The Complete 2008 British GP Review

It's no exaggeration to say that this year's British Grand Prix was a make or break event for Lewis Hamilton.

He arrived at his home race after two non-scores due to the errors and controversies of Canada and France, and amid an increasing amount of negative media coverage in the UK.

Hamilton's frustration with the press became obvious at Magny-Cours, but the greater annoyance was that he was slipping back in the points, having dropped to fourth in the championship, 10 adrift of leader Felipe Massa.

Losing to the Ferraris again at Silverstone would have been a major blow to his title hopes, while to do so due to another mistake would have been even worse - not only harming him in the points, but adding to the pressure from outside.

When he only managed fourth on the grid thanks to a scrappy qualifying performance, it looked like things might just go from bad to worse for Hamilton.

But just as he appeared to be losing his composure, the Briton responded with a sublime victory in incredibly challenging conditions.

After qualifying he had tried to play down his frustration at his performance, but with the race win secured, he confessed that he had begun to feel overwhelmed and was not expecting much from the GP.

"I had a lot of pressure on me," Hamilton admitted. "I had done a terrible job in qualifying, at least by my standards.

"The plan was not to big myself up and say 'I'm going to go out and win and try and do everything on the first lap.' I would have been happy with eighth today, I would have been happy just getting a point and so with that approach, I just remained relaxed, I remained calm.

"That's really what helped me keep everything together. It was such a mental challenge out there. You could see the fans, they were getting all excited. The track conditions were changing non-stop and I couldn't see a thing through my damn visor, so I had to keep on putting it up and cleaning it. I'm just pleased it's over."

The win served the immediate function of bringing Hamilton back level with the Ferrari duo at the head of the standings. Longer-term, it could be remembered as one of the classic wet weather victories. Hamilton already believes it was his best drive yet, and he suggested that his huge winning margin could have been even greater had the team not ordered him to ease his pace.

"I didn't want to slow down because the moment you slow down, you perhaps lose concentration, so I just said 'I'm comfortable at the pace I'm going' and even then I was a silly amount quicker than everyone," he said.

But after the events of recent weeks, Hamilton conceded that he had been haunted by the thoughts of another error.

"Imagine I was a minute ahead and I came off, and I didn't win," he pondered. "There would be no way you could come back from that. That would be the most embarrassing thing. You would have to retire..."

Hamilton had to get everything right at Silverstone, and despite all that nature threw at him, that's exactly what he did.

It was already a momentous weekend for British motorsport, with the announcement that the nation's Formula One race was to switch to Donington Park from 2010, and Britain's most successful active driver David Coulthard declaring that this would be his final season.

For Hamilton to become the first home winner at Silverstone since Coulthard eight years ago was a thoroughly apt end to the weekend, and an ideal appetiser for the second half of the season. Now it's up to Ferrari to strike back again.

Practice

Practice one: Friday am

Felipe Massa had an eventful start to his first weekend as championship leader: incurring the chagrin of Robert Kubica after accidentally impeding the BMW, crashing heavily at Stowe after hitting oil dropped by Fernando Alonso's blown Renault engine, and yet still ending the session fastest.

The Ferrari driver had set his benchmark time just before the accident, which caused an 18-minute stoppage while the debris was cleared and the spilt oil covered. Unsurprisingly track conditions weren't conducive to fast times afterwards, so Massa remained on top, although the two McLarens edged closer to him.

Other, less dramatic, incidents saw Adrian Sutil launching his Force India over the off-track undulations at Becketts, and Timo Glock looping his Toyota in the complex.

Both still managed plenty of mileage, unlike the Honda duo, who had to sit out most of the session after a rear suspension problem was discovered on Rubens Barrichello's car.

Practice two: Friday pm

Having narrowly lost out to Massa in the morning, Heikki Kovalainen took charge in the afternoon - holding a comfortable margin over the field for much of the session.

His McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton was third, sandwiched between the rapid Red Bull duo Mark Webber and David Coulthard, the latter fresh from announcing his decision to retire at the end of the season.

The upbeat Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel completed the top six for Williams and Toro Rosso respectively.

Ferrari repaired Massa's car in time for him to join the second half of the session, although he only managed eighth, four places ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

It was a bad afternoon for Toyota, as Glock was halted by a clutch failure and his teammate Jarno Trulli hit the barriers at Stowe after a worrying rear wing detachment on the approach to the corner.

