The 2008 F1 Season Trivia Quiz

Answer: Australia

The first race of the season was held at the Albert Park GP Circuit in Melbourne. Australia had held the opening race since 1995, with the exception of 2006 F1 season, when Bahrain held round one of the championship. However this was not too popular amongst many formula one fans and the opening race was returned to Australia the following year.

Answer: Felipe Massa

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa achieved a 'perfect race' at the European Grand Prix and then again at his home race in Brazil at the end of the season.
Kimi Raikkonen also managed a race hat-trick at the Spanish Grand Prix in the 2008 season. Michael Schumacher managed to achieve a massive 22 'perfect races' during his Formula One career.

Answer: Super Aguri

Super Aguri withdrew on the 6th of May, a week before the Turkish Grand Prix. This left Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson without a race seat. Super Aguri was founded by Aguri Suzuki in 2006. They competed in 36 races and received only four championship points.

In the 2006 season, they ran with Honda Engines. Takuma Sato and Yuji Ide were the teams drives for the beginning of the season however Ide was replaced by third driver Franck Montagny just days before Ide's Super licence was revoked, meaning he could not drive a formula one car until at least 2007. For the 2007 F1 season, Super Aguri announced Anthony Davidson as one of their drivers alongside Takuma Sato.

This was an exciting development as Davidson had shown years of expertise as a Honda test driver.

Despite winning the teams only four points, it was a very disappointing year for Super Aguri.

Answer: Heikki Kovalainen

McLaren driver Kovalainen received the pole position with a qualifying lap time of 1:21.049, which was half a second faster that second place man Mark Webber. However, he was soon over-taken by teammate Lewis Hamilton on lap 5. Hamilton then went on to win his home Grand Prix with a 68-second gap between him and Nick Heidfeld who finished in second. Honda's Rubens Barichello finished an impressive 3rd giving Honda their best result all year.

Answer: Fernando Alonso

The first-ever night race was held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore. The decision to make it a night race came so that the race could be shown at a suitable and more convenient time for the European Audiences. The race received an absolute sell-out crowd with all of the 110,000 tickets available being purchased.

The race was 68 laps long and was won by Renault driver Fernando Alonso, with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton coming in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Answer: Valencia, Spain

The Valencia Street Circuit race took place on the 24th of August and was the 12 round of the season. The track has 25 turns and speeds of 201 mph. Ferrari's Felipe Massa won from pole position, and championship leader Lewis Hamilton came in second with Robert Kubica in third for BMW. It was Felipe Massa's 100th race entry, making him the first person to ever win their 100th F1 race.

Answer: Spa

Hamilton was hit with a 25-second penalty for cutting the bus stop chicane while trying to overtake Kimi Raikkonen. The accident occurred when towards the end of the race, Hamilton had managed to close Raikkonen's 5-second lead down to less than a single second. Hamilton attempted to overtake Kimi Raikkonen through the chicane but accidently ran wide and cut the corner, putting himself in the lead.

As this is clearly against FIA rules, he allowed Raikkonen to re-pass him down the pit straight. However, the FIA ruled that Hamilton had not left enough time before overtaking Raikkonen once again and therefore benefiting from cutting the chicane.

Answer: Giancarlo Fisichella

On lap 13, Force India driver Fisichella had an accident with David Coulthard. The front wing of his VJM-01 car caused him to spin into the gravel trap. This race was the first race to be won by German driver Sebastian Vettel. Kovalainen came in second followed by Polish driver Robert Kubica.

The race started under a safety car as it had been raining all morning. Once the safety car pulled away, the wet ground allowed Vettel to create a big gap between him and the rest of the grid. The 2008 Italian Grand Prix was held at Monza.

The track was 3.6 miles long, had 10 turns, and had held the Italian Grand Prix since the establishment of the Formula One World Championship in 1950.

Answer: Canadian Grand Prix

The 2008 Canadian Grand Prix was held on the 8th of June at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal. It was Robert Kubica's first Formula One win after starting from second on the grid. Nick Heidfeld came in second with David Coulthard rounding up the top three.

This Grand Prix gave the sport one of the most talked about incidents all year. After pitting, Kimi Raikkonen had stopped at the end of the pitlane, due to the fact that the red lights were lit, signalling the pit lane exit was closed. Hamilton had pitted a few seconds after Raikkonen. On Hamilton's exit, he failed to see the red light's and crashed into the back of Raikkonen's Ferrari. Nico Rosberg also made the same mistake by crashing into the back of Hamilton's McLaren. Raikkonen and Hamilton had to retire from the race, while Rosberg continued. Hamilton and Rosberg both received 10 place grid penatlies for the following race, the French Grand Prix.

Answer: 1 point

Just a single point separated Hamilton and Massa at the end of the season. Going into the final race, Hamilton had the lead with 94 championship points, and in second place was Massa with 87. With only 7 points between them, it was still possible for Massa to win the drivers' championship. During qualifying, Massa claimed pole position for the race, with Hamilton qualifying in fourth.

This meant that if Hamilton dropped two positions during the race, and Massa remained 1st, Massa would have been crowned drivers champion 2008.

It was down to the final lap, and Massa had crossed the finish line to win his home race, whilst Hamilton was battling with Sebastian Vettel for 5th place to secure his championship win. It was looking good for Felipe Massa as his family and team started to celebrate in the Ferrari garage, but suddenly as the rain started to pour, Toyotas Timo Glock, currently in 4th, started to lose grip which allowed Vettel and more crucially Hamilton to overtake.

This gave Lewis Hamilton the vital points he needed to be crowned Drivers Champion 2008.