2008 Malaysian Grand Prix

Infobox Grand Prix race report
Type = F1
Country = Malaysia
Grand Prix = Malaysian
date=March 23
Year = 2008
Race_No = 2
Season_No = 18

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Official name = X Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix
Location = Sepang International Circuit
Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia
Course = Permanent racing facility
Course_mi = 3.376
Course_km = 5.543
Distance_laps = 56
Distance_mi = 189.056
Distance_km = 310.408
Weather = Sunny, partly cloudy; Air 30-31°C, Track 39-46°C
Pole_Driver = Felipe Massa
Pole_Team = Ferrari
Pole_Time = 1:35.748
Pole_Country = Brazil
Fast_Driver = Nick Heidfeld
Fast_Team = BMW Sauber
Fast_Time = 1:35.366
Fast_L

Fast_Country = Germany
First_Driver = Kimi Räikkönen
First_Team = Ferrari
First_Country = Finland
Second_Driver = Robert Kubica
Second_Team = BMW Sauber
Second_Country= Poland
Third_Driver = Heikki Kovalainen
Third_Team = McLaren-Mercedes
Third_Country= Finland

The 2008 Malaysian Grand Prix was the second race of the 2008 Formula One season. It was held 21–23 March at Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur.

Report

Practice

David Coulthard's Red Bull suspension was shattered on the curb of turn 12; hence the FIA forced the team to clarify their car design for safety reasons.

Qualifying

ession 1

There were very few surprises in this session, with both the Force Indias and both the Super Aguris failing to progress. Sébastien Bourdais again failed to progress through this first session, whilst Kazuki Nakajima who had already been given a 10-place penalty for this race, also failed to progress through to Q2. The weather was highly unpredictable, Renault thought that rain would arrive after seven minutes, the official source stated rain would arrive within 20 minutes of the start. In the end, no rain arrived. Notably, less than 1 second separated 1st from 16th.

ession 2

A few spots of rain greeted the start of this session, but it was otherwise dry. Both Hondas failed to progress, as did Coulthard, Nelson Piquet Jr., Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg. Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa produced poor first runs, so were forced to use a second set of tyres to ensure their qualification.

ession 3

Again, the rain did not arrive during this session. Massa produced a stunning lap to take the pole by 0.482 seconds ahead of his team-mate. The McLarens took row two, Heikki Kovalainen coming ahead of Hamilton, whose final lap fractionally beat that of Robert Kubica. Kubica was also narrowly beaten by Jarno Trulli. At the very end of the session, Kovalainen and Hamilton (as well as some other cars), slowed down in an attempt to save fuel. The stewards ruled that this impeded the progress of Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso, thus the two McLaren drivers were demoted five places down the grid.

Race

At the start Massa came across the track to prevent Kimi Räikkönen from overtaking him. Hamilton was able to move up to fifth and Mark Webber up to fourth. Also on the first lap, Bourdais spun out of the race and Rosberg crashed into Timo Glock's Toyota, destroying his own front wing in the process.

On lap four Alonso and Heidfeld overtook Coulthard for ninth and eighth respectively. Adrian Sutil was forced to retire two laps later when he ran off the track and onto the grass, with hydraulic problems.

By lap nine Hamilton was within two seconds of Webber and the Ferraris of Massa and Räikkönen had opened up a lead on the rest of the field. Both set new fastest lap times over the next four laps. Webber pitted on lap 16, Massa on lap 17 and Räikkönen on lap 18, coming out ahead of Massa. Hamilton pitted on lap 19 and the team had a problem getting his front right tyre off, forcing him to stop for almost 20 seconds. This meant he came out behind Webber in 11th.

Räikkönen took the lead for the first time when Kubica pitted on lap 21. He would open up a lead of almost over four seconds in the next six laps. Hamilton was up to seventh by lap 26 but was still unable to overtake Webber. Hamilton was within half a second of him by lap 29 but this forced him to brake harder and lose time to the rest of the field.

Massa spun out of the race on lap 31 getting trapped in the gravel. This gave Räikkönen a lead of over 20 seconds from the next driver Kubica. Hamilton finally overtook Webber on lap 40 when he pitted. Vettel's engine failed one lap later and he was forced to retire. Hamilton would stay ahead of Webber after his second pit stop on lap 44. He was now six seconds behind Trulli in fourth and began to close that margin in the closing laps.

Alonso in eighth now began closing in on Webber. Hamilton was within 2 seconds of Trulli with 2 laps to go but was unable to pass him before the end of the race. Räikkönen won the race by over 20 seconds from Kubica who had his best ever finish in second, Kovalainen came third. [cite news|title=Malaysian Grand Prix |publisher=BBC|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7308399.stm|date=2008-03-23|accessdate=2008-03-23]

Classification

Qualifying

;Constructors' Championship standings

Notes

* First Fastest Lap: Nick Heidfeld and BMW Sauber
** This gives Heidfeld a new record in "most races before first fastest lap" with 134, surpassing former record (114) held by Thierry Boutsen.
* Robert Kubica set a new career best by finishing 2nd.
*Lap Leaders: Felipe Massa 16 (1-16), Kimi Räikkönen 32 (17-18, 22-38, 44-56) and Robert Kubica 8 (19-21, 39-43)
* This race marked the most points scored in one race by BMW Sauber, 11 points, breaking the previous record of 10 at the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix

References

External links

*Official Malaysian Grand Prix results [http://www.fia.com/sport/Championships/F1/F1_Classifications/2008/Malaysia/class.html from FiA website] [http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2008/788/ from Formula 1 website]
* [http://www.manipef1.com/results/2008/malaysia.php Detailed Malaysian Grand Prix results]

F1 race report
Name_of_race = Malaysian Grand Prix
Year_of_race = 2008
Previous_race_in_season = 2008 Australian Grand Prix
Next_race_in_season = 2008 Bahrain Grand Prix
Previous_year's_race = 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix
Next_year's_race = 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix