Turkish GP 2008

MAY 11, 2008

Race Incidents

Kazuki Nakajima, Giancarlo Fisichella, Turkish GP 2008
© The Cahier Archive

Lap 1: Having maintained his 100 per cent record of Istanbul Park poles since joining Ferrari in 2006, Felipe Massa makes a clean start to lead Lewis Hamilton into Turn One. Robert Kubica comes up from fifth to third, ahead of front-row starter Heikki Kovalainen, and Kimi Raikkonen finds himself squeezed down to sixth, between the fast-starting Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber. Giancarlo Fisichella vaults over Kazuki Nakajima at Turn One: the Italian is out on the spot and Nakajima retires to the pits, minus rear wing. Safety Car deployed. Nick Heidfeld lies eighth from Nico Rosberg, David Coulthard, Jarno Trulli, Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Vettel and Adrian Sutil (both of whom pit at the lap's end), Timo Glock, Sebastien Bourdais and Nelson Piquet.

Lap 2: Kovalainen pits for repairs after sustaining a puncture.

Lap 3: Restart. Massa leads Hamilton by 0.6s. Raikkonen passes Alonso for fourth.

Lap 4: Massa posts a 1m27.786s and extends his lead to 1.1s. Sutil runs wide at Turn 10.

Lap 7: Fastest lap to Hamilton: 1m27.427s. He trails by 1.4s.

Lap 9: Hamilton ups his pace again: 1m27.307s. The gap, though, is 1.5s.

Lap 10: The top two both set personal bests: Massa 1m27.291s, Hamilton 1m27.162s. The gap is 1.4s. Kubica is 4.2s further adrift.

Lap 11: Massa posts a 1m27.001s.

Lap 12: Hamilton cuts that to 1m26.869s. He trails by 1.1s. Kovalainen passes Sutil.

Lap 14: Another fastest lap to Hamilton: 1m26.742s - 0.007s quicker than Massa.

Lap 15: Hamilton posts a 1m26.641s and closes to within 0.7s. Alonso pits.

Lap 16: Hamilton pits and drops, temporarily, to sixth.

Lap 17: Kovalainen passes Vettel.

Lap 18: Webber pits.

Lap 19: Massa and Kubica pit.

Lap 20: The new leader Raikkonen laps in 1m26.506s. Trulli pits.

Lap 21: Raikkonen pits, as do second-placed Heidfeld and Sutil.

Lap 22: Massa leads by 0.8s from Hamilton, Raikkonen (7.7s back) and Kubica. Vettel pits.

Lap 23: Hamilton closes to within 0.5s of Massa. Coulthard, Bourdais and Vettel pit.

Lap 24: Hamilton passes Massa at Turn 12 to lead. Rosberg pits.

Lap 25: Hamilton leads by 1.8s. Bourdais spins into the Turn 12 gravel.

Lap 26: Kovalainen pits.

Lap 27: Hamilton leads by 3.8s. Raikkonen trails Massa by 9.4s. Barrichello pits.

Lap 28: Hamilton pulls another second clear. Behind Raikkonen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Webber and Button (yet to stop) complete the top eight.

Lap 29: Piquet pits.

Lap 31: Button and Glock are last to make their first stops.

Lap 32: Hamilton pits for the second time. He sticks with the prime tyres he's used from the start - a three-stop strategy beckons.

Lap 34: Massa leads Raikkonen by 2.7s. Hamilton is third, a further 2.6s in arrears. Kovalainen passes Glock, but is immediately repassed. He finally succeeds on the main straight.

Lap 35: Piquet passes Button for 11th.

Lap 36: Kovalainen passes Button.

Lap 37: Sutil pits.

Lap 40: Massa pits, as does Kubica. Raikkonen leads.

Lap 41: Raikkonen leads Hamilton by 1.6s. Massa lies third, another 11.8s adrift.

Lap 42: Heidfeld pits. So does Vettel.

Lap 43: Raikkonen and Rosberg pit. Hamilton leads.

Lap 44: Webber pits.

Lap 45: Hamilton pits. He rejoins second, ahead of Raikkonen. Coulthard and Piquet pit.

Lap 46: Massa leads Hamilton by 5.2s. Raikkonen is third from Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Trulli, Webber, Rosberg, Coulthard, Kovalainen, Button, Glock and Barrichello. Piquet, Sutil and Vettel are lapped.

Lap 48: Trulli pits. Kovalainen passes Coulthard.

Lap 49: Kovalainen passes Rosberg, but the German retaliates immediately.

Lap 50: Kovalainen pits.

Lap 52: Raikkonen is applying pressure to Hamilton. The gap is about half a second.

Lap 54: Kovalainen passes Glock for 12th.

Lap 58: Massa maintains his unbeaten record as a Ferrari driver in Turkey, beating Hamilton by 3.7s. Raikkonen is a close third. Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Webber and Rosberg complete the scorers.