The 2008 Italian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Gran Premio Santander D'Italia 2008) was a
Formula One
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
motor race held on 14 September 2008 at the
Autodromo Nazionale di Monza
The Monza Circuit ( Italian: ; ) is a race track near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it was the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit after Brooklands and Indianapolis and the oldest in mainland Euro ...
,
Monza
Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...
, Italy. It was the 14th race of the
2008 Formula One World Championship. Future four-time World Champion
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Vettel won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won consecutively from to with Red Bull, and rema ...
for the
Toro Rosso team took a maiden victory, winning the 53-lap race from a maiden
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
.
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish auto racing, racing and rally driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Kovalainen won the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix with McLaren. In sportscar racing, Kovalainen won Super GT ...
finished second in a
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...
, and
Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing driver, racing and rally driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for AF Corse. Kubica competed in Formula One between and , and the World Rally Championship ...
third in a
BMW Sauber.
Vettel began the race, started under the
safety car
In motorsport, a safety car, or a pace car, is a car that limits the speed of competing cars or motorcycles on a racetrack in the case of a ''caution period,'' such as an obstruction on the track or bad weather. The safety car aims to enable the ...
, ahead of Kovalainen in second.
Red Bull
Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...
's
Mark Webber started from third. Rain early in the race allowed Vettel to establish a solid lead over Kovalainen, which he extended as the track dried. Kubica and
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver who competes in Formula One for Aston Martin in Formula One, Aston Martin. Alonso has won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with ...
finished in the top four after starting from 11th and eighth, respectively. McLaren driver and
Drivers' Championship leader
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...
was able to move through the field after qualifying in 15th, finishing in seventh, one place behind rival
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa (; born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver, who competes in the Stock Car Pro Series for TMG Racing, TMG and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Riley Technologies, Riley. Massa competed in Formula One from to , and w ...
, of
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...
.
Vettel's victory made him the
youngest driver to win a Formula One race, at 21 years 73 days in addition to giving Toro Rosso (which was formerly
Minardi
Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal following ...
team) its maiden Formula One win despite using a 2007-spec engine, and also became the first German driver to win a race since
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher (; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to and from to . Schumacher won a record-setting seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, tied by Lewis Hamilton in ...
at the
2006 Chinese Grand Prix. Vettel's record was broken by
Max Verstappen
Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Dutch and Belgian racing driver who competes under the Dutch flag in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. Verstappen has won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he w ...
aged 18 years and 228 days at the
2016 Spanish Grand Prix. Massa scored one
point more than Hamilton, narrowing the McLaren driver's lead in the Championship once more with four races remaining. However, Kovalainen's second-placed finish put McLaren closer to catching Ferrari in the
Constructors' Championship.
This race marked Toro Rosso's first and only podium until the
2019 German Grand Prix as well as first and only victory until the
2020 Italian Grand Prix when
Pierre Gasly
Pierre Jean-Jacques Gasly (; born 7 February 1996) is a French racing driver who competes in Formula One for Alpine. Gasly won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix with AlphaTauri.
Born and raised in Normandy, Gasly began competitive kart racing age ...
won in the pseudo-successor
Scuderia AlphaTauri
Scuderia AlphaTauri S.p.A, or simply AlphaTauri, was an Italian Formula One racing team and constructor that competed from to . It was one of two Formula One constructors owned by Austrian conglomerate Red Bull GmbH, the other being Red Bull ...
team. This was also Kovalainen's last podium in Formula One.
Background
Heading into the 14th race of the season,
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...
driver
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...
led the
Drivers' Championship with 76
points
A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to:
Mathematics
* Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...
;
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...
driver
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa (; born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver, who competes in the Stock Car Pro Series for TMG Racing, TMG and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Riley Technologies, Riley. Massa competed in Formula One from to , and w ...
was second on 74 points, two points behind Hamilton. Behind Hamilton and Massa in the Drivers' Championship,
Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing driver, racing and rally driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for AF Corse. Kubica competed in Formula One between and , and the World Rally Championship ...
was third on 58 points in a
BMW Sauber, and Massa's Ferrari teammate
Kimi Räikkönen fourth on 57 points. Kubica's teammate
Nick Heidfeld was fifth on 49 points.