Also in the wars was Williams' Kazuki Nakajima, who spun on the exit of the Abbey chicane and eventually came to rest at Bridge, minus his front wing and with damaged suspension.

Practice three: Saturday am

With rain widely forecast for the weekend, many felt that Friday's dry sessions would prove to be irrelevant. Sure enough, when the weather turned on Saturday morning, rather than waiting for the track to improve, most of the field came out to get some potentially valuable wet running.

The circuit dried throughout the hour, leading to constantly cascading times. It was Fernando Alonso who eventually emerged on top, 0.2 seconds ahead of Webber, and half a second clear of Kovalainen, with Vettel impressing yet again in fourth and Hamilton completing the top five.

Despite the tricky conditions, there were few incidents, bar minor spins for Nakajima and Trulli. The only driver to suffer a significant problem was Coulthard, who was stranded in the Red Bull garage with an oil leak for most of the morning.

Qualifying

Part one

For the third British Grand Prix in a row, Jenson Button was knocked out of qualifying for his home race at the first hurdle. And as had been the case last year, the reason was a pure lack of speed in his Honda, as he ended up 17th, just behind teammate Rubens Barrichello.

Button did take some solace from starting ahead of Williams' Nico Rosberg. The German only managed 18th due to a puzzling suspension problem.

"It was jumping all over the place in the middle of the corners," he said. "It was there yesterday and it's been getting worse all weekend."

The Force Indias again brought up the rear, although they were much closer to the pace than they had been in France. Adrian Sutil out-qualified Giancarlo Fisichella again after the Italian had a problem with loose bodywork and then spun at Brooklands.

The eliminated quintet's problems were such that none looked likely to make the cut even if the session hadn't been interrupted by a quick rain shower with five minutes to go. But David Coulthard could count himself very fortunate - having slipped through to the Q2 positions just as the rain started.

Part two

Coulthard didn't get a second reprieve in Q2, though. He improved with his last lap of the segment, yet could only reach 11th - 0.059 seconds outside the top ten cut.

"If we had done a little bit more running in the morning I think we could have been in better shape," he said. "In reality we had the pace to be in the top 10, we just didn't deliver it on the lap that counted."

The Scot would share row six with Timo Glock, as Toyota tumbled down the order after their Magny-Cours resurgence. Glock had looked like he might sneak into the top ten until Nelson Piquet snatched the place away in the closing seconds, with Coulthard's improvement then edging Glock back to 12th. His teammate Jarno Trulli was only 14th, behind Sebastien Bourdais' Toro Rosso.

"We haven't looked very competitive here," admitted the slightly baffled Trulli.

Williams were struggling even more. Kazuki Nakajima reached Q2, but even Trulli was half a second faster than him, as the Japanese rookie had to settle for 15th.

"The difference between our times and those of the other teams is quite significant," said Nakajima. "We need to find something from the car, and from me, and we will need to do a lot of work tonight."

Part three

Despite expectations that Silverstone would again favour Ferrari, it was McLaren who had held the advantage through the first two thirds of qualifying, with Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton topping one session apiece.

The script favoured a home pole for Hamilton, but in fact it was Kovalainen who coped best with the difficult, gusty conditions.

The Finn wasn't over-impressed with his first flying lap - "I was all over the place"- yet it was still good enough for provisional pole by 0.3 seconds over Kimi Raikkonen. And despite his self-confessed errors, Kovalainen had kept it together rather better than teammate Hamilton, who ran wide through the gravel on the exit of Priory.

Everyone made massive gains on their second runs, and it was Raikkonen who first snatched provisional pole away from Kovalainen.

But then the Ferrari itself was beaten by a staggering effort by Red Bull's Mark Webber. The Australian had been quick in every session so far, but even Webber was taken aback by his speed in Q3.

"It was a bit of a surprise actually," he said. "We have been pretty strong most of the weekend but we didn't realise how strong."

He wasn't quite strong enough to hold on to pole though, as Kovalainen crossed the line to snatch the top spot away by a full 0.5 seconds moments later, after what McLaren boss Ron Dennis described as "phenomenal" lap.

Kovalainen was thrilled to finally take his first pole - but also realistic about what was to follow.

"We can be happy about today but tomorrow is going to be tough," he said. "It's going to be a hard race with the guys around us but I think we have a good opportunity."

