The Chinese Grand Prix 2008 was the penultimate round of the championship and as things were so closely matched between Ferrari and McLaren, a grand stand finish was guaranteed. Last year’s race was won by Kimi Raikkonen in rainy conditions. This year though, things were much better for McLaren in the rain and they always proved to have a car which handled better than Ferrari in wet conditions.

From the championship point of view, a fierce battle was ongoing between Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton. Kimi and others were already out of the championship. Ferrari ordered Kimi to drive for the team and offer his full support to Massa whenever he’s in a position to do so. In this race, Kimi didn’t disappoint. He was faster than Massa for the entire weekend but when the moment arrived, Kimi allowed Massa to take the 2nd place while Kimi took 3rd.

Lewis was in a different league altogether, as was his McLaren. He drove an impeccable race and almost cruised to victory without any sort of a challenge. The Ferraris were often way to behind to race him. Lewis’s team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen disappointed once again which meant that Ferrari were now almost unbeatable in the Constructor’s Championship. Heikki ended the race in pits with a Pneumatic failure. Other point scorers were Alonso, Heidfeld, Kubica, Glock and Piquet (in that order). The full race results are as follows -

1 – Lewis Hamilton – McLaren-Mercedes – 56 – 1:31:57.403
2 – Felipe Massa – Ferrari – 56 – +14.9 secs
3 – Kimi Räikkönen – Ferrari – 56 – +16.4 secs
4 – Fernando Alonso – Renault – 56 – +18.3 secs
5 – Nick Heidfeld – BMW Sauber – 56 – +28.9 secs
6 – Robert Kubica – BMW Sauber – 56 – +33.2 secs
7 – Timo Glock – Toyota – 56 – +41.7 secs 
8 – Nelsinho Piquet – Renault – 56 – +56.6 secs

9 – Sebastian Vettel – STR-Ferrari – 56 – +64.3 secs
10 – David Coulthard – Red Bull-Renault – 56 – +74.8 secs
11 – Rubens Barrichello – Honda – 56 – +85.0 secs
12 – Kazuki Nakajima – Williams-Toyota – 56 – +90.8 secs
13 – Sebastien Bourdais – STR-Ferrari – 56 – +91.4 secs
14 – Mark Webber – Red Bull-Renault – 56 – +92.4 secs
15 – Nico Rosberg – Williams-Toyota – 55 – +1 Lap
16 – Jenson Button – Honda – 55 – +1 Lap
17 – Giancarlo Fisichella – Force India-Ferrari – 55 – +1 Lap

Ret – Heikki Kovalainen – McLaren-Mercedes – 49 – Pneumatic
Ret – Adrian Sutil – Force India-Ferrari – 13 – Gearbox
Ret – Jarno Trulli – Toyota – 2 – Accident Damage