The ninth round of the 2008 Formula One season headed to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. Prior to this race, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa led the Drivers’ Championship by five points ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen. Home hero Lewis Hamilton was 10 points behind the Brazilian and eventual main title rival come the season finale in Brazil.
Ferrari were the team to beat going into the race, winning five out of the first eight races of 2008 compared to the McLaren of Hamilton winning just two. BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica stormed to his first and only Formula One win at the previous race in Canada.
It was Hamilton’s teammate, Heikki Kovalainen who secured an unlikely pole position. The Finn was half a second clear of Red Bull’s Mark Webber – who scored the team’s best ever qualifying point to date. Hamilton was only fourth after making a mistake on his final run of Q3 whilst championship leader Massa was a lowly ninth after a slow tyre change in the final session left him unable to record a second timed lap. Kubica was also out of position after suffering a technical issue and would start the race in 10th.
Race day was treacherous as showers poured down all morning. All drivers started the race on the intermediate tyres. Williams’ Nico Rosberg opted to take his car out of parc ferme conditions and make changes to his setup for the wet conditions thus starting from the pitlane.
Home hero Hamilton had a fantastic start from fourth on the grid to pass both Webber and Raikkonen. He had a go at teammate Kovalainen into Copse corner but the latter hung onto the race lead. Webber spun on the exit of Chapel as did Massa into Bridge – the first of five spins during the race. David Coulthard and Sebastian Vettel were the next drivers to drop out of the race, both spinning off and ending in a gravel trap after a minor collision.
Hamilton began to pressurise teammate Kovalainen and eventually made the move on lap five going into Stowe. The gap between the duo quickly went up to six seconds before Kovalainen lost control of his McLaren handing second place to Raikkonen.
The 2007 World Champion managed to close the gap down to a single second as the top two pitted for fresh tyres. Hamilton opted for another set of intermediates whilst Ferrari gambled and kept Raikkonen on the same set of intermediate tyres hoping it would dry out. Unfortunately for Ferrari the rain came down again which played into Hamilton’s hands.
Raikkonen’s worn tyres meant he fell behind both Nick Heidfeld and Kovalainen. On the same lap, Force India’s Giancarlo Fischella was the next driver to retire from the race. The Finn was passed by both Kubica and Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr. before pitting on lap 30 and dropping to 11th.
As the latter stages of the race approached, Honda’s Rubens Barrichello opted for the wet weather Bridgestone tyres which proved to be a masterstroke as he was up to nine seconds faster than any other driver on the circuit. The former Ferrari man quickly passed Kovalainen and Fernando Alonso for fourth.
As Hamilton continued to dominate at the front of the field, the battle for the podium continued to hot up. Barrichello passed Toyota’s Jarno Trulli for third and quickly made light work of Heidfeld. Unfortunately for Barrichello, Honda had suffered a fuel problem during the stops meaning he had to re-overtake Trulli for third.
With the top three positions of Hamilton, Heidfeld and Barrichello set in stone, attention quickly turned to the battle for fourth place. Raikkonen passed Alonso as did Kovalainen, who recovered from a second spin.
Hamilton crossed the line and took the chequered flag by 68 seconds from Nick Heidfeld in second. Barrichello scored Honda’s best result of the season in third ahead of Raikkonen and Kovalainen. Alonso, Trulli and Nakajima rounded out the points paying positions.
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