Behind the sensational Webber, whose front row place was Red Bull's best ever grid slot, and the underwhelmed Raikkonen, Kovalainen's teammate Hamilton insisted - not very convincingly - that he was "happy" with fourth.

Both Raikkonen and Hamilton were in much better shape than points leaders Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica though, as the top two in the championship found themselves sharing row five. Massa had to rely on his poor first lap after a wheelnut problem in his pitstop delayed him enough to preclude a second run, while Kubica pulled in after his out-lap with a puzzling steering problem.

That allowed his BMW teammate Nick Heidfeld to out-qualify the Pole for the first time all year, taking fifth ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet.

Sebastian Vettel lived up to the promise he had shown in practice, cruising through to Q3, where he ran a conservative strategy but - thanks to Massa and Kubica's problems - still found himself eighth on the grid.

Qualifying results

Pos  Driver        Team                 Q1        Q2        Q3       Laps
 1.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     1:19.957  1:19.597  1:21.049  15
 2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     1:20.982  1:19.710  1:21.554  16
 3.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              1:20.370  1:19.971  1:21.706  18
 4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     1:20.288  1:19.537  1:21.835  13
 5.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           1:21.022  1:19.802  1:21.873  16
 6.  Alonso        Renault              1:20.998  1:19.992  1:22.029  15
 7.  Piquet        Renault              1:20.818  1:20.115  1:22.491  19
 8.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:20.318  1:20.109  1:23.251  16
 9.  Massa         Ferrari              1:20.676  1:20.086  1:23.305  16
10.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           1:20.444  1:19.788            12
11.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     1:21.224  1:20.174            14
12.  Glock         Toyota               1:20.893  1:20.274            14
13.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:20.584  1:20.531            16
14.  Trulli        Toyota               1:21.145  1:20.601            13
15.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      1:21.407  1:21.112            14
16.  Barrichello   Honda                1:21.512                       9
17.  Button        Honda                1:21.631                      11
18.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      1:21.668                       6
19.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari  1:21.786                       9
20.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari  1:21.885                       8

The Race

The rain arrived in earnest on Sunday morning, although as the start time approached, the skies were clearing. Intermediate wets were the only sensible option, but with the track still very wet, the opening laps were going to be tricky...

Lewis Hamilton found the best grip off the line, shooting past Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen as the slow-starting Red Bull tried to fend off the Ferrari, and then inching ahead of his McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen as they turned into Copse.

Kovalainen wasn't going to give away his pole advantage that easily though, and braved it out on the outside line, brushing wheels with Hamilton slightly as he claimed the lead.

"That was some close racing," said Hamilton. "I got a great start at the beginning, but to be honest, I lifted too early. Heikki had the outside line, so he had the grip but unfortunately I was on the inside and I was just sliding, sliding across. There was nothing I could do to avoid him."

Raikkonen tucked in to third place, while Webber's sojourn at the front proved to be very short-lived, as the Australian spun out of fourth on the exit of Becketts. He was miraculously avoided by the rest of the pack and rejoined last.

Webber wasn't the only one to slip up amid the spray on lap one: Kazuki Nakajima bounced over the grass at Abbey, while Felipe Massa spun his Ferrari on the exit of the chicane, and then repeated the error at Luffield next time around. By the end of the race, the Brazilian would have notched up no fewer than five spins...

The only first lap retirees were David Coulthard and Sebastian Vettel, after the Red Bull driver's attempted pass at Priory left both in the gravel.

"I'm extremely disappointed and sorry for the team," said Coulthard. "I've taken out two Red Bull cars so that's obviously the worst case scenario."

At the front, Hamilton was making strenuous efforts to pass Kovalainen, while being careful not to emulate Coulthard's faux pas - backing out of one move on the exit of Luffield.

"We were almost side-by-side and I had an oversteer moment," Hamilton said. "The last thing I wanted to do was take my teammate out."

With Raikkonen lurking close behind, and Fernando Alonso closing in on the lead trio after passing Nick Heidfeld at Vale on the second lap, Hamilton was understandably eager to get past Kovalainen - who did have not the same level of wet weather pace - and make a break.

Finally on lap five Hamilton made a successful move at Stowe. The home crowd roared with approval, and were even happier when Hamilton immediately started storming away from his teammate.

His lead doubled when Kovalainen had a quick spin at Abbey on lap 10, rejoining just ahead of Alonso in third and allowing Raikkonen up to second.

