2008 Turkish F1 Grand Prix Race Report & Results

Event: Turkish Grand Prix
Track: Istanbul Park

Weather: dry, hot, sunny

Felipe MASSA won his 7th F1 World Championship race at the 2008 Turkish F1 GP, his third consecutive Istanbul Park victory. The Ferrari driver started from pole and won by 3.779 seconds from Lewis Hamilton, who finished ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen. It was the 208th win for the Ferrari F1 team and Massas 2nd win of the season, cementing Ferraris championship charge.

Massa pole, Ferrari-McLaren top four

Istanbul Park on 11 May 2008 opened with Felipe Massa taking pole with a 1:27.617 lap, Kovalainen second for McLaren, Hamilton third, Raikkonen fourth. Massa had won at Istanbul in 2006 and 2007 and was on course for a third consecutive victory at his adopted home circuit.

Race day: Massa 3-stop wins the strategic battle

Massa led 42 of the 58 laps at Istanbul Park on a superb three-stop strategy. Hamilton took second for McLaren on a different fuel strategy, with Raikkonen third for Ferrari after the two Ferraris switched positions during the middle stints. Kubica fourth for BMW Sauber, Heidfeld fifth, Alonso a fine sixth for Renault, Webber seventh for Red Bull, Rosberg eighth for Williams-Toyota. Raikkonen set the fastest lap on lap 20 with a 1:26.506.

Massa hat trick at Istanbul

Massas three consecutive Turkish GP wins (2006, 2007, 2008) matched Michael Schumachers France 1994-96 as one of the few triple-consecutive same-race wins of the era. Istanbul Park was becoming very much a Ferrari and Massa circuit.

Championship: Hamilton 28, Raikkonen 35, Massa 30, Kubica 28

Raikkonen 35, Massa 30, Hamilton 28, Kubica 28. Four drivers within 7 points. Monaco in a fortnight would be next.

Classification 2008 Turkish F1 GP

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Car & Engine	Grid	Laps	Led	Time	Pts
1	2	FelipeMassa	Ferrari	Ferrari F2008Ferrari 056	1	58	42	1:26:49.451	10
2	22	LewisHamilton	McLaren	McLaren MP4/23Mercedes FO 108	3	58	11	1:26:53.230+3.779s	8
3	1	KimiRäikkönen	Ferrari	Ferrari F2008Ferrari 056	4	58	5	1:26:53.722+4.271s	6
4	4	RobertKubica	BMW Sauber	BMW Sauber F1.08BMW P86	5	58	0	1:27:11.396+21.945s	5
5	3	NickHeidfeld	BMW Sauber	BMW Sauber F1.08BMW P86	9	58	0	1:27:28.192+38.741s	4
6	5	FernandoAlonso	Renault	Renault R28Renault RS27	7	58	0	1:27:43.175+53.724s	3
7	10	MarkWebber	Red Bull	Red Bull RB4Renault RS27	6	58	0	1:27:53.680+1:04.229	2
8	7	NicoRosberg	Williams	Williams FW30Toyota RVX-08	11	58	0	1:28:00.857+1:11.406	1
9	9	DavidCoulthard	Red Bull	Red Bull RB4Renault RS27	10	58	0	1:28:04.721+1:15.270	0
10	11	JarnoTrulli	Toyota	Toyota TF108Toyota RVX-08	8	58	0	1:28:05.795+1:16.344	0
11	16	JensonButton	Honda	Honda RA108Honda RA808E	13	57	0	+1 lap	0
12	23	HeikkiKovalainen	McLaren	McLaren MP4/23Mercedes FO 108	2	57	0	+1 lap	0
13	12	TimoGlock	Toyota	Toyota TF108Toyota RVX-08	15	57	0	+1 lap	0
14	17	RubensBarrichello	Honda	Honda RA108Honda RA808E	12	57	0	+1 lap	0
15	6	NelsonPiquet Jr.	Renault	Renault R28Renault RS27	17	57	0	+1 lap	0
16	20	AdrianSutil	Force India	Force India VJM01Ferrari 056	19	57	0	+1 lap	0
17	15	SebastianVettel	Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR2BFerrari 056	14	57	0	+1 lap	0
DNF	14	SébastienBourdais	Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR2BFerrari 056	18	24	0	Suspension	0
DNF	8	KazukiNakajima	Williams	Williams FW30Toyota RVX-08	16	1	0	Collision	0
DNF	21	GiancarloFisichella	Force India	Force India VJM01Ferrari 056	20	0	0	Collision	0

Fastest lap: 1:26.506 min. by Kimi Raikkonen

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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