2008 Spanish Grand Prix - Race Report

Kimi Raikkonen took an almost effortless victory in Barcelona to solidify his lead of the drivers' world championship. Ferrari took maximum points as Felipe Massa came home second ahead of title rival Lewis Hamilton. As usual, it was a relatively processional race. However, it was punctuated by two safety car periods, one of which was for a serious accident involving McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen.

The weekend started in familiar fashion - both Ferraris topped the timesheet in P1, with Raikkonen edging out his team mate by just 0.050 seconds. They were well clear of the third fastest man Hamilton by over half a second. The real interest story, though, was the Renaults. They had shown some significant improvements during the recent test session in Barcelona, and they (and home favourite Fernando Alonso) had a lot to prove. They were 6th and 7th fastest in P1, the team mates setting almost identical times. P2 saw Raikkonen at the top of the timesheet yet again, but this time it was the two Renaults 2nd and third fastest, with Piquet the fastest of the two team mates by just 0.013 seconds (and Piquet was only 0.084 s slower than Raikkonen). The pace of the Renaults was certainly impressive, but the fuel loads they were running were unknown. In contrast, the McLarens had a woeful session, and ended up mired down in 11th (Hamilton) and 16th (Kovalainen). Indeed, Kovalainen would complete only 8 laps due to a technical failure that forced him to pull off track. In P3, Nick Heidfeld was the man on top, demonstrating the ever present threat that BMW pose. David Coulthard was a somewhat surprising second fastest, although he was probably concentrating on his Q1 and Q2 pace whereas the other drivers were concentrating on their Q3 pace. Alonso was again third fastest; Hamilton and Kovalainen were 11th and 15th respectively; Massa and Raikkonen were 9th and 13th.

So came qualifying, and the buzz going into the session was the pace of the Renaults - could they pull off something spectacular? Q1 saw the elimination of the usual suspects, but a surprise was David Coulthard - he could manage no better than 17th, and would be eliminated early on. The other drivers eliminated were Vettel, Fisichella, Sutil, Davidson, and Sato. Meanwhile, Raikkonen was easily the fastest man on track, with Trulli second fastest and Alonso third - it looked like the pace of the Renaults was genuine. In Q2 it was Felipe Massa's turn to be fastest, just pipping Robert Kubica. In the heat of the competition, the Renaults looked less impressive, but nevertheless they both made it through to Q3 - Piquet squeaked through in 8th place. The eliminees were Barrichello, Nakajima, Button, Glock, Rosberg, and Bourdais. In the end it was a disappointing performance for the Hondas - much had been expected of their new aero package, but it seemed like one-lap pace was still eluding them. So it came down to the Q3 shootout. Felipe Massa put in a solid performance early on, but could not better his time on his second run. However, Fernando Alonso put in a stunning lap to take provisional pole. He was to be disappointed though - Kimi Raikkonen pulled a superb lap out of his hat to take pole position by a tenth of a second, with Massa in third, Kubica fourth, Hamilton fifth, Kovalainen 6th, Webber 7th, followed by Trulli, Heidfeld, and Piquet. The performance of the McLarens looked poor, but there was doubt about the fuel loads they were running.

On race day, the buzz was about Fernando Alonso - what fuel strategy was he on? Had he done a low fuel run in Q3 just to please the crowd, or was the pace of the Renault genuine? We almost didn't find out - on the warm up lap Fernando was so aggressive warming his rear tyres that he got sideways at the final corner, ran onto the grass and nearly hit the pit wall! He recovered to take his grid slot. All of the front runners started on the softer Option tyre, and when the lights went out, Felipe Massa got a run on Alonso into the first corner to take second place. Further back, Lewis Hamilton had a great start, and muscled his way into fourth place by the first corner. There was action further down the grid as well. Into turn 4 (Repsol), David Coulthard took an optimistic lunge down the inside of Adrian Sutil. The two collided, but looked like they could continue. However, Sebastian Vettel was left with nowhere to go, and jabbed right into the front of Sutil's car. This put both of them out of the race - Vettel's miserable 2008 season continues - and, due to the awkward position of the cars, the safety car was deployed.

On lap 3 the safety car peeled off, and the race was underway again. Kimi Raikkonen quickly took control of the race, and extended his lead from team mate Massa. Behind Massa, Alonso was actually lapping a little quicker (having dropped back a little bit at the restart, possibly to give himself some clean air to run in). It seemed obvious, though, that Alonso was on a much lighter fuel load and was possibly 3-stopping. More drama was provided by Renault team mate Nelsinho Piquet, as he took a trip across the gravel trap at turn Seat (turn 5). Two laps later he would eliminate himself from the competition altogether. After his off track excursion, he was running behind Sebastien Bourdais. On the run down to turn 10 (La Caixa), Piquet attempted a last second move down the inside of the Frenchman. Bourdais turned in as normal and the two collided - Piquet's race was done. Bourdais limped back to the pits for repairs, but the damage to his left-front suspension was too much to repair practically, and he too retired. Bourdais would later exclaim that he simply didn't see the Renault - a problem that Red Bull stablemate David Coulthard had in Melbourne, and blamed the poor position of the mirrors on his car.

Up at the front, the leaders were trading fastest sector times, with first Raikkonen and then Massa setting the pace. The field was beginning to spread out as the first round of pit stops approached. On lap 17, Fernando Alonso pitted - he was on a light fuel load. However, he took on a large amount of fuel in his stop (enough to take him to lap 44) and would actually be two-stopping. He remained on the Option tyres. On lap 20, Felipe Massa pitted. in the end, he had only three laps more fuel on board than Alonso. This was a lot less than many people had predicted, and it looked like the pace of the Renaults was indeed genuine. At the end of the lap, race leader Raikkonen pitted, and a lap later Hamilton and Kubica pitted. They all took on fuel that would put them on a two-stop strategy, and they all remained on the Option tyres.