The Ferrari was six seconds adrift at this stage, but as the track dried, Raikkonen came alive and started carving into Hamilton's advantage by up to a second per lap. By lap 20, there was less than a second between them.

They had pulled clear from the rest of the field by then, as Kovalainen edged away from Alonso but fell 14 seconds adrift of the leaders before his first stop on lap 19.

Heidfeld and Nelson Piquet held lonely fifth and sixth places, ahead of Jarno Trulli, who had made up a lot of ground with an aggressive first lap but now had BMW's Robert Kubica and his Toyota teammate Timo Glock queued up behind him.

Determined to atone for his first lap error, Webber was often the fastest man on track in the opening laps as he carved through the midfield in spectacular style. By the time he pitted on lap 18 - late enough to demonstrate that his qualifying heroics were far more than a low fuel fluke - the Australian had reached 10th place ahead of the two Hondas.

Adrian Sutil had initially looked like he might produce another star rain performance for Force India as he charged from 19th to 11th in the first few laps. But he couldn't sustain his pace and soon fell back from the Hondas, before snapping into a spin on standing water on the approach to Abbey, and nearly harpooning Sebastien Bourdais' Toro Rosso as he headed for the gravel and retirement.

Bourdais escaped that scare, then lost a place to the recovering Nakajima, while at the very bottom of the field Giancarlo Fisichella was doing his best to hold off pitlane starter Nico Rosberg and the sheepish Massa, who finally reached the front of this group on lap 17. Fisichella eventually spun out at Becketts, blaming worn tyres.

With the lap times getting within eight seconds of dry weather pace, most of the early stoppers decided to keep their existing set of intermediates in the expectation that the circuit would soon be totally dry.

McLaren disagreed, though, and when Hamilton and Raikkonen pitted in unison on lap 21, they produced a fresh set of intermediates while Ferrari left their Finn on his worn tyres.

Within minutes it became clear which choice was correct, as the rain returned on the leaders' out-laps. That was perfect for Hamilton and his fresh intermediates, but a nightmare for Raikkonen on tyres that were already heading towards 'slick' status. Rather than closing on Hamilton, he began to lose five seconds per lap to the McLaren and fall into the clutches of third-placed Kovalainen.

Heidfeld - who led for one lap before his stop - would have been in the same position had he not queried BMW's strategy.

"They said it should only be a short shower but I was going down Hangar Straight and I thought 'how could that become just a small shower?' It was so dark and the rain was getting stronger. So I told them I thought we should go on new inters," said Heidfeld.

Fortunately for him, BMW took his advice. Heidfeld rejoined just behind Alonso, whose slightly earlier stop had put him amongst the late-stopping Toyotas and who was now also struggling desperately with worn intermediates.

Lapping faster than all bar Hamilton, Heidfeld took no prisoners on his out-lap as he swept around the outside of Glock at Luffield, then jinked inside Alonso through Woodcote and accelerated straight past the Renault.

Trulli was also despatched within a lap, and Heidfeld then rapidly homed in on Raikkonen and Kovalainen. The latter had the right tyre strategy, but the wrong handling: hampered by understeer he was finding it hard to pass his grip-less countryman for second.

Finally on lap 27 Kovalainen out-dragged Raikkonen on the exit of Luffield, but Heidfeld had got an even better exit from the complex and surged past both the Ferrari and the McLaren in one astounding move to take second place.

With the rain showing no signs of abating, Alonso gave up on his wrecked tyres on lap 26 and pitted for fresh intermediates and enough fuel to reach the finish, having been losing up to eight seconds per lap. The stop dropped him to 10th, but would give him the chance to recover ground as others pitted later.

Incredibly, despite losing a similar amount of time, Raikkonen stayed out until lap 30 before stopping to fill up with fuel and get some healthy tyres, leaving him way back in 11th.

Meanwhile Kubica had got himself out of the traffic and was emulating teammate Heidfeld's charge, passing Piquet and Kovalainen in quick succession to reach third by lap 34, although by that time he was 25 seconds behind his fellow BMW driver, who was steadily falling away from the relentless Hamilton.

Just as the race was settling down, the rain suddenly increased with a vengeance. Piquet, who had moved up to fourth after the struggling Kovalainen made an early final pitstop, was the first victim - the Renault sliding off at Club and then aquaplaning into the Abbey gravel moments later.

"The track was completely flooded," said Piquet. "It wasn't just in the turns that the car was out of control, it was even on the straights. It was impossible."