In the
Constructors' Championship, Ferrari were leading on 131 points and McLaren were second on 119 points, 12 points behind. BMW Sauber were third with 107 points. In the battle for fourth-place
Toyota
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
had 41 points, ahead of
Renault
Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...
with 36 points.
After the
previous race, Hamilton was penalised for cutting a
chicane
A chicane () is a serpentine curve in a road, added by design rather than dictated by geography. Chicanes add extra turns and are used both in motor racing and on roads and streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is ...
and gaining an advantage over Räikkönen in the closing laps. This meant that Hamilton was demoted from first to third position, giving victory to Massa. While McLaren had lodged an appeal against the decision, the result would not be heard until September 23.
Reflecting on the controversy,
Norbert Haug, Vice President of
Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, said:
Following the rain-soaked Belgian Grand Prix, Massa expressed his hope that the Italian Grand Prix would be held on a dry track, saying "it would be nice not to have the rain here and not have any opportunity to have a consistent race." The close nature of the Championship meant that Ferrari's home race had the potential to be a turning point in the season.
Testing at the
Monza circuit
The Monza Circuit (Italian language, Italian: ; ) is a race track near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it was the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit after Brooklands and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, In ...
in early September had indicated that the performance gap between McLaren and Ferrari had narrowed.
Despite this, Ferrari were hoping that their straight-line speed would be better suited to Monza's long straights.
Ferrari confirmed on September 12 that Räikkönen would continue to drive for the team until at least 2010, ending media speculation that he could be about to retire.
Practice

Three practice sessions were held before the race: the first was held on Friday morning and the second on Friday afternoon. Both sessions lasted 90 minutes. The third session was held on Saturday morning and lasted an hour.
All three sessions were affected by rain, with only the second giving teams any chance to run
dry-weather tyres.
Adrian Sutil
Adrian Sutil (; born 11 January 1983) is a German racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to .
Born and raised in Starnberg, Sutil started kart racing, karting aged 14 and moved into single seater racing in 2002 in the Formula Ford, Sw ...
was quickest with a time of 1:32.842 in the first session, more than half a second quicker than the next fastest drivers
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Gonçalves Barrichello (; born 23 May 1972) is a Brazilian racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster, who competes in the Stock Car Pro Series for Full Time Sports. Nicknamed "Rubinho" (), Barrichello competed in Formula One fro ...
and
Giancarlo Fisichella
Giancarlo "Giano" Fisichella (; born 14 January 1973), also known as Fisico or Fisi, is an Italian racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Fisichella won three Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons.
Bo ...
.
Timo Glock was the next quickest, almost four seconds behind Sutil. Conditions were so poor that six drivers, including both McLarens, failed to set times.
The session was stopped four minutes early, though by that time no cars had entered the track for at least ten minutes.
The track dried out in the second session; Räikkönen adapted best to the changed conditions with a lap of 1:23.861, significantly quicker than his morning time.
Kubica was the next fastest, with his BMW teammate Heidfeld in third. Hamilton,
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German and Finnish former racing driver and entrepreneur, who competed under the German flag in Formula One from to . Rosberg won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Mercedes, and w ...
and Massa rounded out the top six.
Glock was fastest in the final session with a time of 1:35.464, followed by
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Vettel won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won consecutively from to with Red Bull, and rema ...
, Rosberg,
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli (; born 13 July 1974) is an Italian former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Trulli won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix with Renault in Formula One, Renault.
He regularly competed in Formula ...
,
Kazuki Nakajima and Heidfeld. Hamilton only completed eight laps, and finished last with a time almost 11 seconds behind Glock.
Qualifying
The qualifying session on Saturday afternoon was split into three parts. The first part ran for 20 minutes and eliminated the cars from qualifying that finished the session 16th or lower. The second part of qualifying lasted 15 minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions 11 to 15. The final part of qualifying determined the positions from first to tenth, and decided
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
. Cars which competed in the final session of qualifying were not allowed to refuel before the race, and as such carried more fuel than in the previous sessions.
Vettel became the
youngest driver in the history of Formula One to take
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
, with a time of 1:37.555 in very wet conditions.
He was joined on the front row of the grid by Kovalainen.
