| 14.30 | Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of the 56 lap Chinese Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the 2008 championship. There is good size crown on hand today and it is cloudy but dry. The race gets underway in just over 30 minutes. |
| 14.32 | Lewis Hamilton can clinch the world championship today in Shanghai. The McLaren driver has a five point advantage meaning if he scores six more points than Ferrari rival Felipe Massa he would head to the season finale in Brazil with an insurmountable 11 point advantage. |
| 14.34 | There are many variables, but if Hamilton does win from the pole position, Massa would need to score at least five points to remain in the title race, i.e., fourth position or higher. The Brazilian himself cannot claim the championship today even if he wins and Hamilton fails to finish. That of course would put him in a very strong position head to Brazil. Should they finish the race where they qualify (first and third) Hamilton will lead by nine points going to Brazil. |
| 14.36 | Hamilton dominated the practice sessions ahead of qualifying, setting the pace in the first two and then just losing out to Nick Heidfeld in the third. Qualifying saw Hamilton claim the pole position on his final lap of the session with a best lap of 1:36.303s, over two-tenths clear of his nearest rival. |
| 14.38 | Kimi Raikkonen starts second ahead of Massa and Ferrari will be trying to use Raikkonen as something of a spoiler for Hamilton’s race. The Italian champions will be looking to find a way so that Raikkonen can somehow help Massa get ahead of the McLaren driver and win the race. |
| 14.40 | McLaren are not in such a position to bring Heikki Kovalainen into play as the Finn starts fifth behind Fernando Alonso. Not only is Kovalainen starting on the third row of the grid, but Alonso this week affirmed that if possible he too would try and help Massa win the title if possible. This makes it three of the top five drivers pulling and looking to aid the Brazilian. |
| 14.42 | Alonso of course is also chasing his third straight Grand Prix win for the rejuvenated Renault team. After the success of Singapore and Japan, Renault pulled in 25 points in the last two races and that is as much as Ferrari, McLaren and BMW combined! Nelson Piquet starts tenth in the second R28 and will be looking to build on his impressive run last time out at Fuji Speedway. |
| 14.44 | Nick Heidfeld will be looking to bring BMW Sauber more points. He was expecting to line up in sixth position but he was later penalised three positions for blocking David Coulthard and therefore starts ninth. The team are third in the constructors’ championship just seven behind McLaren and 14 behind Ferrari. Should the top two teams hit trouble – and anything seems possible this year – then BMW could still be in with a real chance of claiming top honours. |
| 14.46 | Robert Kubica struggled in qualifying in the second BMW Sauber and starts the race from 11th position. Unless he can win the race and problems strike Hamilton and Massa, he will probably drop out of championship contention this afternoon. Kubica is 12 points behind Hamilton with 20 points still up for grabs. |
| 14.48 | Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais start sixth and eighth for the Toro Rosso Ferrari team. The Italian-based squad has scored points in the last five Grand Prix and will be looking to extend their advantage over Red Bull in the championship standings. |
| 14.50 | Jarno Trulli splits the STR duo and starts seventh in the leading Toyota. The Japanese-owned team has slipped back to fifth in the championship standings now but should be safe in that position. Timo Glock starts 12th in the second TF108. |
