2008 Australian F1 Grand Prix Race Report & Results

Event: Australian Grand Prix
Track: Albert Park Circuit

Weather: dry, warm, sunny

Lewis HAMILTON won his 5th F1 World Championship race at the 2008 Australian F1 GP, opening his second full F1 season with a commanding pole-to-flag victory. The McLaren driver started from pole and won at Albert Park by 5.478 seconds from Nick Heidfelds BMW Sauber. It was the 157th win for the McLaren F1 team and Hamiltons 4th career F1 win, on a day of high attrition at Melbourne.

Hamilton pole, McLaren-BMW Sauber front rows

Melbourne on 16 March 2008 opened with Lewis Hamilton taking pole with a 1:26.714 lap for McLaren, Kubica second for BMW Sauber, Kovalainen third for McLaren. Massa fourth for Ferrari. Fernando Alonso, returned to Renault after his one-year McLaren experiment, had qualified 11th. Ferrari were on the back foot after their 2007 struggles.

Race day: Hamilton controls, seven cars fail to finish

Hamilton led 50 of the 58 laps at Albert Park, controlling the race throughout. It was a chaotic race with numerous mechanical failures and off-track incidents. Nick Heidfeld took a fine second for BMW Sauber, Nico Rosberg a superb third for Williams-Toyota, Alonso fourth for Renault after recovering from his mid-grid start. Kovalainen fifth for McLaren, Kazuki Nakajima sixth for Williams-Toyota on his second F1 race. Kovalainen set the fastest lap on lap 43 with a 1:27.418. Barrichello was disqualified for leaving the pit lane with a red light.

Championship: Hamilton 10, Heidfeld 8, Rosberg 6

Hamilton 10, Heidfeld 8, Rosberg 6, Alonso 5. Malaysia in a week would test whether Hamilton could sustain championship momentum.

Classification 2008 Australian F1 GP

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Car & Engine	Grid	Laps	Led	Time	Pts
1	22	LewisHamilton	McLaren	McLaren MP4/23Mercedes FO 108	1	58	50	1:34:50.616	10
2	3	NickHeidfeld	BMW Sauber	BMW Sauber F1.08BMW P86	5	58		1:34:56.094+5.478s	8
3	7	NicoRosberg	Williams	Williams FW30Toyota RVX-08	7	58		1:34:58.779+8.163s	6
4	5	FernandoAlonso	Renault	Renault R28Renault RS27	11	58		1:35:07.797+17.181s	5
5	23	HeikkiKovalainen	McLaren	McLaren MP4/23Mercedes FO 108	3	58	8	1:35:08.630+18.014s	4
6	8	KazukiNakajima	Williams	Williams FW30Toyota RVX-08	13	57		+1 lap	3
7	14	SébastienBourdais	Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR2BFerrari 056	17	55		Engine	2
8	1	KimiRäikkönen	Ferrari	Ferrari F2008Ferrari 056	15	53		Engine	1
DNF	4	RobertKubica	BMW Sauber	BMW Sauber F1.08BMW P86	2	47		Collision
DNF	12	TimoGlock	Toyota	Toyota TF108Toyota RVX-08	18	43		Accident
DNF	18	TakumaSato	Super Aguri	Super Aguri SA08AHonda RA808E	19	32		Transmission
DNF	6	NelsonPiquet Jr.	Renault	Renault R28Renault RS27	20	30		Clutch
DNF	2	FelipeMassa	Ferrari	Ferrari F2008Ferrari 056	4	29		Engine
DNF	9	DavidCoulthard	Red Bull	Red Bull RB4Renault RS27	8	25		Collision
DNF	11	JarnoTrulli	Toyota	Toyota TF108Toyota RVX-08	6	19		Electrical
DNF	20	AdrianSutil	Force India	Force India VJM01Ferrari 056	22	8		Hydraulics
DNF	10	MarkWebber	Red Bull	Red Bull RB4Renault RS27	14	0		Collision
DNF	16	JensonButton	Honda	Honda RA108Honda RA808E	12	0		Collision
DNF	19	AnthonyDavidson	Super Aguri	Super Aguri SA08AHonda RA808E	21	0		Collision
DNF	15	SebastianVettel	Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR2BFerrari 056	9	0		Collision
DNF	21	GiancarloFisichella	Force India	Force India VJM01Ferrari 056	16	0		Collision
DSQ	17	RubensBarrichello	Honda	Honda RA108Honda RA808E	10	58		Disqualified

Fastest lap: 1:27.418 min. by Heikki Kovalainen

About the author

Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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