Honda and Williams reacted immediately, bringing both their cars in for extreme wet tyres. The rest of the pitlane remained convinced that with the rain set to pass as quickly as it came, there was no point changing tyre type, and the McLarens and BMWs stuck with intermediates when they made their pitstops a couple of laps later.

But that theory overlooked the fact that the downpour had left the track absolutely sodden, so while the extreme wet runners' advantage would be fleeting, it was substantial - anything from five to 12 seconds per lap over those grappling with intermediates in the puddles.

Indeed just staying on the road was proving to be an arduous task for those on the shallow grooves. Raikkonen had spins at both Bridge and Woodcote in quick succession, his teammate Massa added several both rotations to his tally, Glock managed to spin even more times than Massa, and Kubica went off briefly at Becketts before spinning into the Abbey gravel a few laps later, putting the title contender out of the race. Webber also had a spin at the same spot, and even the otherwise invincible Hamilton slid over the grass at the sodden chicane.

"It was so extreme out there," said the leader. "It was probably as extreme in some cases as Fuji last year."

As Hamilton struggled, Barrichello swept past on the Hangar Straight to un-lap himself. The Brazilian had been flying all afternoon. An early spin at Club dropped him behind teammate Button, but some rapid out-laps after his first stop got him ahead of the other Honda, and both Toyotas, putting Barrichello sixth prior to his switch to extremes.

He lost 20 seconds at that stop due to a fuel rig problem that would also force him to come in again, but in the meantime, the Honda driver was on a charge.

Button and Rosberg had been going even faster - up to five seconds quicker in the case of the former - only for both to squander their chances with errors. Even his extreme wets didn't stop the former from aquaplaning into retirement at Bridge, while Rosberg was caught out by his speed advantage and smashed his front wing on the rear of Glock's Toyota.

Barrichello had no such problems. He swept past Alonso on lap 39, Trulli (who was briefly in third before making a late final pitstop) on lap 41, and then caught and overtook Heidfeld for second within a further two laps.

"I was passing people on the inside, the outside and it was just magic," said Barrichello.

He even began to trim Hamilton's advantage, although the remarkable leader was circulating far quicker than the other intermediate drivers, lapping between two and five seconds faster than every other runner on the same tyres.

Unfortunately for Barrichello, his fuel shortage meant he had to pit again on lap 46, but his pace had been so rapid that he only lost one position, resuming behind Heidfeld in third and now back on intermediates as the sun had finally emerged.

With the top three positions set, attention turned to an increasingly chaotic battle for fourth. Alonso had, as expected, crept back into contention and was running fourth, but his early stop - and the Renault's appetite for tyres - left him struggling for grip in the final laps.

That allowed Kovalainen to close in and pass the Renault into Priory on lap 46, only for the McLaren to spin at Brooklands four laps later and fall back behind not only Alonso, but the recovering Raikkonen, who was back up to a competitive pace after his tyre troubles and errors.

Alonso soon had both the Ferrari and the McLaren in his mirrors, and some of the most inventive racing of this thrilling afternoon ensued as the former champion did his utmost to fend off his much faster rivals. Despite Alonso's best efforts, Raikkonen grabbed fourth with six laps to go, and Kovalainen finally found a way around the Renault four laps later.

Nakajima, Trulli and the delayed Rosberg also closed in on Alonso, but with the Japanese driver's extreme wets now ailing, in the end Nakajima found himself losing rather than gaining a place on the final lap, as Trulli snuck past within sight of the flag.

A further spin at Woodcote meant Webber's once-promising weekend ended with a hugely disappointing 10th, ahead of the muted Bourdais and multiple spinners Glock and Massa.

Hamilton's speed advantage in the wetter parts of the race was so great that he eventually won by over a minute from Heidfeld and Barrichello, and had lapped every other driver - despite insisting he could have gone much faster.

"The team were telling me that (the lead) was 40 seconds, 48 seconds, you're five or eight seconds or whatever it was faster than the guy behind and I'm thinking, 'hold on a second, what's going on? I'm not even pushing. I'm driving to a comfortable pace,'" said Hamilton.

The significance of this performance was not lost on the delighted victor, who crossed the line to a cacophonous roar from grandstands packed with his fans.

