2008 Brazilian Grand Prix
The 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 2 November 2008. It was the eighteenth and final race of the 2008 Formula One season. Ferrari driver Felipe Massa won the race after starting from pole position. McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton finished fifth to secure the Drivers’ Championship. The Honda team withdrew from Formula One before the race due to the global economic crisis.
About 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix in brief
The 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 2 November 2008. It was the eighteenth and final race of the 2008 Formula One season. Ferrari driver Felipe Massa won the race after starting from pole position. McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton finished fifth to secure the Drivers’ Championship. The race was also the last broadcast by ITV in the United Kingdom and Teleco in Spain. The Honda team withdrew from Formula One before the race due to the global economic crisis. The weekend marked David Coulthard’s final race. Red Bull Racing received approval from the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile’s governing body to run his car in different colours than his teammate Mark Webber. The final practice sessions were held on Friday morning and Saturday afternoon. The third session was held on Saturday morning and two hour and two minute sessions lasted an hour and a half. The grand prix was held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Interlagos, in São Paulo, Brazil. The last of Massa’s 11 wins was the race in which he started from pole. Fernando Alonso finished second in a Renault, and Kimi Räikkönen third in a Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso finished in fourth place behind Alonso and Räkkönen. Massa started the race alongside Toyota driver Jarno Trulli, while his Ferrari teammate RäKKönen began from third next to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton passed Toyota’s Timo Glock in the final corners of the race to finish fifth, securing him the points needed to take the drivers’ championship.
The McLaren driver received praise from many in the Formula One community, including former champions Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher. The Queen Elizabeth II and British prime minister Gordon Brown congratulated Hamilton on his win. Ferrari won the Constructors’ Championship, with McLaren–Mercedes second with 145 points, 11 points behind, with a maximum of 18 points available. If the two Ferrari drivers finished in the top six, the team would secure the Constructor’s Championship, even if the McLaren drivers were to finish as the top two. Robert Kubica was third with 75 points in a BMW, and Massa was fourth with 69 points. In the event of a points tie, Massa would win the championship on a count-back, having more wins. Hamilton was criticised by many pundits for not maintaining his composure at the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix. The Times columnist Edward Gorman said that Hamilton should win the title, but: Alternatively Hamilton may suffer another one of his rushes of blood to the head and do something utterly unnecessary at Inter Lagos, just as he did in Japan eight days ago and in Brazil last year, and throw it all away… Suddenly defending even a seven-point lead sounds a tall order. The only thing on my mind is winning the race. I don’t want anything to do with it.
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This page is based on the article 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 23, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
