2008 Belgian Grand Prix

Championship standings

Hamilton leads on 70 points. Massa second on 64, Räikkönen third on 57, Kubica fourth on 55. Ferrari lead the Constructors’ on 121 points, McLaren second on 113.

Previous race

Massa won in Valencia, Hamilton second, Kubica third. Räikkönen retired with an engine failure, dropping him 13 points behind Hamilton in the standings.

Between-race developments

Testing ran at Monza over three days between the European and Belgian rounds. Massa set the fastest times on day one, ahead of Kovalainen. Heidfeld was quickest on day two. Hamilton led the final day. Kubica lost control and went off the track, limiting BMW’s running while minor repairs were made to his car’s underside.

Practice

Massa was fastest in the dry, cloudy first session at 1:47.284, ahead of Räikkönen; Hamilton, Kovalainen, Alonso, Webber, Bourdais and Vettel completed the top eight. Light rain in FP2 grew momentarily heavier midway through, forcing teams to wet set-ups. Hamilton led for most of the session before Alonso, Massa and Kovalainen moved ahead on a drying track at the end. Multiple drivers — Räikkönen, Piquet, Coulthard, Bourdais and Webber — had off-track excursions, and Fisichella spun at Stavelot, bringing a ten-minute red flag to clear debris and water from the track. The Saturday morning session began in wet conditions; as the track dried, Heidfeld recorded the best time at 1:47.876, ahead of Kovalainen, Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, Vettel and Räikkönen.