Lewis Hamilton's 2008 F1 world championship victory in picturesRe-live the heart-break and heroics of Lewis Hamilton’s path to the 2008 F1 world championship title with this picture series.
Here’s a selection of photographs from every round of the 2008 F1 season.
Click once to preview, click again to enlarge.
McLaren were still under a cloud from the 2007 spy scandal when they launched the MP4/23 Despite McLaren not being allowed to develop some technologies, Hamilton found the new car quick from the start Hamilton went into the first race knowing he could challenge for victories Hamilton beat Kubica to pole in Melbourne and led away at the start Despite a string of safety car interruptions, Hamilton kept his cool He gave the MP4/23 a victory on its debut while Ferrari struggled Things started to go wrong at Sepang where he and team mate Heikki Kovalainen were penalised in qualifying A pit stop problem further disrupted his progress He ended the race fifth while Kimi Raikkonen won for Ferrari It got worse at Bahrain Hamilton clashed with former team mate Alonso early in the race Hamilton failed to score while Felipe Massa romped to his first win Hamilton was back on form at Barcelona but Kovalainen suffered a major crash Hamilton could do nothing to catch the flying Ferraris Hamilton finished third behind Raikkonen and Massa. But Raikkonen would not win again all year Kovalainen showed his form by out-qualifying Hamilton at Istanbul But Hamilton took the fight to the Ferraris after Kovalainen suffered a puncture Despite running a three-stop strategy, Hamilton salvaged second Hamilton survived an early brush with the wall at Monte-Carlo The early stop to replace a puncture played into his hands and he ran away with the race He scored his fourth win at the Monaco track – but his first in F1 He kept up the form at Montreal, romping to pole position on a crumbling track Hamilton ran away with the race lead in the early stages But he lost the lead to Raikkonen in the pit stops – then ploughed into the Ferrari Hamilton carried a ten-place grid drop going into the French Grand Prix The Ferraris ran away at the start while Hamilton languished in mid-field A dodgy pass on Sebastian Vettel earned him another penalty and a third no-score Hamilton made a perfect start at Silverstone and passed Kovalainen to lead Meanwhile Massa floundered in the rain, spinning five times Hamilton crushed the opposition and won his home race by over a minute Hamilton was in similar dominating form in Germany A strategic mistake cost him the lead late in the race But Hamilton passed Massa and Nelson Piquet Jnr to claim the win – and a horrible trophy Felipe Massa takes Lewis Hamilton at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix Hamilton lost more time with a puncture But when Massa’s engine blew it handed Kovalainen his maiden win Hamilton was not a favourite of the crowd at Valencia He spent the weekend chasing Massa’s Ferrari but couldn’t catch him Massa escaped punishment for a pit safety violation to win Hamilton claimed pole position at Spa Raikkonen and Hamilton about to kick off the Argument of the Year Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix… for a few hours A tyre gamble went wrong in qualifying at Monza, leaving Hamilton 15th After passing Raikkonen Hamilton made his way through the field But he ended the race seventh behind Massa Massa took pole position ahead of Hamilton for the first Singapore Grand Prix But a Ferrari pit blunder gave Hamilton the edge He finished behind Alonso and Nico Rosberg – but gained six precious points The conservatism Hamilton displayed at Singapore was missing in Fuji Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Fuji, 2008 After being knocked into a spin by Massa, Hamilton failed to score In contrast his Shanghai drive was clinical and cool Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Shanghai, 2008 He went into the final race with a seven point lead. It would prove vital Hamilton started the final lap in sixth, but passed Timo Glock for fifth to snatch the title Hamilton celebrated with his crew afterwards Hamilton became Britain’s first F1 champion since 1996 Hamilton is also the youngest driver ever to win the F1 title And McLaren celebrated their first drivers’ title since 1999 More F1 pictures
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Matt
3rd November 2008, 0:55
why so small? are the mclaren pics limited on size or something?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
3rd November 2008, 1:00
Matt – afraid so, I’ll add others if I can.
yorricksfriend
3rd November 2008, 2:25
I don’t really know where to post this comment but Magny-Cours appears to be back on next years calendar, I must’ve missed something there
schumi the greatest
3rd November 2008, 9:10
one small error there keith
And McLaren celebrated their first drivers’ title since 1998
hakkinen won it for them in 99 aswell.
good pics :-)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
3rd November 2008, 9:45
STG – weird I remember correcting that earlier, mustn’t have refreshed the page for some reason. I’ll try again.