| 14.52 | Rubens Barrichello ran well in qualifying for Honda and starts 13th ahead of Nico Rosberg in the leading Williams Toyota. It was a tough Saturday for Red Bull Renault as David Coulthard qualified in 15th while Mark Webber was actually sixth fastest only to drop down to 16th on the grid courtesy of an engine change penalty. The team needs points desperately. |
| 14.54 | Towards the back of the field, Kazuki Nakajima starts 17th in the second Williams ahead of the off-form Jenson Button in the second Honda. Qualifying was a real struggle for Force India Ferrari as Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella line up 19th and 20th respectively. |
| 14.56 | The drivers are now in the cars as the countdown to the start of the Chinese Grand Prix continues. |
| 14.58 | Tyres and fuel strategy could well play a role today. We do not know which drivers sacrificed some fuel in order to qualify higher than they would normally expect. Certainly those outside of the top ten are free to add fuel to the cars and go for a long first sting or a one stop race, while those inside the top ten do not have that luxury. |
| 14.59 | The engines are now being fired up and the grid is being cleared. |
| 14.59 | Massa, Raikkonen on the soft tyre. Hamilton Hard. |
| 15.00 | The parade lap is now underway. Hamilton leads the field off the dummy grid. |
| 15.01 | So Ferrari are going agressive with the softer rubber. Alonso is on the hard as is Hamilton. |
| 15.02 | Hamilton lines up on the pole with Raikkonen, Massa, Alonso, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Vettel, Trulli, Bourdais, Piquet and the rest taking up position. |
| Lap 1 | The Chinese Grand Prix is now underway! |
| Lap 1 | A clean start for Hamilton who leads as one of the Toyotas hist trouble. |
| Lap 1 | Kovalainen has got ahead of Alonso and is now P4. |
| Lap 1 | Hamilton leads Raikkonen, Massa and Kovalainen sho is now being re-passed by Alonso for P4 into turn 14. |
| Lap 2 | Webber passes Glock into turn one. |
| Lap 2 | Hamilton leads Raikkonen, Massa, Alonso, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Vettel, Kubica, Piquet and Barrichello. |
| Lap 2 | Trulli pits for a new front wing. |
| Lap 3 | Webber is on the move and now all over Barrichello. |
| Lap 3 | It seems Trulli turned in on Bourdais at the first turn. |
| Lap 3 | Trulli is slow on track and will be pitting I think. |
| Lap 4 | Trulli pits. He has damage to the right hand side of the car. |
| Lap 4 | Trulli retires the Toyota. Glock runs 12th. |
| Lap 4 | Hamilton has a 2.5s lead on Raikkonen who has Massa 1.5s back in third. |
| Lap 5 | Webber is still trying to pass Barrichello for tenth. |
| Lap 6 | Kovalainen is dropping back in fifth position and lapping some seven-tenths a lap slower than Alonso. |
| Lap 7 | Hamilton gets the lead out to 3.5s. |
| Lap 7 | Bourdais passes Sutil for 17th as Webber passes Barrichello for tenth. |
| Lap 7 | Bourdais lost ground at the start when it looked as if trulli turned in on him at the first turn. He started eighth. |
| Lap 8 | Kovalainen continues to slip back in fifth position. |
| Lap 9 | Webber has now caught Piquet. |
| Lap 10 | Webber passes Piquet for ninth into the final turn. |
| Lap 11 | Raikkonen picks up the pace and gets the gap down to less than four seconds. |
| Lap 11 | Bourdais is starting to move up the order as he is now ahead of Nakajima. |
| Lap 11 | Glock and Rosberg battling over 12th position. |
| Lap 12 | Hamilton runs a little wide at turn two. The gap remains just under four seconds. |
| Lap 13 | Rosberg passes Glock for 12th in turn 14. |
| Lap 13 | Webber, tenth, pits. An early stop from the Red Bull driver. |
| Lap 14 | A good lap from Hamilton extends his lead to just over four seconds. |
| Lap 14 | Piquet runs wide at the final turn and rejoins. |
| Lap 15 | Massa pits from third position. |
| Lap 15 | Alonso pits from fourth position. |
| Lap 15 | Massa exits ahead of Piquet, Alonso exits Piquet. |
| Lap 16 | Hamilton and Raikkonen both pit. Sutil is stopped on track. |
