2008 British Grand Prix

The 2008 British Grand Prix (officially the 2008 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 6 July 2008 at the Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, England. It was the ninth race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship. The race was held over 60 laps with a practice and qualifying round preceding the race.

Heikki Kovalainen started from pole position alongside Mark Webber in second and Kimi Räikkönen in third on the grid. On the first corner, Lewis Hamilton rose from fourth on the grid to second overtaking Webber and Räikkönen. Hamilton shadowed Kovalainen for the early stages of the race, until he took the lead on lap five. The race was won by Hamilton, racing for McLaren Mercedes ahead of Nick Heidfeld for BMW Sauber in second and Rubens Barrichello third in a Honda. Räikkönen made the fastest lap of the race on lap 18. Hamilton's drive was widely acclaimed as one of Formula One's finest wet-weather drives.

Of the 20 drivers competing, 13 finished the race, with eight receiving world championship points. Hamilton's win tied him for the lead of the Drivers' Championship, alongside Felipe Massa and Räikkönen. In the Constructors Championship, Ferrari's lead was reduced to 14 points over BMW Sauber, with McLaren a further 10 behind.

The 2008 British Grand Prix was held on 6 July 2008 at the Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, England. The grand prix was contested by 20 drivers, in 10 teams of two. The teams, also known as "constructors", were Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren Mercedes, Renault F1, Honda Racing F1, Force India-Ferrari, BMW Sauber, Toyota F1, Red Bull Racing-Renault, WilliamsF1-Toyota and Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari.

Before the race, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa led the Drivers' Championship with 48 points, BMW driver Robert Kubica trailed by two points, and Massa's teammate Kimi Räikkönen was third on 43 points. McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton was fourth with 38 points, 10 points ahead of Kubica's teammate Nick Heidfeld. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari led with 91 points, BMW Sauber were second with 74 points, and McLaren were third with 58 points. Red Bull Renault were in fourth with 24 points, one point ahead of Toyota in fifth. Ferrari were the dominant team prior to the race: their drivers had won five out of eight races, including one-two finishes at the Bahrain, Spanish, and in the previous race, the French Grand Prix. Kubica had performed consistently for BMW Sauber, only failing to score once, and had won his first race four weeks earlier at the Canadian Grand Prix.

There's something about racing in your home country that affects you. The constant support of the crowd gives you a boost throughout the whole weekend. It's not something you experience anywhere else, but it does make you that bit more determined to succeed.

Despite wins for Hamilton at the Australian and Monaco Grand Prix, he was facing pressure approaching Silverstone. He had fallen from first to fourth in the Drivers' Championship after failing to score in the previous two races. At the Canadian Grand Prix, he had retired after making contact with a stationary Raikkonen who was waiting at a red light in the pit lane. This led to a ten-place grid penalty for the following race at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours where he failed to score after receiving a drive-through penalty for overtaking Sebastian Vettel by missing a chicane. After the race he responded angrily and to the negative press coverage he had been receiving, saying: "There's nothing you can do that can distract me. You can keep on giving me penalties, whatever you want. I'll keep battling, and trying to come back with a result." However, he remained upbeat about his likelihood of winning the championship and was "confident" going into the weekend.

Three days of testing took place at the Silverstone circuit, from 25 to 27 June. Massa set the fastest time on the first day with a 1:20.188, 0.3 faster than Heikki Kovalainen, but was unable to escape the track after suffering a mechanical failure with 30 minutes to go which forced the session to be red-flagged. Kovalainen improved on the second day to go fastest with a 1:20.015. Strong winds caused Giancarlo Fisichella to crash heavily at Becketts corner; he was uninjured, although medical checks meant he was unable to do further testing in the afternoon. On the third and final day, Hamilton set the quickest time with a 1:19.170, over 0.6 seconds ahead of second-fastest Timo Glock.