2008 Formula One season

2008 FIA Formula One World Championship season Previous: 2007 Next: 2009 Index: Races by country | Races by season

Kimi Räikkönen, the defending World Champion and current championship points leader for Ferrari.

The 2008 Formula One season is the 59th FIA Formula One World Championship season. It began on 16 March and will end on 2 November after eighteen Grands Prix. It is the first season under the new Concorde Agreement. As it stands, there are a total of seven teams signed up to compete in the championship through an agreement with Formula One Management, with the other four major manufacturers in the Grand Prix Manufacturers’ Association (GPMA) having signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix. All teams in both groups have spots on the 2008 grid. The season sees the banning of traction control after it was re-introduced in 2001. 2008 also introduces two new street circuits. The Valencia Street Circuit and Singapore Street Circuit will host the European GP and the new Singapore GP respectively. The Singapore GP will also be the first Formula One event held at night.

Pre-season testing

Fernando Alonso testing the Renault R28 at Valencia.

Sébastien Bourdais in the Toro Rosso STR2B.

The first multi-team test session started in Jerez on January 14 2008. Ferrari, McLaren and Toyota all tested their 2008 cars. Williams tested a modified version of the FW29 whilst Renault and Red Bull tested their 2007 entries. Honda, Toro Rosso, Super Aguri and Force India also attended. BMW was not in attendance as they were launching the F1.08. Testing then moved to Valencia on January 22. Renault and Williams were the only teams on the track for the first day of testing. They were both testing their 2008 challengers. They were joined by every other team except Super Aguri for the next three days. February 1 saw testing move to Barcelona. Again, all teams but Super Aguri were in action. The first day of testing saw Kazuki Nakajima crash his FW30. It also saw racist abuse directed at Lewis Hamilton. Williams withdrew from testing on day three to try to fix the problem that caused Nakajima's crash. Meanwhile on February 4, Ferrari and Toyota moved to Bahrain to continue testing the F2008 and TF108.

On February 12 testing returned to Jerez. Red Bull and Williams were the only teams in action on the first day. The second day of testing saw all teams but Ferrari and Toyota (who were still in Bahrain) attending. After postponing their SA08 launch and cancelling testing at Valencia, Super Aguri turned up to test their SA07B interim car for the first time.

Testing Moved to Barcelona on February 19. The first day of tests got underway in rain with Williams, Red Bull, Renault and Toyota present. Nico Rosberg topped the time sheets for Williams. BMW Sauber were instead testing on their own in Jerez. Super Aguri did not turn up despite promising a Q&A with the media. They blamed circumstances beyond their control. On the second day Ferrari turned up and topped the time sheets with Felipe Massa on another wet track. McLaren joined on the final day and Williams finished on top with Nakajima. The final multi-team test began on February 25 with every team but Super Aguri attending. Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheets faster than both Kimi Räikkönen and Michael Schumacher. McLaren continued to outpace Ferrari on day two with both drivers on top and Toyota were fastest with Jarno Trulli on the final day.

Teams

On February 14 2006 the FIA President Max Mosley announced that all teams interested in competing in the 2008 World Championship would have a seven-day window during which they would have to submit an application to compete. All eleven current teams applied, as well as several others. On April 28, 2006 the FIA announced that all of the current teams' applications for the 2008 season were granted, along with a new team Prodrive, fronted by the ex-BAR and Benetton principal David Richards. There were 21 applications (including the current teams and Prodrive), of which the following were notable: European Minardi F1 Team Ltd, Jordan Grand Prix, Direxiv and Carlin Motorsport. However despite the Prodrive application being accepted Richards has since announced that the team will not race in 2008 due to a dispute over the legality of customer cars.

Teams Signed with FOM

• Ferrari
• Red Bull
• Force India
• Super Aguri
• Toro Rosso
• Toyota
• Williams

GPMA manufacturers (MoU with FOM)

Bernie Ecclestone has signed an agreement with the GPMA to end their threat of a breakaway series in 2008.

• BMW Sauber
• Honda
• McLaren-Mercedes
• Renault (Renault have since left the GPMA)

New car launches

Constructor	Chassis	Launch Date	Launch Location
Ferrari	F2008	January 6	Fiorano, Italy
McLaren-Mercedes	MP4-23	January 7	Stuttgart, Germany
Toyota	TF108	January 10	Cologne, Germany
BMW Sauber	F1.08	January 14	Munich, Germany
Red Bull-Renault	RB4	January 16	Jerez, Spain
Honda	RA108	January 29	Brackley, United Kingdom
Renault	R28	January 31	Paris, France
Force India-Ferrari*	VJM-01	February 7	Mumbai, India
Williams-Toyota	FW30	No Official Launch
Toro Rosso-Ferrari*	STR3	No Official Launch
Super Aguri-Honda	SA08	No Official Launch

* Team started the season with updated versions of their 2007 car.

