2008 Monaco Grand Prix

Championship standings

Räikkönen leads on 35 points, with Massa second on 28 and Hamilton third on 28 — the McLaren driver has one fewer win than Massa. Kubica is fourth on 24, Heidfeld fifth on 20. Ferrari lead the Constructors’ on 63 points, 19 ahead of BMW Sauber and 21 ahead of McLaren.

Previous race

Massa won in Turkey for his third consecutive pole and victory at Istanbul Park. Hamilton split the Ferraris in second, Räikkönen third. Räikkönen’s lead in the championship was cut from nine points to seven.

Entrants

Toro Rosso’s new STR3 makes its race debut this weekend, having been delayed from Turkey by a testing crash that left the team short of spare parts. The STR3 uses a different transmission to the STR2 it replaces, requiring Vettel to take a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change. Bourdais is exempt from the same penalty because he failed to finish in Turkey, allowing him a free gearbox change.

Penalties

Sebastian Vettel starts five places behind his qualifying position due to the unscheduled gearbox change on the new STR3.

Practice

Monaco’s Thursday/Saturday practice schedule produced incidents throughout. One hour into the first Thursday session, a loose drain cover in the run through Beau Rivage suspended the session. After the resumption, Räikkönen led Hamilton, Kovalainen and Massa; Heidfeld retired with an engine failure, stopping his car in Casino Square after just 13 laps. In the second Thursday session, both Renault drivers crashed separately at Sainte Dévote, requiring the marshals to sweep the track twice. Hamilton was fastest in the session, ahead of Rosberg, Räikkönen, Massa, Kovalainen and Kubica. Trulli scraped the wall out of Piscine and Sutil’s Force India lost its front wing at Rascasse. Light rain fell for Saturday morning’s session: Kovalainen set the fastest time before losing control at Piscine and damaging her car’s rear. Rain increased as marshals cleared the debris and Kovalainen’s time stood. Hamilton ended second fastest, ahead of Räikkönen, Rosberg, Kubica and Massa.