2008 Formula One World Championship: Hamilton's One-Point Title and the Crashgate Shadow

Hamilton edged the 2008 Formula One title by a single point, passing Toyota's Timo Glock at the last corner of the last lap in Brazil to take fifth place. Felipe Massa had won that race for Ferrari, but Hamilton's result was enough to take the title. Ferrari still took the constructors' championship, its last title to date.

Who won the 2008 title?

Hamilton became the youngest champion in the sport's history, and the first Black driver to be crowned. He was also the first Briton to take the crown since Damon Hill's 1996 title. The title was settled on the last lap, and Massa's team and family were already celebrating when the final overtake happened.

Kimi Raikkonen, the reigning champion, finished third in the standings with two wins after a mid-season dip in form. Massa's win at Brazil briefly put him in the lead before Hamilton's late move took the title.

One point decided a season that was later overshadowed by the Singapore race-fixing row.

What happened at the first Singapore Grand Prix?

The Singapore Grand Prix was the first Formula One night race, held on the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Massa took pole there, but the race became a turning point for the championship. Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed deliberately on lap 12, which brought out the safety car and helped his teammate Fernando Alonso win.

Practice and qualifying also ran at night, which was new for every team. Massa was leading when he made his stop under the safety car, but his fuel hose stayed connected, so his crew had to chase the car down the pit lane to free it. That error dropped him to last, while Hamilton gained the points for third place. Piquet later admitted the crash in 2009, after which Renault team principal Flavio Briatore resigned.

What rule changes came in for 2008?

Traction control was banned, having been reintroduced in 2001, and every team used a standard electronic control unit supplied by Microsoft MES. Bridgestone became the official tyre supplier for the 2008 to 2010 seasons, and its extreme wet tyres were marked with a white line.

Engines were frozen to last five years from 2008, and gearboxes had to last four races. A driver who changed a gearbox faced a five-place grid penalty, while fuel had to contain at least 5.75% biological materials. Teams were also limited to 30,000 km of testing during the calendar year.

The spare car rule was tightened, so no team could have more than two cars available at any time. Cockpit protection was also improved.

How did qualifying change for 2008?

Q1 was stretched to 20 minutes, and Q3 was cut to 10. Cars in Q3 could no longer add fuel after qualifying, which removed the old fuel-burn phase from the session. The procedure then changed again in May, as explained below.

A minimum lap time began at Bahrain, the third round, to stop cars rolling back to the garage at unsafe speeds. The change followed a problem in Malaysia. From 8 May, after Super Aguri left the sport, only the five lowest-qualified drivers were eliminated at the end of Q1, and only the top 15 went through to Q2.

Which teams joined, left or changed name?

Eleven teams started the year, but Super Aguri pulled out on 6 May after four races. The team had struggled financially after a sponsorship payment failed, and it rejected a buyout offer in January 2008 because it would have cut one of its 2007 drivers.

Prodrive was granted entry in April 2006, although the FIA had always said just 12 teams would be admitted. Richards confirmed in November 2007 that Prodrive would sit out 2008, since the customer-car legal position left no time to set up. Vijay Mallya bought Spyker for 88 million euros and renamed it Force India, with Adrian Sutil as second driver.

Honda left Formula One in December 2008. Ross Brawn then bought the team, which became Brawn GP in February 2009 and ran Mercedes power. Honda later came back as an engine supplier, from 2015.

Which drivers changed seats for 2008?

Fernando Alonso went back to Renault after one season at McLaren, and Heikki Kovalainen took over his seat at McLaren. Giancarlo Fisichella moved from Renault to Force India, and Nelson Piquet Jr., the son of a three-time world champion, took his seat at Renault.

Ralf Schumacher left Toyota for the DTM after an unsuccessful test for Force India, and Timo Glock returned to a race seat in his place. Sebastien Bourdais, the Champ Car champion for a fourth consecutive year, joined Toro Rosso. David Coulthard retired from racing after 14 years and 246 race starts, and he became a television pundit for the BBC.