Notes

• Super Aguri originally planned to unveil their 2008 challenger, the SA08, in Barcelona on February 19 but due to financial problems they had to postpone the launch and replace it with a Q&A session with the media which was later cancelled itself. On March 10, just before the Australian Grand Prix, team boss Aguri Suzuki revealed that their 2008 challenger will be unveiled on March 14th during Friday practice.

• Renault and Honda both started testing their 2008 cars a week before their official launch.
• Although they did not have an official launch, Williams-Toyota gave the FW30 its track debut on January 21 at Valencia during winter testing with a livery of former Formula One drivers on the nose cone who have driven for Williams in the past 30 years. Their season livery was revealed at their photography studio in Oxfordshire on March 3.
• Toro Rosso-Ferrari started the 2008 season with an updated B spec version of their 2007 STR2 car stating that their 2008 challenger, the Toro Rosso STR3, will be due to make its debut at the fourth or fifth round. The new car made its test debut in the hands of Red Bull Junior driver, Brendon Hartley in Italy on April 2. The car made its public debut in Barcelona on April 16.

Teams and drivers

The following constructors and drivers are participating in the 2008 Formula One season.

Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre	No	Race Drivers	No	Official Test Driver(s)
Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	F2008	Ferrari 056	B	1	Kimi Räikkönen	31	Luca Badoer
					2	Felipe Massa
BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	F1.08	BMW P86/8	B	3	Nick Heidfeld	32	Christian Klien Marko Asmer
					4	Robert Kubica
ING Renault F1 Team	Renault	R28	Renault RS27	B	5	Fernando Alonso	33	Lucas Di Grassi Romain Grosjean Sakon Yamamoto
					6	Nelson Piquet Jr.
AT&T WilliamsF1 Team	Williams	FW30	Toyota RVX-08	B	7	Nico Rosberg	34	Nico Hülkenberg
					8	Kazuki Nakajima
Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB4	Renault RS27	B	9	David Coulthard	35	Sébastien Buemi
					10	Mark Webber
Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF108	Toyota RVX-08	B	11	Jarno Trulli	36	Kamui Kobayashi
					12	Timo Glock
Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR2B† STR3	Ferrari 056	B	14	Sébastien Bourdais	37	None
					15	Sebastian Vettel
Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	RA108	Honda RA808E	B	16	Jenson Button	38	Alexander Wurz
					17	Rubens Barrichello
Super Aguri F1	Super Aguri	SA08	Honda RA808E	B	18	Takuma Sato	39	None
					19	Anthony Davidson
Force India Formula One Team	Force India	VJM-01	Ferrari 056	B	20	Adrian Sutil	40	Vitantonio Liuzzi
					21	Giancarlo Fisichella
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-23	Mercedes FO108V	B	22	Lewis Hamilton	41	Pedro de la Rosa Gary Paffett
					23	Heikki Kovalainen

† Toro Rosso started 2008 with a modified version of their 2007 car, labelled the STR2B. The Italian team plan to introduce the new STR3 around the fourth or fifth round of the 2008 championship.

2008 race schedule

The FIA World Council approved the 2008 schedule on October 24, 2007.