"It is by far the best victory I've ever had," he said. "It was one of the toughest races I've ever done and as I was driving I was thinking if I win this, this will definitely go down as the best race I've ever won, not only because of its history and because it's on my home ground, but also I think I drove one of the best races I ever did."

It was also a well-timed win after his recent tribulations, and indeed all three podium finishers could consider their Silverstone results to be vindications.

Rubens Barrichello, Nick Heidfeld, and Lewis Hamilton in parc ferme © XPB

Although Heidfeld dismissed suggestions that his second place was a return to form ("I don't think you can say 'recovery' because two races ago we had a one-two"), in reality it was his most convincing performance of the season so far, and the first time all year he had held the upper hand over teammate Kubica.

But it was Barrichello who arguably had most to celebrate at Silverstone. Since joining Honda he had not only failed to score a podium, but had invariably been out-paced by teammate Button. Now he had finally ended a personal podium drought stretching back to the 2005 US GP, and got the team into the top three for the first time since October 2006.

"It's fantastic. I've never lost the belief that I have in me," said Barrichello, while team boss Ross Brawn reckoned his drive was reminiscent of their halcyon years together at Ferrari.

"The middle of the race was fantastic, it was like the old days," said Brawn. "The fuel rig really probably cost us second place. That's frustrating, but we probably shouldn't be too greedy."

On arguably the toughest afternoon of the season so far, Barrichello, Heidfeld and Hamilton all reminded the world of what they are really capable of, and in Hamilton's case, reminded Ferrari that he is still in the thick of the title battle. The Briton may not have won a dry race since Australia, but he now shares the points lead with Raikkonen and Massa, and after his awesome drive on home soil, has every reason to feel very confident about the upcoming fight.

Race results

60 laps; 308.355km;
Weather: Wet.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1h39:09.440
 2.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +  1:08.577
 3.  Barrichello   Honda                 (B)  +  1:22.273
 4.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +     1 lap
 5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     1 lap
 6.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +     1 lap
 7.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +     1 lap
 8.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +     1 lap
 9.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +     1 lap
10.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     1 lap
11.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +     1 lap
12.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:32.150

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)    40
Button        Honda                 (B)    39
Piquet        Renault               (B)    36
Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)    17
Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)    11
Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    1
Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 9:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Hamilton      48        1.  Ferrari                96
 2.  Raikkonen     48        2.  BMW Sauber             82
 3.  Massa         48        3.  McLaren-Mercedes       72
 4.  Kubica        46        4.  Toyota                 25
 5.  Heidfeld      36        5.  Red Bull-Renault       24
 6.  Kovalainen    24        6.  Williams-Toyota        16
 7.  Trulli        20        7.  Renault                15
 8.  Webber        18        8.  Honda                  14
 9.  Alonso        13        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      7
10.  Barrichello   11
11.  Rosberg        8
12.  Nakajima       8
13.  Coulthard      6
14.  Vettel         5
15.  Glock          5
16.  Button         3
17.  Piquet         2
18.  Bourdais       2

Team-by-Team

Pre-race points leader Massa has a disastrous weekend: crashing on oil in practice, only qualifying ninth after a wheelnut problem in his Q3 pitstop, and then spinning countless times in the race and finishing 13th and last.

Raikkonen qualifies third, runs second after Kovalainen's spin, and starts closing fast on leader Hamilton, only to tumble down the order when his worn intermediates struggle with the second rain shower. Despite two spins, he recovers to fourth.

Heidfeld announces his resurgence by qualifying fifth then charging to second in the race, producing some outstanding passes as the rain increases.

But Kubica has his worst weekend of the year. A steering problem leaves him 10th on the grid, and although he gets as high as third in the race, he then spins out when seventh after his final stop.

Alonso starts the weekend with an engine failure that causes the oil slick that sends Massa into the Stowe barriers. He then tops final practice, and qualifies sixth, one place ahead of teammate Piquet.

An early charge in the race sees Alonso fighting for the podium, but staying on his worn intermediates at his first stop drops him out of contention. An early final stop helps him get back up to fourth, before his tyres fade again and he is bundled down to sixth.

A strong first half of the race gets Piquet up to fourth before he crashes out when the rain increases.

Rosberg hopes his team are back on track after some strong practice times, but a suspension problem in qualifying leaves him 18th, which becomes last after post-session repairs. Nakajima only qualifies 15th.

Both struggle to make progress early in the race, with Nakajima going off the road a few times. A well-timed switch to extreme wets looks set to help Rosberg fly up the order, but he hits Glock and breaks his front wing, before recovering to ninth.