What happened in pre-season testing?

The first multi-team test began at Jerez on 14 January 2008, with Ferrari, McLaren and Toyota all running their 2008 cars. BMW Sauber stayed away while it prepared to launch the F1.08, and Williams ran a modified version of its car. Testing then moved to Valencia, Barcelona and Bahrain, and the teams produced a range of times across the month.

Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheets in the final multi-team test in Barcelona, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher. McLaren were quicker than Ferrari on day two, and Jarno Trulli put Toyota on top on the last day. Racist abuse directed at Hamilton during the first Barcelona session also drew attention.

How did the season unfold race by race?

Hamilton started from pole and collected his fifth win in Australia, with Nick Heidfeld runner-up and Nico Rosberg claiming his first podium. Raikkonen won in Malaysia, his 16th career win, while Hamilton was fifth after a grid penalty and a pit stop mishap.

• Bahrain: Kubica took his first pole, and Massa won with Raikkonen second.
• Spain: Raikkonen won Ferrari's third consecutive victory, with Massa second.
• Turkey: Massa won for the third successive time at Istanbul.
• Monaco: Hamilton won despite a puncture from a barrier scrape, with Kubica second.
• Canada: a pit lane collision eliminated Hamilton and Raikkonen, and Kubica won his first race.
• France: Massa won after Raikkonen's exhaust problems.
• Britain and Germany: Hamilton won back-to-back races at Silverstone and Hockenheim.
• Hungary: Kovalainen took his first career victory after Massa's engine failure.
• Valencia: Massa won, with Hamilton second.
• Belgium: Hamilton won but received a 25-second penalty, and Massa was classified as the winner.
• Monza: Vettel set a record as the youngest pole sitter and winner.

How did the second half of the season decide the title?

Singapore was the turning point. Alonso then won in Japan, with Kubica runner-up. Hamilton was given a drive-through penalty in Japan after running wide at the start, but he was back in front at Shanghai, his first win since Hockenheim. That left the title race wide open.

At that stage, Hamilton's advantage over Massa stood at seven points. Massa won at Brazil to briefly take the title, but Vettel passed Hamilton on lap 69, and Hamilton then passed Glock on dry tyres to take fifth and win the championship by one point.

What changed on the calendar?

Singapore signed a contract to host the race for the next five years, on a street circuit designed by KBR. The European Grand Prix moved from the Nurburgring to the new Valencia Street Circuit. The German Grand Prix took place at Hockenheim, and the two German circuits were set to alternate hosting the race each year until 2014.

Indianapolis sat out 2008, although a return was not ruled out. Races in the United States returned in 2012, held at Austin's Circuit of the Americas. Magny-Cours was reported as the likely last French venue, but Bernie Ecclestone later agreed in principle to keep the race there for 2008 and possibly 2009.

Who won each race in 2008?

What happened after the season?

In 2009 Piquet admitted that his Singapore crash had been deliberate, and the scandal that followed became known as Crashgate. Renault faced race-fixing charges, and its team boss Flavio Briatore and engineering chief Pat Symonds departed. The affair continued to shape debate about the championship for years afterwards.

In March 2023 Bernie Ecclestone said that he and then-FIA president Max Mosley had known of the Renault manipulation during the 2008 season. He said the race should have been cancelled under the statutes, and that Massa would then have been champion. Former FIA president Jean Todt later said the Singapore race should have been annulled.

Following Ecclestone's comments, Massa reportedly began looking at whether he could challenge the outcome of the 2008 championship. Massa's legal team sent a formal pre-action letter to the FIA and FOM in August 2023. Hamilton's title was never formally altered, but the case kept the Singapore row in the news. In March 2024 Massa brought a claim against Ecclestone, the FIA and Formula One at the London High Court, asking for more than 80 million dollars.