Round	Official Race Title	Grand Prix	Circuit	City / Location	Date	Time
						Local	UTC
1	ING Australian Grand Prix	Australian GP	Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit	Melbourne	March 16	15:30	04:30
2	Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix	Malaysian GP	Sepang International Circuit	Kuala Lumpur	March 23	15:00	07:00
3	Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain GP	Bahrain International Circuit	Sakhir, Manama	April 6	14:30	11:30
4	Gran Premio de España Telefónica	Spanish GP	Circuit de Catalunya	Barcelona	April 27	14:00	12:00
5	Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix	Turkish GP	Istanbul Park	Istanbul	May 11	15:00	12:00
6	Grand Prix de Monaco	Monaco GP	Circuit de Monaco	Monte-Carlo	May 25	14:00	12:00
7	Grand Prix du Canada	Canadian GP	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve	Montreal	June 8	13:00	17:00
8	Grand Prix de France	French GP	Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours	Magny Cours	June 22	14:00	12:00
9	Santander British Grand Prix	British GP	Silverstone Circuit	Silverstone	July 6	13:00	12:00
10	Großer Preis Santander von Deutschland	German GP	Hockenheimring	Hockenheim	July 20	14:00	12:00
11	ING Magyar Nagydij	Hungarian GP	Hungaroring	Budapest	August 3	14:00	12:00
12	Grand Prix of Europe Telefónica	European GP	Valencia Street Circuit†	Valencia	August 24	14:00	12:00
13	ING Belgian Grand Prix	Belgian GP	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	Spa	September 7	14:00	12:00
14	Gran Premio Santander d'Italia	Italian GP	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza	Monza	September 14	14:00	12:00
15	SingTel Singapore Grand Prix	Singapore GP	Singapore Street Circuit†	Singapore	September 28	20:00	12:00
16	Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix	Japanese GP	Fuji Speedway	Oyama	October 12	13:30	04:30
17	Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix	Chinese GP	Shanghai International Circuit	Shanghai	October 19	15:00	07:00
18	Grande Prêmio do Brasil	Brazilian GP	Autódromo José Carlos Pace	São Paulo	November 2	TBC	TBC

† New Circuits

Changes

Rule changes

ECU

• A standard Electronic Control Unit (ECU) supplied by McLaren Electronic Systems (badged as Microsoft).
• Traction control and launch control banned along with several other electronic aids including engine braking.

Engine and gearbox

• Max Mosley proposed an engine freeze for ten years. Later, all teams agreed to shorten the engine freeze to five years.
• Rev-limited engines, limited to 19,000 rpm in accordance with sporting code 5.1.3.
• The first unscheduled engine change of the season for each car will not lead to the usual 10 place grid penalty.
• An engine must last two consecutive race meetings, if an engine is changed before the start of qualifying, a ten place grid penalty is applied. If an engine is changed after the start of qualifying, the driver must start the race from the back of the grid. On Friday practice, teams are free to use another engine unit; should the engine coming from the previous race be used, it must be used since Saturday free practice, qualifying and then Sunday race.
• Fuel of the cars must be made up of at least 5.75% biological materials, for cars to comply with the European law on fuel composition.
• Gearboxes to last four races, 5 place grid penalty for a gear box change. If a driver does not finish a race, he is allowed to change the gearbox for the next race without receiving a penalty.

Cars

• Improved cockpit protection.
• The use of a spare car has been restricted. Each competing team will not be allowed to have more than two cars available for use at any time. In this context, a car is considered as such if it is a partially assembled survival cell, fitted with an engine, any front suspension, bodywork, radiators, oil tanks or heat exchangers.
• The weight of the car can not be less than 605kg (approximately 1,334 lbs.) at any time during the Grand Prix.

Tyres

• No driver may use more than two sets of each type of dry-weather tyre during Friday practice.
• During a Grand Prix, no driver may use more than 14 sets of dry-weather tyres, four sets of wet-weather tyres and three sets of extreme-weather tyres.
• Bridgestone will be the official tyre supplier for the 2008-2010 seasons.

Qualifying

• The first part of qualifying lengthened to 20 minutes, and final part of qualifying shortened to 10 minutes. Teams taking part in Q3 will no longer be allowed to add fuel back to the car after qualifying to eliminate 'fuel-burn' phase.
• A minimum lap time for each qualifying session has been implemented from Round 3 in Bahrain to stop cars coasting back to the pits at dangerously low speeds as seen in Round 2 in Malaysia. Both Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen were put back five grid places after the stewards decided that they had impeded Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso. The minimum lap time will be different for each race. For example, it was 1:39 in Bahrain.

Testing

• No competing team is allowed to carry out more than 30,000km (~18,640mi) of testing during the 2008 calendar year.

Driver changes

After competing in the sport for ten years, Ralf Schumacher will not take part in the 2008 season. He has been replaced at Toyota by 2007 GP2 Champion, Timo Glock.