A calm second half of the race and good pace on extreme wets helps Nakajima up to seventh, although he is passed by Trulli on the last lap as his tyres wilt.

Webber qualifies a shock second - RBR's best ever grid position - but spins on the first lap of the race. Two further errors and an ill-fated decision not to change tyres at his first stop mean he can only get back to 10th.

Coulthard starts the weekend by announcing this will be his final season of F1. He is also quick on Friday, only for an oil leak to sideline him in third practice and to upset his qualifying preparations, leaving him 11th on the grid. He then tangles with Vettel on the first lap.

A troubled start to the weekend sees Glock suffering a clutch failure and Trulli crashing after a rear wing breakage on Friday afternoon. They then qualify an underwhelming 12th and 14th respectively.

But both charge into the points early in the race, with Trulli running as high as third. He lacks pace in the wetter stages and falls to eighth, before passing Nakajima for seventh on the last lap. Glock makes a series of errors as the rain increases and plummets to 12th.

Vettel flies in practice yet again and is delighted to qualify eighth, only to be taken out by Coulthard on the first lap.

Bourdais has another quiet weekend: qualifying 13th, struggling with visibility in the first part of the race and having a quick spin later on, before finishing 11th.

A pure lack of pace leaves Barrichello and Button only 16th and 17th on the grid, but they make great progress in the wet race, with Barrichello sixth and Button 10th by half-distance.

They then benefit from well-timed switches to extreme wet tyres, although Button crashes out while lapping several seconds faster than the rest of the field.

Despite being delayed and then forced to make an extra stop due to a fuel rig problem, Barrichello charges right through to third place to end his and Honda's long podium droughts in fine style.

Although they are closer to the pace than in France, Sutil and qualifying spinner Fisichella remain at the back of the grid.

The team hope they can capitalise on the weather to spring a surprise in the race, but both spin out before half-distance - Sutil having run as high as 11th, and Fisichella while struggling with tyre graining on a heavy fuel load

Hamilton shrugs off a scrappy qualifying run that leaves him only fourth on the grid to dominate the very wet race. He moves to second at the start, passes Kovalainen for the lead on lap five, and ultimately wins by over a minute.

Kovalainen is the man to beat for much of practice and takes pole by a commanding half a second, but lacks pace in the wet race. Two trips off the road and mid-race understeer leave him only fifth.

Lap-by-Lap

Lap 1: On pole position for the first time in his Formula One career, Heikki Kovalainen leads the intermediate-shod field away.

Lewis Hamilton makes a fantastic start from fourth and almost passes his team-mate at Copse, but after a brief loss of control he settles into second.

Sebastian Vettel and David Coulthard tangled at the end of the first lap © XPB

Kimi Raikkonen lies third and Mark Webber drops from fourth to the tail of the field after spinning at Chapel.

Nick Heidfeld is fourth from Nelson Piquet, Fernando Alonso, Jarno Trulli, Robert Kubica, Timo Glock, Rubens Barrichello, Adrian Sutil, Jenson Button, Sebastien Bourdais, Kazuki Nakajima, Giancarlo Fisichella, Nico Rosberg (who starts from the pits following a series of set-up changes), Felipe Massa (who spins at Abbey) and Webber.

David Coulthard and Sebastian Vettel spin into retirement at Priory.

Lap 2: Kovalainen leads by 0.1 seconds. Hamilton is barely visible in his spray. Alonso passes Piquet.

Lap 3: Alonso passes Heidfeld. Button passes Sutil. Massa spins at Woodcote and drops to the tail of the field.

Lap 4: Alonso sets fastest lap: 1:35.500.

Lap 5: Hamilton takes the lead into Stowe. The new leader posts a 1:34.907 but Alonso is 0.003 seconds quicker. Webber passes Rosberg.

Lap 6: Hamilton posts a 1:34.445 to lead by 2.4 seconds. Webber passes Fisichella.

Lap 7: Hamilton ups his pace: 1:34.358. He leads by 2.8 seconds.

Lap 8: Hamilton laps in 1:33.869. Webber passes Nakajima.

Lap 9: Webber passes Bourdais and Sutil.

Lap 10: Hamilton leads by 6.0 seconds. Kovalainen spins at Abbey and loses second to Raikkonen. Webber sets the fastest lap: 1m33.34.810 seconds. Button passes Barrichello.

