I’m here with a very delayed review for the British Grand Prix 2008. All eyes were on Lewis Hamilton as it was his home Grand Prix and he did not disappoint. He raced ahead with the victory and by a decisive margin to clinch the winner’s crown for this race. It was well expected that both Ferrari and McLaren will fight it out on equal terms here although, this one was McLaren’s home Grand Prix and they just couldn’t afford to let Ferrari run away with the trophy.
In qualifying, Lewis was unable to provide that perfect lap for the home crowd and could only manage 4th on the grid. His team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen made up for it by delivering a stunning lap to clinch the first pole position of his career. This certainly gave the McLaren team something to cheer about and also raised their hopes of a much better result in the race. The best position that a Ferrari could manage was 3rd by Kimi Raikkonen while his Brazilian team-mate, Massa could only manage 9th place on the grid.
Mark Webber produced a stunner for the Red Bull team and was able to claim second position on the grid while Nick Heidfeld of Sauber and Fernando Alonso of Renault filled up the third row on the grid. Nick’s team-mate, Kubica didn’t look at ease and managed only a distant 10th slot. With qualifying out of the way, it was time for the all important race and McLaren looked like a team most likely to take a victory at this track. Ferrari was not far behind but that qualifying positions meant they had to work that much harder.
The race day provided another twist to the tale as the rain gods decided to shower it upon the F1 drivers and you bet, it makes everything much more exciting. Adverse conditions often bring out the best in a driver and also highlights their weaknesses, if any. As the lights went off, both McLaren had a perfect start but it was Lewis who was on the charge. It took him no time to overtake his team mate and get set for a win. Similarly, Kimi was able to overtake Heikki and soon enough, he was chasing Lewis.
As the track started to dry up, it was Kimi who was setting the fastest laps and was rapidly closing in on the race leader. Then came the decisive moment when both Lewis and Kimi came in the pits on the same lap. Lewis decided to change his intermediates while Kimi chose to stay on his old tyres. That turned out to be a fatal decision as rain started to pour again. Kimi was losing a handful of time each lap and all this while, Lewis was building up on his lead. Kimi had no other choice but to wait for the next pit window.
In the meanwhile, Massa was all at sea and made a record of sorts for spinning the most number of times in a single race. He lost his car on as many as five ocassions and it turned out to be a disastrous race for him. Rain had made things a bit more complicated than many would have bargained for. Lewis turned the conditions as an advantage for him and was able to take victory by a comfortable margin. Kimi, after his second pit stop, was able to recover some lost ground and finished the race in 4th which will keep him in hunt for the championship.
Nick Heidfeld finished the race in a strong 2nd place while surprisingly, Rubens Barrichello of Honda was able to finish 3rd amidst all the drama surrounding other drivers. Heikki finished 5th for McLaren while Alonso finished 6th. Jarno Trulli and Nakajima scored the final available points. The full race result for this race are as follows -
1 - Lewis Hamilton - McLaren-Mercedes - 60 - 1:39:09.440
2 - Nick Heidfeld - BMW Sauber - 60 - +68.5 secs
3 - Rubens Barrichello - Honda - 60 - +82.2 secs
4 - Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari - 59 - +1 Lap
5 - Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren-Mercedes - 59 - +1 Lap
6 - Fernando Alonso - Renault - 59 - +1 Lap
7 - Jarno Trulli - Toyota - 59 - +1 Lap
8 - Kazuki Nakajima - Williams-Toyota - 59 - +1 Lap
9 - Nico Rosberg - Williams-Toyota - 59 - +1 Lap
10 - Mark Webber - Red Bull-Renault - 59 - +1 Lap
11 - Sebastien Bourdais - STR-Ferrari - 59 - +1 Lap
12 - Timo Glock - Toyota - 59 - +1 Lap
13 - Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 58 - +2 Laps
Ret - Robert Kubica - BMW Sauber - 39 - Spin
Ret - Jenson Button - Honda - 38 - Spin
Ret - Nelsinho Piquet - Renault - 35 - Spin
Ret - Giancarlo Fisichella - Force India-Ferrari - 26 - Spin
Ret - Adrian Sutil - Force India-Ferrari - 10 - Spin
Ret - Sebastian Vettel - STR-Ferrari - 0 - Spin
Ret - David Coulthard - Red Bull-Renault - 0 - Spin
