Formula 1 News

2008 European Grand Prix, Valencia: lap by lap highlights 

Pre-race: Rubens Barrichello and Adrian Sutil, the slowest two qualifiers, are obliged to start from the pits due to unscheduled gear ratio and suspension set-up changes.
Lap 1: On pole position for the fourth time this season, and the 13th in his Formula One career, Felipe Massa leads cleanly into the right-handed sweep at Turn One. Lewis Hamilton gets away well from the dirtier side of the track and slots into second ahead of Robert Kubica, Heikki Kovalainen, Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel, Jarno Trulli, Nico Rosberg, Nick Heidfeld, Timo Glock, Sébastien Bourdais, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, Giancarlo Fisichella, Adrian Sutil, Nelson Piquet, Barrichello and David Coulthard, who drops to the tail of the field after running wide. Fernando Alonso is hit by Kazuki Nakajima at Turn Four and retires to the pits. The Japanese driver comes in for a new front wing and rejoins.

Lap 2: Massa leads by 1.4s. Coulthard passes Barrichello.

Lap 4: Massa laps in 1m40.170s. He leads by 2.2s.

Lap 5: Coulthard passes Piquet.

Lap 7: Hamilton posts a 1m40.090s and trails by 2.9s. Sutil passes Fisichella. Coulthard tries to do likewise and spins at Turn 17.

Lap 8: Massa responds: 1m39.633s.

Lap 9: Massa goes faster again: 1m39.466s. He leads by 3.6s. Kubica is another 8.4s back in third.

Lap 10: Massa leads Hamilton by 3.8s. Kovalainen and Raikkonen are right behind Kubica. Vettel remains sixth.

Lap 11: Another fastest lap to Massa: 1m39.285s. Barrichello slips down the escape road at Turn Two and drops behind Coulthard.

Lap 13: Personal bests for the top two: Massa 1m39.167s, Hamilton 1m39.306s. The gap is 4.4s.

Lap 14: Massa posts a 1m39.024s. He leads by 4.8s. Coulthard pits.

Lap 15: Massa pits. He rejoins fourth, ahead of Raikkonen. Hamilton leads.

Lap 16: Hamilton laps in 1m38.884s.

Lap 17: Hamilton pits. He rejoins just behind the Ferraris. Vettel comes in, too.

Lap 18: Kubica pits, Kovalainen leads. Raikkonen and Bourdais also come in.

Lap 19: Trulli and Sutil pit.

Lap 20: Kovalainen pits. Massa leads again. Rosberg pits, too.

Lap 21: Massa leads Hamilton by 3.5s, with Kubica and Heidfeld (yet to stop) next up.

Lap 22: Heidfeld pits.

Lap 23: Massa continues to pull away. He leads by 5.1s.

Lap 28: Webber and Fisichella pit.

Lap 29: Button pits.

Lap 30: Glock, Barrichello and Nakajima pit.

Lap 31: Coulthard pits.

Lap 33: Piquet is the last driver to pit for fuel and tyres.

Lap 34: Massa laps in 1m38.840s. He leads by 8.9s.

Lap 35: Massa goes faster again: 1m38.757s. His lead grows to 9.6s.

Lap 36: Massa laps in 1m38.708s. He is now 10.2s ahead. Hamilton has 19.3s in hand over Kubica. Sutil pits.

Lap 37: Massa makes his second stop. He brakes to allow Sutil to exit the pits first. Bourdais pits, too.

Lap 38: Hamilton leads Massa by 13.4s. Rosberg pits. Stewards launch an investigation into the manner of Massa’s pit lane exit.

Lap 39: Hamilton and Vettel pit. Massa leads again.

Lap 40: Massa leads Hamilton by 5.9s. Kubica pits from third.

Lap 41: Trulli and Heidfeld pit.

Lap 42: Sutil crashes at Turn Two. The stewards defer the Massa investigation until after the race.

Lap 43: Running 1.1s apart, Kovalainen and Raikkonen pit together. During the Ferrari pit stop, a mechanic is knocked down. The Finn loses a place to Trulli by the time he rejoins.

Lap 46: Raikkonen’s engine blows up.

Lap 51: Nakajima passes Barrichello for 15th.

Lap 57: Massa wins by 5.6s from Hamilton, Kubica, Kovalainen, Trulli, Vettel, Glock and Rosberg.

source: FIA