2008 Japanese Grand Prix

The 2008 Japanese Grand Prix is the sixteenth race of the 2008 Formula One season. It will be held on 12 October at the recently revised Fuji Speedway, Oyama, Shizuoka. For 20 years the Japanese Grand Prix was held at Suzuka, but in 2007 it returned to Fuji for the first time since 1977.

In 2007, the Pole position, the fastest lap and the race itself were all won by Lewis Hamilton, who extended his lead in the championship to 12 points with 2 races remaining. Fernando Alonso won the 2006 race, almost guaranteeing him the World Championship for that year.

Two other 2008 drivers have won the Japanese Grand Prix. Kimi Räikkönen won the 2005 event driving for McLaren, while Rubens Barrichello won in 2003 to secure team-mate Michael Schumacher the World Title.

The World Championship has been won several times in Japan, with winners James Hunt at the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix; Nelson Piquet in 1987; Ayrton Senna in 1988, 1990 and 1991; Alain Prost in 1989; Damon Hill in 1996; Mika Häkkinen in 1998 and 1999; and Michael Schumacher in 2000 and 2003.

The Grand Prix will see the debut of Bridgestone's Green Striped grooved tyres as part of the FIA's Make Cars Green campaign, an initiative demonstrating that Formula One’s teams and partners are backing the Make Cars Green campaign’s goal to reduce the impact of motoring on the environment.

Report

Practice

The first practice session saw McLaren's Lewis Hamilton take the fastest lap with a 1:18.91, beating Brazilian title hope Felipe Massa by 0.153s. 3rd was Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen who finished 3rd in 2007 to get his first ever podium. Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top 4, the Scuderia Ferrari driver looking to keep his title hopes alive by hopefully winning the race and hoping Massa and Hamilton did not score points. The top 8 was finished by Fernando Alonso, Nelson Piquet Jr., Sebastian Vettel, and Polish driver Robert Kubica. The 2nd practice threw up a surprise, with Toyota's Timo Glock grabbing the fastest lap, ahead of Alonso.

Qualifying

In qualifying Lewis Hamilton did well, taking pole position. There was no such luck for Felipe Massa, who could only manage 5th. Fernando Alonso, who suprised everybody with his win at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, qualified well too, ahead of Massa in 4th. Kimi Räikkönen looked to have pole after a flyer at the end of Q3 but had to settle for second when Hamilton bettered his lap. Hamilton's McLaren team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen, got 3rd place. Robert Kubica, Jarno Trulli, Timo Glock, who was fastest in the 2nd practice session on Friday, Sebastian Vettel, and Sébastien Bourdais rounded out the top 10.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Name	Constructor	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Grid
1	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:18.071	1:17.462	1:18.404	1
2	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:18.160	1:17.733	1:18.644	2
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:18.220	1:17.360	1:18.821	3
4	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:18.290	1:17.871	1:18.852	4
5	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:18.110	1:17.287	1:18.874	5
6	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1:18.684	1:17.931	1:18.979	6
7	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:18.501	1:17.541	1:19.026	7
8	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:17.945	1:17.670	1:19.118	8
9	15	Sebastian Vettel	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:18.559	1:17.714	1:19.638	9
10	14	Sébastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:18.593	1:18.102	1:20.167	10
11	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:18.303	1:18.187		11
12	6	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Renault	1:18.300	1:18.274		12
13	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:18.372	1:18.354		13
14	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:18.640	1:18.594		14
15	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:18.740	1:18.672		15
16	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	1:18.835			16
17	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:18.882			17
18	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:19.100			18
19	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:19.163			19
20	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:19.910			20

References

External links

• Detailed Japanese Grand Prix results