2008 Spanish Grand Prix

Infobox Grand Prix race report
Type = F1
Country = Spain
Grand Prix = Spanish

---

|220px
Caption = Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona
date=April 27
year=2008
Official name = L Gran Premio de España Telefónica
Race_No = 4
Season_No = 18
location=Circuit de Catalunya
Barcelona, Spain
Course = Permanent racing facility
Course_mi = 2.892
Course_km = 4.655
Distance_laps = 66
Distance_mi = 190.872
Distance_km = 307.230
Weather = Sunny; Air 22-24°C, Track 34-41°C
Pole_Driver = Kimi Räikkönen
Pole_Team = Ferrari
Pole_Time = 1:21.813
Pole_Country = Finland
Fast_Driver = Kimi Räikkönen
Fast_Team = Ferrari
Fast_Time = 1:21.670
Fast_L

Fast_Country = Finland
First_Driver = Kimi Räikkönen
First_Team = Ferrari
First_Country = Finland
Second_Driver = Felipe Massa
Second_Team = Ferrari
Second_Country = Brazil
Third_Driver = Lewis Hamilton
Third_Team = McLaren-Mercedes
Third_Country = United KingdomThe 2008 Gran Premio de España Telefónica was a Formula One motor race and the fourth round of the 2008 Formula One season. It was held on the weekend of 25–27 April at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. At this race many of the teams introduced new aerodynamic packages, largely due to the three week break from the last race in Bahrain and the beginning of Formula One's "European Season".

Finn Kimi Räikkönen won the race from pole position from teammate Felipe Massa and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. The race, however, was remembered for Heikki Kovalainen's severe accident at turn nine.

Report

Practice

The two Ferrari drivers set the first and second-fastest lap times in the first practice session on Friday, with Kimi Räikkönen ahead of Felipe Massa. Lewis Hamilton was third for McLaren. [cite news|title=Ferrari dominate practice 1 - Spain|publisher=autosport.com|url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66827|date=2008-04-25|accessdate=2008-04-29] In the second session, Räikkönen again set the fastest time, but was followed on this occasion by the two Renault drivers, with Nelson Piquet ahead of Fernando Alonso. [cite news|title=Raikkonen stays on top in practice 2|publisher=autosport.com|url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66839|date=2008-04-25|accessdate=2008-04-29] In the third session on Saturday morning, Nick Heidfeld was fastest for BMW Sauber, ahead of David Coulthard and Alonso. [cite news|title=Heidfeld leads practice 3 - Spain |publisher=autosport.com|url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66884|date=2008-04-26|accessdate=2008-04-29]

Qualifying

ession 1

In Q1 the two Force Indias of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil and the two Super Aguris of Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson went out, and they were joined by David Coulthard and Sebastian Vettel. At the front, Kimi Räikkönen was fastest, half a second ahead of Jarno Trulli but behind Trulli, things were very close with less than two tenths of a second separating third-placed Lewis Hamilton and thirteenth-placed Rubens Barrichello.

ession 2

In Q2, the two Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button together with the Williams' of Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg were eliminated along with Sébastien Bourdais and Timo Glock. At the front, Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica ran two hot laps and were first and second, separated by 13 thousandths of a second. Two tenths behind them, the action was even closer than before with just a mere four hundredths of a second separating third-placed Kimi Räikkönen and seventh-placed Lewis Hamilton.

ession 3

No one took to the track for the first two minutes of Q3, but then the cars came pouring in on the regular hard compound tyres for the first round of flying laps. The two McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen set a benchmark time but Felipe Massa then lapped over three tenths quicker than them. Kimi Räikkönen dropped to fourth. Everyone then pitted to change to the "option" soft tyres and set out again. Hamilton and Kovalainen were quick in the first two sectors, but both dropped time in the third and stayed second and third, albeit with improved times behind Massa. Massa should have improved his time but a mistake cost him over two tenths of a second and so his time did not change. Robert Kubica was next to the line and was only a mere 7 thousands of a second behind to take second, and then the home favourite Fernando Alonso set the crowd alight with his fastest lap to beat Massa. However, it lasted only for a few seconds as Räikkönen came through to beat him by 0.091 seconds to take his first pole of the season.

