Lewis Hamilton wins the 2008 F1 world championship – in pictures
3 November 2008 by Keith Collantine
Lewis Hamilton's 2008 F1 world championship victory in pictures
Re-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.
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- McLaren were still under a cloud from the 2007 spy scandal when they launched the MP4/23
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- Despite McLaren not being allowed to develop some technologies, Hamilton found the new car quick from the start
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- Hamilton went into the first race knowing he could challenge for victories
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- Hamilton beat Kubica to pole in Melbourne and led away at the start
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- Despite a string of safety car interruptions, Hamilton kept his cool
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- He gave the MP4/23 a victory on its debut while Ferrari struggled
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- Things started to go wrong at Sepang where he and team mate Heikki Kovalainen were penalised in qualifying
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- A pit stop problem further disrupted his progress
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- He ended the race fifth while Kimi Raikkonen won for Ferrari
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- It got worse at Bahrain
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- Hamilton clashed with former team mate Alonso early in the race
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- Hamilton failed to score while Felipe Massa romped to his first win
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- Hamilton was back on form at Barcelona but Kovalainen suffered a major crash
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- Hamilton could do nothing to catch the flying Ferraris
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- Hamilton finished third behind Raikkonen and Massa. But Raikkonen would not win again all year
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- Kovalainen showed his form by out-qualifying Hamilton at Istanbul
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- But Hamilton took the fight to the Ferraris after Kovalainen suffered a puncture
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- Despite running a three-stop strategy, Hamilton salvaged second
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- Hamilton survived an early brush with the wall at Monte-Carlo
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- The early stop to replace a puncture played into his hands and he ran away with the race
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- He scored his fourth win at the Monaco track – but his first in F1
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- He kept up the form at Montreal, romping to pole position on a crumbling track
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- Hamilton ran away with the race lead in the early stages
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- But he lost the lead to Raikkonen in the pit stops – then ploughed into the Ferrari
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- Hamilton carried a ten-place grid drop going into the French Grand Prix
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- The Ferraris ran away at the start while Hamilton languished in mid-field
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- A dodgy pass on Sebastian Vettel earned him another penalty and a third no-score
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- Hamilton made a perfect start at Silverstone and passed Kovalainen to lead
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- Meanwhile Massa floundered in the rain, spinning five times
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- Hamilton crushed the opposition and won his home race by over a minute
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- Hamilton was in similar dominating form in Germany
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- A strategic mistake cost him the lead late in the race
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- But Hamilton passed Massa and Nelson Piquet Jnr to claim the win – and a horrible trophy
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- Felipe Massa takes Lewis Hamilton at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix
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- Hamilton lost more time with a puncture
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- But when Massa’s engine blew it handed Kovalainen his maiden win
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- Hamilton was not a favourite of the crowd at Valencia
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- He spent the weekend chasing Massa’s Ferrari but couldn’t catch him
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- Massa escaped punishment for a pit safety violation to win
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- Hamilton claimed pole position at Spa
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- Raikkonen and Hamilton about to kick off the Argument of the Year
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- Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix… for a few hours
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- A tyre gamble went wrong in qualifying at Monza, leaving Hamilton 15th
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- After passing Raikkonen Hamilton made his way through the field
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- But he ended the race seventh behind Massa
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- Massa took pole position ahead of Hamilton for the first Singapore Grand Prix
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- But a Ferrari pit blunder gave Hamilton the edge
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- He finished behind Alonso and Nico Rosberg – but gained six precious points
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- The conservatism Hamilton displayed at Singapore was missing in Fuji
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- F1 fans will be able to scrutinise controversial incidents more closely in 2009
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- After being knocked into a spin by Massa, Hamilton failed to score
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- In contrast his Shanghai drive was clinical and cool
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- Hamilton dominated the Chinese Grand Prix weekend
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- He went into the final race with a seven point lead. It would prove vital
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- Hamilton started the final lap in sixth, but passed Timo Glock for fifth to snatch the title
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- Hamilton celebrated with his crew afterwards
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- Hamilton became Britain’s first F1 champion since 1996
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- Hamilton is also the youngest driver ever to win the F1 title
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- And McLaren celebrated their first drivers’ title since 1999
All photographs (C) McLaren except where otherwise stated.
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why so small? are the mclaren pics limited on size or something?
Matt – afraid so, I’ll add others if I can.
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
one small error there keith
And McLaren celebrated their first drivers’ title since 1998
hakkinen won it for them in 99 aswell.
good pics
STG – weird I remember correcting that earlier, mustn’t have refreshed the page for some reason. I’ll try again.