Mark Webber qualified third after his final lap pushed
Sébastien Bourdais
Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (; born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver who currently races in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Cadillac Hertz Team Jota in the Hypercar category. He is one of the most successful dr ...
into fourth position. Massa took sixth position behind Rosberg. Trulli,
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver who competes in Formula One for Aston Martin in Formula One, Aston Martin. Alonso has won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with ...
, Glock and Heidfeld rounded out the top ten.
Kubica qualified 11th, blaming late rain in the second qualifying session for his position.
Fisichella qualified 12th to give
Force India
Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 200 ...
its best grid position of the season.
Both Räikkönen and Hamilton blamed a late entry into the second session for their poor qualifying times, which saw them eliminated in 14th and 15th positions, respectively.
Hamilton originally ran on the standard
wet-weather tyres, and by the time he had changed to extreme wet-weather tyres the rain had intensified. This was McLaren's only result outside the top ten in qualifying all season
and the first time in Hamilton's career that he had failed to progress into the final qualifying session.
Qualifying classification
Race

Heavy rain prior to the race made the track very slippery, with more rain expected throughout the day.
The
air temperature
Atmospheric temperature is a measure of temperature at different levels of the Earth's atmosphere. It is governed by many factors, including incoming solar radiation, humidity, and altitude. The abbreviation MAAT is often used for Mean Annual Air ...
at the track was .
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Jota. Button competed in Formula One from to , and won the World Drivers' Championship in with Brawn; ...
and
Kazuki Nakajima started the race from the pit-lane, their teams choosing to make adjustments from qualifying to the
set-ups of their cars.
All cars were using extreme wet-weather tyres. The race began at 14:00 local time (
UTC+1
+01:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +01:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+01:00. This time is used in:
*Central European Time
* West Africa Time
* Western European Summer Time
**Brit ...
) behind the
safety car
In motorsport, a safety car, or a pace car, is a car that limits the speed of competing cars or motorcycles on a racetrack in the case of a ''caution period,'' such as an obstruction on the track or bad weather. The safety car aims to enable the ...
because of the rain, meaning that there would be a
rolling start.
Bourdais' car
stalled on the grid, and was pushed back to the pits. By the time his team restarted the car, he was in last position and one lap down.
The safety car pulled into the pit-lane at the end of the second lap. Vettel retained his lead into the first corner, followed by Kovalainen, Webber, Rosberg and Massa. Kubica passed Heidfeld at the first chicane;
Glock passed Alonso later in the lap.
Vettel immediately opened a lead of two seconds over Kovalainen; the McLaren driver experienced visibility problems as a result of the spray off the back of the Toro Rosso.
Alonso regained seventh from Glock when he passed him at the first chicane on lap four as the track began to dry. Räikkönen and Hamilton passed Coulthard on the same lap to take 12th and 13th positions, respectively.
The next lap, Hamilton attempted to pass Räikkönen at the third corner, but overshot, cutting the chicane. Emerging ahead of the Ferrari, he gave the place back, returning the advantage and avoiding a penalty.
Glock spun on lap seven, losing one place to Kubica.

Vettel continued to open his lead on Kovalainen; by lap eight it stood at 6.3 seconds.
Both Räikkönen and Hamilton passed Fisichella in separate manoeuvres over the next two laps. Hamilton took 11th position from Räikkönen on lap 11, outbraking the Ferrari at turn four.
Fisichella collided with Coulthard two laps later. As a result of the contact, the Force India's
front wing broke loose and lodged under the car. Consequently, Fisichella lost control at turn nine, spinning into the
gravel trap and retiring.
Massa overtook Rosberg for fourth on the same lap, beginning a close fight where both drivers repeatedly exchanged positions over the next three laps. Massa eventually consolidated fourth position on lap 15.
Hamilton passed Heidfeld, Glock, Kubica and Alonso in separate manoeuvres, to sit in seventh by lap 19.
Vettel
pitted from first position on lap 18. Kovalainen, Webber and Massa pitted four laps later.
Light rain began to fall on lap 26, though only lasted five minutes.
Glock, Trulli, Räikkönen and Hamilton completed their first pit stops over the following laps.
Coulthard was the first driver to try intermediate wet-weather tyres when he pitted on lap 28.
He lost grip in the wet and went straight through the first chicane.
