Formula 1

About the season

The season finale in Brazil produced one of the most dramatic finishes in history: on the final lap's last corner, as rain suddenly intensified, Lewis Hamilton passed Timo Glock, who was struggling on dry tyres, to climb into the fifth place he needed for the title, just moments after Felipe Massa and the home crowd had begun celebrating. Hamilton became the youngest World Champion in F1 history at the time, while Massa and Ferrari's fans were left heartbroken by the narrowest possible margin. That September saw Formula 1's first-ever night race, the Singapore Grand Prix, held on the brand-new Marina Bay street circuit. At that race, Nelson Piquet Jr. suffered a suspicious crash that looked like a simple racing incident at the time; only a year later did it emerge that he had deliberately hit the wall on Renault's orders to trigger a safety car that benefited teammate Alonso. Lewis Hamilton won the 2008 Drivers' Championship with 98 points (McLaren), 1 point ahead of the runner-up. Ferrari won the Constructors' Championship with 172 points, 21 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 18 completed races this season, there were 87 retirements. 7 different drivers won a race this season. Felipe Massa took the most race wins, 6 in total. Hamilton won the season-opening race, the Australian Grand Prix. The Australian Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 16 drivers failing to finish. The most dominant win of the season came at the British Grand Prix, with a margin of 68.6 seconds. Piquet Jr. made the biggest gain of the season at the German Grand Prix, from grid position 17 to finishing 2 (up 15 places). The season's biggest upset win came from Alonso at the Singapore Grand Prix, starting from grid position 15. The closest finish of the season came at the Singapore Grand Prix, with a gap of just 2.957 seconds. Massa won the Brazilian Grand Prix, the final race of the season.