The Malaysian Grand Prix 2008 was the 2nd round of the 2008 F1 season, and took place at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on March 23rd.

Kimi Räikkönen won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Robert Kubica, and Heikki Kovalainen completing the podium.

Felipe Massa started from the pole position, but didn't manage to cross the finish line, as he lost control and spun off the track, and had to retire on lap 30th.

Final results

1
1
RAI
Kimi Räikkönen
Ferrari
1:31:18.555
Finished
2
2
KUB
Robert Kubica
BMW Sauber
+19.570
Finished
3
5
KOV
Heikki Kovalainen
McLaren
+38.450
Finished
4
1
TRU
Jarno Trulli
Toyota
+45.832
Finished
5
4
HAM
Lewis Hamilton
McLaren
+46.548
Finished
6
1
HEI
Nick Heidfeld
BMW Sauber
+49.833
Finished
7
1
WEB
Mark Webber
Red Bull
+1:08.130
Finished
8
1
ALO
Fernando Alonso
Renault
+1:10.041
Finished
9
3
COU
David Coulthard
Red Bull
+1:16.220
Finished
10
1
BUT
Jenson Button
Honda
+1:26.214
Finished
11
2
PIQ
Nelson Piquet Jr.
Renault
+1:32.202
Finished
12
5
FIS
Giancarlo Fisichella
Force India
+1 Lap
13
1
BAR
Rubens Barrichello
Honda
+1 Lap
14
2
ROS
Nico Rosberg
Williams
+1 Lap
15
6
DAV
Anthony Davidson
Super Aguri
+1 Lap
16
3
SAT
Takuma Sato
Super Aguri
+2 Laps
17
5
NAK
Kazuki Nakajima
Williams
+2 Laps
18
3
VET
Sebastian Vettel
Toro Rosso
Engine
19
18
MAS
Felipe Massa
Ferrari
Spun off
20
-
SUT
Adrian Sutil
Force India
Hydraulics
21
11
GLO
Timo Glock
Toyota
Collision
22
4
BOU
Sébastien Bourdais
Toro Rosso
Spun off
Show all

Race evolution

Pit Stops

Unfortunately we do not have pit stops information for this race.

Strategy

Unfortunately we do not have strategy information for this race..

Incidents

There were some incidents during the race, with 5 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.

These included, Sebastian Vettel, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 39, Felipe Massa, and Sébastien Bourdais, both lost control and spun off the track, Adrian Sutil, who experienced an hydraulic malfunction on lap 5, and Timo Glock, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 1.

Engine

  • Sebastian Vettel
    Lap 39

Spun off

  • Felipe Massa
    Lap 30
  • Sébastien Bourdais
    Lap 0

Hydraulics

  • Adrian Sutil
    Lap 5

Collision

  • Timo Glock
    Lap 1

Qualifying

#1
MAS
#2
RAI
#3
KOV
#4
HAM
#5
TRU
#6
KUB
#7
HEI
#8
WEB
#9
ALO
#10
GLO
#11
BUT
#12
COU
#13
PIQ
#14
BAR
#15
VET
#16
ROS
#17
FIS
#18
NAK
#19
BOU
#20
SAT
#21
SUT
#22
DAV

Felipe Massa managed to get the pole position by 0.482 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:35.748. Kimi Räikkönen was right behind him, helping Ferrari score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.

The second line fo the grid was dominated by McLaren, with Heikki Kovalainen in third position, and Lewis Hamilton in fourth.

Q1

  • Jarno Trulli
    1:35.205
  • Heikki Kovalainen
    1:35.227
  • Felipe Massa
    1:35.347
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:35.392
  • Mark Webber
    1:35.440
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:35.645
  • Nick Heidfeld
    1:35.729
  • Robert Kubica
    1:35.794
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:35.843
  • Jenson Button
    1:35.847
  • Timo Glock
    1:35.891
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:35.983
  • David Coulthard
    1:36.058
  • Nelson Piquet Jr.
    1:36.074
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:36.111
  • Rubens Barrichello
    1:36.198
  • Giancarlo Fisichella
    1:36.240
  • Kazuki Nakajima
    1:36.388
  • Sébastien Bourdais
    1:36.677
  • Takuma Sato
    1:37.087
  • Adrian Sutil
    1:37.101
  • Anthony Davidson
    1:37.481

Q2

  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:34.188
  • Felipe Massa
    1:34.412
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:34.627
  • Nick Heidfeld
    1:34.648
  • Heikki Kovalainen
    1:34.759
  • Robert Kubica
    1:34.811
  • Jarno Trulli
    1:34.960
  • Mark Webber
    1:34.967
  • Timo Glock
    1:35.000
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:35.140
  • Jenson Button
    1:35.208
  • David Coulthard
    1:35.408
  • Nelson Piquet Jr.
    1:35.562
  • Rubens Barrichello
    1:35.622
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:35.648
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:35.670

Q3

  • Felipe Massa
    1:35.748
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:36.230
  • Heikki Kovalainen
    1:36.613
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:36.709
  • Jarno Trulli
    1:36.711
  • Robert Kubica
    1:36.727
  • Nick Heidfeld
    1:36.753
  • Mark Webber
    1:37.009
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:38.450
  • Timo Glock
    1:39.656

Track evolution

Q1
-0.697
seconds faster
Q2
2.049
seconds slower
Q3

As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.

The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. However, the conditions of the track worsened from Q2 to Q3, and none of the drivers were able to improve their Q2 times.