FORMULA ONE
2008 Monaco Grand Prix
A circuit that usually allows for no errors instead allowed for a win after a mistake by the eventual race winner.
The result from qualifying saw an all Ferrari front row followed by an all McLaren second row. The starting conditions for the grand prix were wet and this would prove crucial.
With the rain starting to come with the cars on the grid an indecisive Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari would later be punished for not having tyres fitted before the three-minute signal for the start of the race. Heikki Kovalainen failed to get off the grid for the warm up lap and was punished by having to start in the pit lane after everyone else had left the grid.
As the lights went out Felipe Massa led round the first corner followed by Lewis Hamilton who jumped past Raikkonen, he was followed by Robert Kubica. Nico Rosberg clipped Fernando Alonso at Lowes hairpin on lap 2 and so the former was forced to make his first pit stop of the day.
At the Tabac corner on lap 6 Hamilton clipped the barrier and got away with only a punctured rear tyre and his McLaren team decided to fuel him long when he came in to the pits but remained on intermediate tyres.
The Monaco circuit was becoming more treacherous and just before Casino Square on lap 7 Alonso clipped a barrier and also punctured a rear tyre and during his pit stop decided to go for extreme wets.
On the same lap at the same place David Coulthard, who had suffered a crash in qualifying and dropped five places after a gearbox change, crashed out. It capped a miserable weekend for the Scot and Sebastien Bourdais lost control and hit the back of the stationary Red Bull scattering debris across the track.
The safety car came out so the damaged cars could be winched out of the way and Hamilton had come out in fourth after his pit stop. On lap 13, race control issued Raikkonen with a drive through penalty for not having his tyres on 3 minutes before the start.
The gamble by Alonso for extreme wets seemed to be working as he passed Mark Webber and looked much faster than Nick Heidfeld. Heidfeld knew this and took a defensive line in order to ensure Alonso could not get past. After a lap of this Alonso took a frustrated lunge up the inside at Lowes hairpin that was always going to end in tears. Alonso now made a second pit stop to replace a damaged front wing that effectively put him out of contention.
On lap 15 the lead changed hands with Massa going straight on at the first corner but managing to spin the car round to get back on the circuit but had to wait until Kubica got past before re-emerging on track in second.
Heidfeld had a problem and it was a punctured left rear and the damage had been inflicted by Alonso’s earlier lunge. Raikkonen served his drive through penalty and emerged in fourth. Kubica led for ten laps before his pit stop allowing Massa to reclaim the lead. Massa went on for a further six laps before making his pit stop. Hamilton now gained the lead and began to control the race and eventually built a lead of 30 seconds.
On lap 31 Adrian Sutil had climbed up to fifth position and was coping well with the difficult conditions that had caught out some of the more illustrious drivers on the grid.
Having given an erratic performance Alonso decided on lap 45 to go for dry tyres and was swiftly followed by his team mate Nelson Piquet. Alonso pushing hard almost lost the car and had to bounce across the kerbs. Two laps after going on to dry tyres Piquet had crashed out.
Kovalainen put on dry tyres on lap 51 and it wasn’t long before the pace of the dry tyres was very evident as Alonso was going very well by lap 53. Sutil pitted on lap 54 and went on to dry tyres as did Hamilton who pitted a lap later.
Hamilton had built enough of a gap so that the pit stop did not cost him a place. Kubica also pitted for dry tyres but crucially Massa stayed out and pitted too late for dry tyres and in the event lost second.
By lap 60 Hamilton had extended the gap to 39 seconds however this gap building was ultimately undone after Rosberg suffered a big crash at the Swimming Pool complex which, deposited debris across the track and the safety car was brought out again.
The final incident of the race was to prove cruel, after the safety car had gone back in. Raikkonen left the tunnel and got on to a wet patch, had a big slide and snaked down the hill before hitting the unfortunate Sutil at the chicane. Sutil returned to the pits but retired and Raikkonen came in for a new nose cone after a terrible race, which left the Finn second in the drivers championship three points behind Hamilton.
The race ended with only 76 laps completed as the weather meant that the two hour limit ended the race rather than the scheduled amount of laps.
| 1 Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 2h 0m 42.742s |
| 2 Robert Kubica | BMW-Sauber | + 3.064s |
| 3 Felipe Massa | Ferrari | + 4.811s |
| 4 Mark Webber | Red Bull | + 19.295s |
| 5 Sebastian Vettel | Toro Rosso | + 24.657 |
| 6 Rubens Barrichello | Honda | + 28.408s |
| 7 Kazuki Nakajima | Williams | + 30.108s |
| 8 Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren | + 33.191s |
| 9 Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | + 33.792s |
| 10 Fernando Alonso | Renault | + 1 lap |
| 11 Jenson Button | Honda | + 1 lap |
| 12 Timo Glock | Toyota | + 1 lap |
| 13 Jarno Trulli | Toyota | + 1 lap |
| 14 Nick Heidfeld | BMW-Sauber | + 4 laps |
| R Adrian Sutil | Force India | 67 laps |
| R Nico Rosberg | Williams | 59 laps |
| R Nelson Piquet Jnr | Renault | 47 laps |
| R Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India | 36 laps |
| R David Coulthard | Red Bull | 7 laps |
| R Sebastien Bourdais | Toro Rosso | 7 laps |
R = Retired
All results subject to FIA confirmation.
Ciarán McBride