• Sebastian Vettel replaced Scott Speed from the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix onwards at Scuderia Toro Rosso and was confirmed as driver for 2008. Team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi is to be replaced by Champ Car World Series four time world champion Sébastien Bourdais for 2008.
• On October 1, Ralf Schumacher announced that he would leave Toyota at the end of the 2007 season.
• On October 7, it was reported that Alexander Wurz had decided to retire from racing. He is staying on as test driver for Honda.
• On November 2, Fernando Alonso and McLaren announced that both parties agreed to a ‘mutual parting of ways’.
• On November 7 2007, Williams announced that Kazuki Nakajima would partner Nico Rosberg for the 2008 season.
• On November 19 2007, Timo Glock was confirmed as the replacement driver for Ralf Schumacher by Toyota.
• On December 7 2007, After testing for Force India, Ralf Schumacher says it is unlikely he will return to Formula One.
• On December 10 2007, Renault confirmed that Fernando Alonso will drive for them next season. He is partnered by rookie Nelson Piquet Jr.
• On December 14 2007, McLaren confirmed Heikki Kovalainen will partner Lewis Hamilton.
• On January 10 2008, Force India confirmed Giancarlo Fisichella as first driver and Vitantonio Liuzzi as a test driver. Adrian Sutil had already been confirmed as the team's second driver.
• On January 10 2008, Alexander Wurz was announced as the reserve driver for Honda after leaving Williams just before the Brazil GP.
• On February 2 2008, BMW announced that Christian Klien has been contracted as their test and reserve driver for the 2008 season. He will work alongside Marko Asmer who will become the team’s junior tester.
• On February 4 2008, Renault signed Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto as a test development driver for the 2008 season.

Team changes

• Rumours about the possible sale of the Jordan/Spyker team had been abundant in the paddock throughout the last few months of the 2007 season. Only a year after Spyker bought the team from Midland, Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya bought the team for €88 million, several million more than Spyker paid. On October 24 2007, Mallya was granted permission to change the team's name to Force India. He also said he would like to keep German driver Adrian Sutil for 2008. Force India had a driver announcement ceremony in January 2008 where it was revealed that Sutil would be second driver partnered by first driver Giancarlo Fisichella and test driver Vitantonio Liuzzi.

• On 28 April 2006, rallying and motorsports technology firm Prodrive were officially granted entry to Formula One when the FIA announced the list of entrants to the 2008 Formula One World Championship. While a total of 21 teams applied for entry, the FIA had always maintained that, only 12 teams would be granted entry, meaning only one new team would line up on the grid in 2008. FIA president Max Mosley revealed that Prodrive had found the finances to support their bid. Also, Prodrive's chief executive, David Richards, has experience as a Formula One team principal". Richards has previously acted as team principal of the Benetton and British American Racing teams. However on 23 November 2007, after lengthy negotiations between FIA president Max Mosley regarding customer cars, Richards announced that Prodrive F1 would not compete in the 2008 Formula One World Championship, as the legal situation left no time for the team to be set up.

• On December 31 2007, Toyota announced that they would end their sponsorship deal with Kingfisher Airlines due to the fact that Kingfisher Airliners' owner Dr. Vijay Mallya wants to focus on the new F1 team Force India which was formed after Dr. Mallya's 2007 acquisition of Spyker F1 team. Although the team had a two year deal with the Indian airline company, both parties agreed to terminate the deal by 'mutual consent'.

• On March 10 2008, Super Aguri announced that a major deal had been made with Magma Group to solve the team's financial problems, the details of which have not been released.

Race changes

The new Singapore Street Circuit which will host the Singapore Grand Prix at night.

• It has been confirmed that Singapore will host a Grand Prix from 2008 for the next five years. It will be a street circuit, with the route designed by Hermann Tilke. It has been confirmed that the Grand Prix will be a night race, with a start time of 20:00 local time and run in an anti-clockwise direction to enhance safety. It has also been revealed that practice sessions and qualifying will take place at night.

• The European Grand Prix will take place at the Valencia Street Circuit in 2008, changing from the Nürburgring which hosted the event up until 2007. Because both German circuits share the right to host an F1 race, the German Grand Prix will take place at Hockenheim in 2008. It will continue to alternate between these two circuits yearly.

• It has been confirmed that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will not hold a Grand Prix in 2008; however, a possible return to Indianapolis in the future has not been completely ruled out.

• The 2007 French GP was said to be the last to be held at Magny-Cours. Alternatives for the French Grand Prix included Paul Ricard or a new circuit near Disneyland Paris or Charles de Gaulle airport likely to host the event from 2009. However on 24 July 2007 it was reported that Bernie Ecclestone had "agreed in principle to maintain the race at Magny-Cours in 2008, and even 2009, if there were no other alternative."

• The 2008 season also sees changes to the race start times for China, moved to 15:00 and Australia, moved from its traditional 14:00 slot to 15:30.

