2008 Monaco Grand Prix

2008 Monaco Grand Prix
Race 6 of 18 in the 2008 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Race details[1][2]
Date	25 May 2008
Official name	Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2008[1]
Location	Circuit de Monaco
Course	Street circuit
Course length	3.34 km (2.08 miles)
Distance	76 laps, 253.84 km (158.08 miles)
Scheduled distance	78 laps, 260.52 km (162.24 miles)
Weather	Wet, drying later.
Pole position
Driver	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
Time	1:15.787
Fastest lap
Driver	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari
Time	1:16.689 on lap 74
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber
Third	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 2008 Monaco Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2008) was a Formula One motor race held on 25 May 2008 at the Circuit de Monaco; contested over 76 laps, it was the sixth race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship. The race was won by the season's eventual Drivers' Champion, Lewis Hamilton, for the McLaren team. BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica finished second, and Felipe Massa, who started from pole position, was third in a Ferrari.

Conditions were wet at the start of the race. Massa maintained his lead into the first corner, but his teammate Kimi Räikkönen was passed for second by Hamilton, who had started in third position on the grid. Hamilton suffered a punctured tyre on lap six, forcing him to make a pit stop from which he re-entered the race in fifth place. As the track dried and his rivals made their own pit stops Hamilton became the race leader, a position he held until the end of the race. Kubica's strategy allowed him to pass Massa during their second pit stops, after the latter's Ferrari was forced to change from wet to dry tyres. Räikkönen dropped back from fifth position to ninth after colliding with Adrian Sutil's Force India late in the race. Sutil had started from 18th on the grid and was in fourth position before the incident, which allowed Red Bull driver Mark Webber to finish fourth, ahead of Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Vettel in fifth.

The race was Hamilton's second win of the season, his first in Monaco, and the result meant that he led the Drivers' Championship, three points ahead of Räikkönen and four ahead of Massa. Ferrari maintained their lead in the Constructors' Championship, 16 points ahead of McLaren and 17 ahead of BMW Sauber, with 12 races of the season remaining.