Race

Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton pulled away the fastest at the start, with Massa overtaking Alonso and Hamilton also making his way up the field after passing Kubica. Adrian Sutil and Sebastian Vettel collided at turn four and both had to retire, the safety car was then brought out for three laps. Nelson Piquet Jr. went off the track on lap five and dropped from 10th to 18th, and on the next lap he collided with Sebastien Bourdais while attempting to overtake him. Piquet retired on the spot, while Bourdais went into the pits and had to retire due to the suspension being damaged. On the next lap, Anthony Davidson had to retire after stones, brought on to the track after Piquet's trip through the gravel, got caught in his radiator.

On lap 21 Heikki Kovalainen suffered a rapid tyre deflation and crashed head-on into a tyre wall at auto mph|140. He was taken to the on track medical centre, and was later airlifted to the local hospital where he stayed overnight for observation.cite web|url=http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/4/7695.html|publisher=Formula1.com|title=Kovalainen safe and well after high-speed accident in Spain|accessdate=2008-04-27] Mark Webber later criticized the size of the run off area at turn nine, "The first thing to say is that the run-off on that corner is too tight and we need to have a look at it because any driver that has an error there is going to have a big crash." the Australian commented "If Heikki's accident had happened two seconds later he would have been fine and controlled the car, but it probably happened on the worst section of that whole track".cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7371456.stm |title= Mark Webber column (Spanish GP Edition) |accessdate=2008-04-29 |last=Webber |first=Mark |coauthors=Andrew Benson |date=2008-04-28 |publisher=BBC Sport] The safety car was brought out for a second time following this accident. Kovalainen's team, McLaren, released a statement saying he had a mild concussion and was temporarily unconscious due to the accident, [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=212&objectid=10506618 Motorsport: Kovalainen hospitalised after crash] ] but the team hopes he will be able to race at the next Grand Prix. [ [http://www.mclaren.com/f1season/2008/spain/index.php 2008 SPANISH GRAND PRIX RACE REPORT] ] Nick Heidfeld was about to make a pitstop when the safety car was deployed, and he had to pit while the pitlane was closed to avoid running out of fuel. He received a ten second stop-go penalty and rejoined at the back of the field, effectively ending his chances of points.

After pitting on lap 25, Rubens Barrichello collided with Giancarlo Fisichella while leaving the pit, breaking the Honda's front wing. Barrichello toured around the circuit with the wing stuck under his car, then pitted again to replace it before eventually retiring due to the damage to his bodywork. On the same lap Fernando Alonso's engine failed and caught fire, forcing him out. On lap 41 Nico Rosberg also suffered engine failure on the main straight and retired. On lap 53 Jarno Trulli was mistakenly called into the pits by his team, costing him two places. Due to the safety car repeatedly coming out, there was a five-second difference between the first four cars.

At the front, Räikkönen won the race three seconds ahead of teammate Massa to make it a second Ferrari one–two in two successive races. Hamilton finished a further second back from Massa to complete the podium with Kubica a further second behind. Webber finished fifth, Jenson Button sixth and Nakajima seventh, while Trulli took the final points scoring position. A further five cars were classified, four of them one lap down on the race winner.

Classification

Qualifying

Race

Notes

* Lap leaders: Kimi Räikkönen 62 (1–20, 25–66), Lewis Hamilton 1 (21) and Nick Heidfeld 3 (22–24).
* First Spanish Grand Prix retirement for Fernando Alonso.
* This was the final race for the Super Aguri F1 team.
* First points for Honda Racing F1 in 2008.
* BMW Sauber took the lead in the constructors standings

References

External links

* [http://www.manipef1.com/results/2008/spain.php Detailed Spanish Grand Prix results]
* [http://www.fia.com/sport/Championships/F1/F1_Classifications/2008/Spain/class.html Official FIA race results]

F1_race_report
Name_of_race=Spanish Grand Prix
Year_of_race=2008
Previous_race_in_season=2008 Bahrain Grand Prix
Next_race_in_season=2008 Turkish Grand Prix
Previous_year's_race=2007 Spanish Grand Prix
Next_year's_race=2009 Spanish Grand Prix