Other Changes

• On March 7 it was announced that Mercedes-AMG would provide new Safety Cars and Medical Cars for the 2008 season. Mercedes-AMG, the high performance arm of the Mercedes-Benz brand will supply Safety Cars based on the SL63 AMG and Medical Cars based on the C63 AMG Estate. Bernd Mayländer will continue as the Safety Car driver.
• On March 7, the official Formula One tyre supplier Bridgestone announced that they will mark their extreme wet weather tyres with a white line in the central groove to differentiate it with the softer wet weather tyre compound. They will continue to the same with their dry compounds.

Results and Standings

Grands Prix

Rd.	Grand Prix	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Constructor	Report
1	Australian Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton	Heikki Kovalainen	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	Report
2	Malaysian Grand Prix	Felipe Massa	Nick Heidfeld	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	Report
3	Bahrain Grand Prix	Robert Kubica	Heikki Kovalainen	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	Report
4	Spanish Grand Prix	Kimi Räikkönen	Kimi Räikkönen	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	Report
5	Turkish Grand Prix	Felipe Massa	Kimi Räikkönen	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	Report
6	Monaco Grand Prix					Report
7	Canadian Grand Prix					Report
8	French Grand Prix					Report
9	British Grand Prix					Report
10	German Grand Prix					Report
11	Hungarian Grand Prix					Report
12	European Grand Prix					Report
13	Belgian Grand Prix					Report
14	Italian Grand Prix					Report
15	Singapore Grand Prix					Report
16	Japanese Grand Prix					Report
17	Chinese Grand Prix					Report
18	Brazilian Grand Prix					Report

Drivers

Pos Driver AUS MAL BHR ESP TUR MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN EUR BEL ITA SIN JPN CHN BRA Pts 1 Räikkönen 8† 1 2 1 29 2 Hamilton 1 5 13 3 20 3 Kubica Ret 2 3 4 19 4 Massa Ret Ret 1 2 18 5 Heidfeld 2 6 4 9 16 6 Kovalainen 5 3 5 Ret 14 7 Trulli Ret 4 6 8 9 8 Webber Ret 7 7 5 8 9 Rosberg 3 14 8 Ret 7 10 Alonso 4 8 10 Ret 6 11 Nakajima 6 17 14 7 5 12 Button Ret 10 Ret 6 3 13 Bourdais 7† Ret 15 Ret 2 14 Glock Ret Ret 9 11 0 15 Coulthard Ret 9 18 12 0 16 Fisichella Ret 12 12 10 0 17 Barrichello DSQ 13 11 Ret 0 18 Piquet Ret 11 Ret Ret 0 19 Sato Ret 16 17 13 0 20 Davidson Ret 15 16 Ret 0 21 Sutil Ret Ret 19 Ret 0 — Vettel Ret Ret Ret Ret 0 Pos Driver AUS MAL BHR ESP TUR MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN EUR BEL ITA SIN JPN CHN BRA Pts

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Finished, in points Blue Finished, no points Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate Blank Injured (INJ) Blank Excluded (EX) Bold - Pole Italics - Fastest Lap

† Drivers did not finish the Grand Prix, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Constructors

Pos Constructor Car No. AUS MAL BHR ESP TUR MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN EUR BEL ITA SIN JPN CHN BRA Pts 1 Ferrari 1 8† 1 2 1 47 2 Ret Ret 1 2 2 BMW Sauber 3 2 6 4 9 35 4 Ret 2 3 4 3 McLaren-Mercedes 22 1 5 13 3 34 23 5 3 5 Ret 4 Williams-Toyota 7 3 14 8 Ret 12 8 6 17 14 7 5 Toyota 11 Ret 4 6 8 9 12 Ret Ret 9 11 6 Red Bull-Renault 9 Ret 9 18 12 8 10 Ret 7 7 5 7 Renault 5 4 8 10 Ret 6 6 Ret 11 Ret Ret 8 Honda 16 Ret 10 Ret 6 3 17 DSQ 13 11 Ret 9 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 14 7† Ret 15 Ret 2 15 Ret Ret Ret Ret 10 Force India-Ferrari 20 Ret Ret 19 Ret 0 21 Ret 12 12 10 11 Super Aguri-Honda 18 Ret 16 17 13 0 19 Ret 15 16 Ret Pos Constructor Car No. AUS MAL BHR ESP TUR MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN EUR BEL ITA SIN JPN CHN BRA Pts

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Finished, in points Blue Finished, no points Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate Blank Injured (INJ) Blank Excluded (EX) Bold - Pole Italics - Fastest Lap

† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Statistics

Drivers

Pos	Driver	Constructor(s)	Starts	Wins	Podiums	Poles	F.laps	Points
1	Template:Sortname	Ferrari	4	2	3	1	1	29
2	Template:Sortname	McLaren-Mercedes	4	1	2	1	0	20
3	Template:Sortname	BMW Sauber	4	0	2	1	0	19
4	Template:Sortname	Ferrari	4	1	2	1	0	18
5	Template:Sortname	BMW Sauber	4	0	1	0	1	16
6	Template:Sortname	McLaren-Mercedes	4	0	1	0	2	14
7	Template:Sortname	Toyota	4	0	0	0	0	9
8	Template:Sortname	Red Bull-Renault	4	0	0	0	0	8
9	Template:Sortname	Williams-Toyota	4	0	1	0	0	7
10	Template:Sortname	Renault	4	0	0	0	0	6
11	Template:Sortname	Williams-Toyota	4	0	0	0	0	5
12	Template:Sortname	Honda	4	0	0	0	0	3
13	Template:Sortname	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	4	0	0	0	0	2
14	Template:Sortname	Toyota	4	0	0	0	0	0
15	Template:Sortname	Red Bull-Renault	4	0	0	0	0	0
16	Template:Sortname	Force India-Ferrari	4	0	0	0	0	0
17	Template:Sortname	Honda	4	0	0	0	0	0
18	Template:Sortname	Renault	4	0	0	0	0	0
19	Template:Sortname	Super Aguri-Honda	4	0	0	0	0	0
20	Template:Sortname	Super Aguri-Honda	4	0	0	0	0	0
21	Template:Sortname	Force India-Ferrari	4	0	0	0	0	0
—	Template:Sortname	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	4	0	0	0	0	0

Constructors

Pos	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre	Starts	Wins	Podiums	Poles	F.laps	Points
1	Ferrari	F2008	Ferrari	B	4	3	5	2	1	47
2	BMW Sauber	F1.08	BMW	B	4	0	3	1	1	35
3	McLaren	MP4-23	Mercedes	B	4	1	3	1	2	34
4	Williams	FW30	Toyota	B	4	0	1	0	0	12
5	Toyota	TF108	Toyota	B	4	0	0	0	0	9
6	Red Bull	RB4	Renault	B	4	0	0	0	0	8
7	Renault	R28	Renault	B	4	0	0	0	0	6
8	Honda	RA108	Honda	B	4	0	0	0	0	3
9	Toro Rosso	STR2B, STR3	Ferrari	B	4	0	0	0	0	2
10	Force India	VJM-01	Ferrari	B	4	0	0	0	0	0
11	Super Aguri	SA08	Honda	B	4	0	0	0	0	0

Rumours and speculation

Super Aguri rumours

• At the end of 2007, Super Aguri did not receive a payment on a sponsorship deal. This has led to them becoming the poorest team in Formula One. Max Mosley has said he has doubts that Super Aguri will make it to the final race in Brazil. It was reported in the last week of January that an Indian consortium led by the CEO of the Spice Group is willing to buy out the team but they have said they want Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan in the line-up, meaning one of the 2007 drivers would have to drop out of a race drive role. However, Super Aguri have said that they want to keep their 2007 Driver line-up of Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson. Despite this Super Aguri have been unable to sign any contracts until agreements have been reached with their sponsors. GP2 driver Luca Filippi was once linked to Super Aguri for a possible race seat in 2008, however he has since signed with the ART Team for 2008. Sato and Davidson were confirmed on 10 March.

Spanish Grands Prix rumours

• The FIA threatened the cancellation of the Spanish GP and the European GP if racism continued in Spain after hearing of the racist abuse directed at McLaren's Lewis Hamilton whilst he was testing the MP4-23 at Barcelona.

Both GP's, however, will continue with the Spanish GP completed and the European GP sold out.

External links

• 2008 F1 Tracks on Google Maps

References

Constructors and drivers competing in the 2008 Formula One championship
Ferrari BMW Sauber Renault Williams Red Bull Toyota Toro Rosso Honda Super Aguri Force India McLaren 1 Räikkönen 2 Massa 3 Heidfeld 4 Kubica 5 Alonso 6 Piquet 7 Rosberg 8 Nakajima 9 Coulthard 10 Webber 11 Trulli 12 Glock 14 Bourdais 15 Vettel 16 Button 17 Barrichello 18 Sato 19 Davidson 20 Sutil 21 Fisichella 22 Hamilton 23 Kovalainen