Lap 11: Raikkonen posts a 1:33.635. Sutil spins into retirement at Abbey. Nakajima passes Bourdais.

Lap 12: Webber passes Barrichello.

Felipe Massa had a difficult day with numerous spins © XPB/div>

Lap 13: Raikkonen closes to within 4.5 seconds of Hamilton.

Lap 14: Raikkonen posts a 1:33.526: the gap is 3.8 seconds.

Lap 15: Hamilton sets a 1:33.268. Webber passes Button.

Lap 16: Hamilton laps in 1:32.817. He leads by 4.2 seconds. Massa passes Rosberg.

Lap 17: Hamilton: 1:33.104. Raikkonen: 1:32.259. The gap is 3.3 seconds. Massa passes Fisichella.

Lap 18: Raikkonen laps in 1:32.150 and closes to within 2.3 seconds. Webber pits.

Lap 19: Raikkonen laps in 1:32.264. Kovalainen pits. Kubica passes Trulli.

Lap 20: Alonso pits.

Lap 21: Hamilton and Raikkonen pit: McLaren fit fresh tyres. Massa pits, too.

Lap 22: Heidfeld and Piquet pit. Hamilton leads Rosberg by 3.1 seconds.

Lap 23: Hamilton leads by 4.6 seconds. It starts to rain. Kubica pits. Nakajima spins at Abbey.

Lap 24: Glock passes Alonso. Piquet passes Barrichello and Rosberg pit.

Lewis Hamilton runs wide in the Abbey chicane © XPB

Lap 25: Glock, Button and Nakajima pit. Kubica passes Barrichello.

Lap 27: Heidfeld passes both Raikkonen and Kovalainen before the two Finns swap places. Fisichella spins at Becketts and retires. Bourdais pits. Rosberg passes Nakajima.

Lap 28: Webber pits. Rosberg passes Massa.

Lap 29: Hamilton leads Heidfeld by 23.7 seconds. Nakajima passes Massa.

Lap 30: Kubica passes Piquet. Both pass Raikkonen, who pits. Massa pits, too.

Lap 32: Hamilton leads Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Kubica, Piquet, Barrichello, Glock, Trulli, Alonso, Button and Raikkonen. Rosberg, Nakajima, Webber, Bourdais and Massa are lapped.

Lap 34: Kubica passes Kovalainen at Stowe. Kovalainen pits.

Lap 35: It rains heavily now. Glock spins. Barrichello and Button pit. Button has to wait. Rosberg and Nakajima pit.

Lap 36: Hamilton and Kubica run onto the grass. Piquet spins off at Abbey. Massa spins again.

Lap 37: Raikkonen hits the grass and continues.

Lap 38: Hamilton pits and opts for fresh intermediates. Heidfeld and Kubica pit. Raikkonen spins at Woodcote. Webber spins at Abbey.

Lap 39: Button goes off at Bridge.

Lap 40: Kubica spins off at Abbey. Barrichello - on extreme wets - passes Alonso for fourth. Rosberg touches Glock and pits for a fresh front wing.

Lap 41: Barrichello passes Trulli for third. The Brazilian is the quickest driver.

Heikki Kovalainen closes on Fernando Alonso © LAT

Lap 43: Barrichello passes Heidfeld for second. Glock spins at Club and heads for the pits.

Lap 46: Barrichello pits for intermediates. Kovalainen passes Alonso for fifth.

Lap 47: Hamilton leads Heidfeld by 62.7 seconds. Trulli pits. Massa spins for the fourth time.

Lap 48: Hamilton leads Heidfeld by 62.9 seconds.

Lap 49: Kovalainen spins at Brooklands and drops to sixth. The twice-lapped Massa spins again. He continues before pitting on the 51 secondst race lap (his 49th).

Lap 53: Hamilton laps fifth-placed Raikkonen.

Lap 54: Raikkonen passes Alonso for fourth.

Lap 56: Kovalainen is putting pressure on Alonso - and Nakajima (on extreme wets) is catching both.

Lap 58 (their 57th): Kovalainen passes Alonso. Nakajima is right behind the Spaniard and Trulli is in close pursuit.

Lap 60: Hamilton wins by 68.5 seconds from Heidfeld and Barrichello - the only other drivers to go the distance. Raikkonen is fourth from Kovalainen and Alonso. Trulli passes Nakajima for seventh.