Alonso, Heidfeld, Kubica and Piquet took their only pit stops for the race soon after, all changing to intermediate tyres.
By lap 36 the majority of the field were running on intermediate tyres.
Webber was passed at turn eight by Massa on lap 35. The Australian spun after the corner, though managed to retain seventh position.
A lap later, however, Hamilton outbraked Webber at turn three and demoted the Red Bull driver to eighth.

Hamilton began lapping fastest, recording a 1:32.869 on lap 38, more than a second faster than first-placed Vettel.
Lap 45 saw three drivers set consecutive new
fastest lap
In motorsports, the fastest lap is the quickest lap run during a race. In some racing series, like NASCAR, the fastest lap award championship points for a driver or team. In Formula One and MotoGP no point is awarded for the fastest lap.
Formula O ...
s; Kubica's 1:32.366 was beaten by Webber with a 1:32.014s. They were then superseded by Räikkönen, who set a 1:31.691.
On lap 49 Webber attempted to pass Hamilton at the first chicane, but the two cars touched wheels.
Webber was forced down the escape road, and when he emerged in front of Hamilton, he returned the position.
Räikkönen continued to move through the field; he passed Coulthard and Piquet in separate manoeuvres to take ninth position.
Nakajima attempted to pass Coulthard into turn nine, but succeeded only in turning into the
Red Bull RB4, sending it into the gravel trap.
Coulthard pitted for a new front wing, which dropped him to 17th.
Vettel crossed the finish line on lap 53 by 12.5 seconds over Kovalainen, becoming the youngest driver in Formula One history to win a Grand Prix.
The one-stop strategies used by Kubica and Alonso paid off as they finished in third and fourth, respectively.
Heidfeld, Massa, Hamilton and Webber rounded out the top eight.
Räikkönen finished in ninth position, setting the fastest laptime of 1:28.047 on the final lap.
Post-race
The top three finishers appeared on the podium and in the subsequent
press conference
A press conference, also called news conference or press briefing, is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalism, journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicia ...
. Vettel acknowledged the support of his team, saying the set-up of the car perfectly suited the way the race developed.
Other drivers congratulated Vettel; Hamilton said that "with all that pressure it is easier to make mistakes, and he obviously didn't, so congratulations to him. He did a good job."
The Grand Prix also marked the first win by Toro Rosso, the first non-Ferrari Italian-based team to win since 1957.
Many of the Toro Rosso team had been there when the outfit competed as Minardi, a team that rarely scored points, let alone won a race, but were always very popular, adding an emotional aspect to the victory. Ferrari team principal
Stefano Domenicali paid tribute to the team, who use Ferrari engines, saying "They deserve it, they are close to us, and we are happy to work with them because we are giving them our engine."
Kovalainen expressed his disappointment in finishing second, saying:

Hamilton was satisfied with his performance in the race, saying "today was all about damage control: I came away with some points and kept my lead in the world Drivers' Championship."
Massa said that he had hoped to do better, but added "I've managed to make up a point on my nearest rival so this is absolutely not a negative result."
Massa took three points from the race, compared to Hamilton's two, and narrowed the gap in the Drivers' Championship to one point with four races remaining.
Kovalainen's second-placed finish closed the gap in the Constructors' Championship between Ferrari and McLaren from twelve to five points.
Third-placed Kubica said that his strategy allowed him to capitalise on the changing track conditions, as his only stop seemed the best time to change to intermediate tyres.
The Polish driver said that racing in Italy was particularly special for him, having lived in the country for five years: "That is why we divided the helmet into two pieces. One was Italian colours, one was Polish colours."
Alonso, who used a similar strategy, said "the result today is very good because Monza was supposed to be the race that we were looking forward to the least."
Toyota's failure to score at the race meant that they were tied with Renault on 41 points.
Race classification
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Constructors' Championship standings
*
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
*
Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
See also
*
2008 Monza GP2 Series round
References
External links
Official FIA results
{{coord, 45, 36, 56, N, 9, 16, 52, E, source:kolossus-nowiki, display=title
Italian Grand Prix
The Italian Grand Prix () is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix motor racing, motor racing Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been held since 1921 ...
Italian Grand Prix
Grand Prix
September 2008 sports events in Italy