On lap 22, it looked like Kovalainen was due to make his pit stop. However he would retire from the race before he could make it back to the pits. At the 150 mph Campsa (turn 9) corner, his car speared off the track and buried itself in the tyre wall. Replays showed that his left-front tyre catastrophically deflated as he turned in to the corner - possibly caused by stones or debris becoming lodged between the brake caliper and the wheel rim. His car skipped over the gravel trap and slammed almost head on into the tyres at unabated speed. The car was buried deep in the tyre wall, and the marshalls struggled to free the car. When they did so, they found that Kovalainen had been knocked unconcious, and called for the medical vehicle, which arrived promptly. The race was brought under control by the safety car and thankfully, a few laps later, Kovalainen was extricated from the car and was able to give a thumbs-up to the crowd whilst being stretchered away. He was taken to the track-side medical centre to receive medical attention, and was later transferred to hospital for observation as a precaution. In the end, he suffered nothing more serious than a concussion, but the incident will surely be a wake-up call for all involved in F1 that the quest for improved safety is never ending. Of particular concern was that the nose of Kovalianen's car was broken away and the foot well was exposed, which could have led to a possible infiltration.

So thankfully there were no major injuries to report, and the race continued. The safety car period came at a very inopportune moment for some drivers, who were about to make their scheduled pit stops. The one driver who was caught out was Nick Heidfeld, who had no choice but to pit whilst the pits were closed, and would incur a 10 second stop-go penalty, effectively skewering his race. When the pits opened, several cars stopped, including Rubens Barrichello, who managed to hit something upon exiting the pits which broke his front wing. He toured around for a lap before pitting (still under the safety car) for a replacement. On lap 28 the safety car peeled off, and the race resumed. Raikkonen again took control of the race, ahead of Massa, Hamilton, and Kubica. The rest of the race was somewhat processional (as in normal at Barcelona), although the drama didn't stop. On lap 35, local hero Fernando Alonso retired from fifth place - engine failure was to blame. It put the end to what could have been a podium position, something that looked inconceivable at the beginning of the season.

The final round of pit stops started on lap 46. All of the front runners pitted for fuel and took on the harder Prime tyres for their final stint. The status quo was maintained, but on the harder tyres, Hamilton seemed to be able to put more pressure on the Ferraris. They had been a lot quicker all weekend, but all of a sudden Hamilton was matching their pace. This could be explained by the Ferraris just easing off, but it could also signify that the pace of the McLarens, particularly in the long runs, was not as bad as everyone had thought. Further back, there were tussles between Nick Heidfeld and Giancarlo Fisichella - Fisichella impressively held the BMW at bay for several laps before making a small mistake at the exit of the final corner, which allowed Heidfeld to pass into turn 1. There was also a scrap between David Coulthard and Timo Glock, which culminated in a collision between the two - Glock made a lunge up the inside of turn 5 and Coulthard turned in. The small collision broke Glock's front wing and also punctured Coulthard's left-rear. Both would have to pit, but Coulthard lost a considerable amount of time due to his puncture. The stewards would later investigate the incident, but decided that no penalty was necessary.

It was smooth sailing for Raikkonen at the front though. Having set the fastest lap of the race, he controlled the pace to cruise home to an almost effortless victory, ahead of Massa and Hamilton. Indeed Raikkonen would later state that it was his best Grand Prix ever - he had never dominated a race weekend like that before. The pace of the McLarens will be somewhat relieving for Hamilton, but it is obvious that the Ferraris are still faster. Moreover Raikkonen is now in a comfortable lead in the drivers' championship. Robert Kubica came home an excellent fourth, ahead of an impressive Mark Webber in fifth, Jenson Button (who scored his first points of the year) in sixth, Kazuki Nakajima, and Jarno Trulli.

It was another masterclass for Ferrari then. Can anyone catch them this year?

Race Results

Pos. Driver Time Pos. Driver Time
1. Raikkonen 1:38:19.051 12. Coulthard + 1 Lap
2. Massa + 3.228 13. Sato + 1 Lap
3. Hamilton + 4.187 14. Rosberg Lap 42
4. Kubica + 5.694 15. Alonso Lap 35
5. Webber + 35.938 16. Barrichello Lap 35
6. Button + 53.01 17. Kovalainen Lap 22
7. Nakajima + 58.244 18. Davidson Lap 9
8. Trulli + 59.435 19. Bourdais Lap 8
9. Heidfeld + 63.073 20. Piquet Lap 7
10. Fisichella + 1 Lap 21. Vettel Lap 1
11. Glock + 1 Lap 22. Sutil Lap 1

Fastest lap: Kimi Raikkonen 1:21.670 (Lap 46)

The Alternative Podium Ceremony

1st - The John Watson Award for most places gained in the race: Takuma Sato (22nd - 13th) and Giancarlo Fisichella (19th - 10th, 9 places)
2nd - The Olivier Grouillard Award for best roadblock: David Coulthard (getting in the way of Glock ultimately cost him)
3rd - The Philippe Alliot Award for most pointless crash: Nelsinho Piquet (optimistic lunge at Bourdais)
Constructors - The David Coulthard Award for outstanding achievement in the field of complaining: Nick Heidfeld (complained about the SC rules, but to be fair he's absolutely right).