:32.362 | 1:35.057 | 9 |
| 10 | 5 |  Fernando Alonso |
Renault | 1:32.947 | 1:32.345 | 1:35.115 | 10 |
| 11 | 10 |  Mark Webber |
Red Bull-Renault | 1:33.194 | 1:32.371 | 11 | |
| 12 | 17 | Rubens Barrichello |
Honda | 1:32.944 | 1:32.508 | 12 | |
| 13 | 12 | Timo Glock |
Toyota | 1:32.800 | 1:32.528 | 13 | |
| 14 | 6 | Nelson Piquet Jr. |
Renault | 1:32.975 | 1:32.790 | 14 | |
| 15 | 14 |  Sébastien Bourdais |
Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:33.415 | 1:32.915 | 15 | |
| 16 | 8 |  Kazuki Nakajima |
Williams-Toyota | 1:33.386 | 1:32.943 | 16 | |
| 17 | 9 | David Coulthard |
Red Bull-Renault | 1:33.433 | 17 | ||
| 18 | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella |
Force India-Ferrari | 1:33.501 | 18 | ||
| 19 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel |
Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:34.127 | 19 | ||
| 20 | 20 | Adrian Sutil |
Force India-Ferrari | 1:33.562 | 20 | ||
| 21 | 19 | Anthony Davidson |
Super Aguri-Honda | 1:34.140 | 21 | ||
| 22 | 18 | Takuma Sato |
Super Aguri-Honda | 1:35.725 | 22 |
[edit] Race
[edit] Notes
- First Pole position: Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber and Poland.
- Lap leaders: Felipe Massa 51 (1–39, 46–57), Robert Kubica 2 (40–41) and Nick Heidfeld 4 (42–45).
- This race marked the end for McLaren’s run of consecutive podiums, a total of 19 starting at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix and ending at the 2008 Malaysian Grand Prix.
- This race marked the first time that Felipe Massa has won a race that he didn't start from pole. This was also Massa's second Bahrain victory making it back to back in 07 and 08.
- There was more controversy between former McLaren teammates Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, when the former, trying to make up after a bad start, lost his front wing after hitting the back of the latter (now driving for Renault) while trying to pass him. Early suggestions that Alonso may have brake-tested Hamilton were refuted by Autosport.com which said it had seen Renault telemetry data which "shows that Alonso was flat on the throttle from the exit, did not touch the brake and gained speed in a totally predictable manner."[1] Formula1.com has confirmed that the collision was caused by a broken front wing on Hamilton's car.[2]
- For the first time in its history, BMW Sauber reached the first position of the Constructor Championship.
- Even though he's never actually won the race Kimi Raikkonen has the most podiums at Bahrain with 4 out of 5. Fernando Alonso,Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher are second with 2 podiums each despite the fact that they have all won the race especially Alonso and Massa who have won it twice
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Bahrain Grand Prix results from FIA website from Formula 1 website
- Detailed Bahrain Grand Prix results
| Previous race: 2008 Malaysian Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 2008 season |
Next race: 2008 Spanish Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix |
Bahrain Grand Prix | Next race: 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