| Lap 16 | Clean stops for Hamilton and Raikkonen. Rosberg pits his Williams. |
| Lap 16 | Sutil seems to have had an engine problem as he walks back in. |
| Lap 17 | Massa has stayed on the soft tyre for the second stint. Raikkonen changed to the harder tyre like Hamilton. |
| Lap 17 | Kovalainen now leads Heidfeld. Neither has pitted. Hamilton is third ahead of Vettel, Raikkonen. |
| Lap 18 | Heidfeld pits his BMW Sauber. |
| Lap 18 | Heidfeld exits just ahead of Glock. |
| Lap 18 | Raikkonen is losing time now behind Vettel who has yet to pit. |
| Lap 19 | Kovalainen pits from the lead. |
| Lap 19 | Vettel pits his STR. |
| Lap 19 | Hamilon regains the lead and is six seconds ahead of Raikkonen now. |
| Lap 20 | Massa is now fourth behind Kubica who has yet to stop. Barrichello is having a good race as he pits the Honda. |
| Lap 21 | Hamilton now leads by seven seconds. |
| Lap 21 | If anything, Massa is dropping back in fourth postion from Kubica. |
| Lap 21 | Alonso, sixth, remains behind Piquet who has yet to stop. |
| Lap 22 | Massa is now 14 seconds behind Hamilton. How can Ferrari bring Massa into play? |
| Lap 23 | Button pits the second Honda from 12th. |
| Lap 24 | Kubica and Piquet could well be one-stopping along with Glock. |
| Lap 24 | Bourdais pits now from 12th. |
| Lap 25 | Piquet pits from fifth. |
| Lap 25 | Piquet exits ahead of Webber. |
| Lap 26 | Kubica pits from third position. |
| Lap 26 | That was either a long first stint or a one stop strategy. We'll see. |
| Lap 27 | Kubica exited behind Coulthard who has yet to pit. |
| Lap 27 | Vettel, 11th, has Nakajima and Webber right behind him. |
| Lap 27 | Raikkonen is a couple of tenths a lap quicker at the moment and keeping the pressure on. |
| Lap 28 | It turns out that Kubica did not change his tyres in that pit stop. He remains on same set of hard tyres. |
| Lap 28 | Hamilton leads Raikkonen by just over six seconds. Massa is nine second back in third. |
| Lap 29 | Coulthard pits from ninth position. |
| Lap 29 | Fisichella pits his Force India. |
| Lap 30 | Only Glock (P7) and Nakajima (P12) yet to stop. |
| Lap 30 | Raikkonen laps Fisichella on the back straight. |
| Lap 31 | Raikkonen lost over a second on that lap passing Fisichella. |
| Lap 31 | If things stay as they are, Raikkonen will slow and allow Massa through to second position. Team orders are not allowed, but with the title at stake, Raikkonen will make the decision himself which is fair enough. |
| Lap 32 | Bourdais passes Coulthard. |
| Lap 32 | Nakajima and Webber both pit. |
| Lap 32 | Nakajima remains ahead of Webber exiting the pits. That was Webber's second and final stop. |
| Lap 33 | Glock pits for the first and last time from seventh. |
| Lap 34 | Fisichella allows Alonso a clean pass to lap him. He wasn't so helpful for the top three. |
| Lap 35 | Rosberg passes Coulthard for 13th at the end of the back straight. |
| Lap 36 | Kovalainen slows.... He has a front right puncture! |
| Lap 36 | Kovalainen is slowly making his way back to the pits. |
| Lap 36 | Kovalainen is now pitting. He was fifth and not a great birthday for him. |
| Lap 37 | Alonso pits from fourth position. |
| Lap 37 | Kovalainen's ouncture has dropped him to 17th. Massa is now pushing hard to close the gap to Raikkonen. |
| Lap 38 | Massa pits from third position. |
| Lap 38 | Massa takes the hard tyre for his final stint. |
| Lap 39 | Hamilton pits with a nine second lead. Raikkonen also pits. |
| Lap 39 | Piquet pits his Renault for the second time. |
| Lap 40 | Raikkonen is looking in his mirrors for Massa. He'll be lapping lightly slower than he can to allow The Brazilian to catch and pass. Heidfeld pits. |
| Lap 40 | Rosberg pits his Williams for the second and final time. |
| Lap 41 | Kubica pits for the second time. He was fourth and exits ahead of Glock. Barrichello also pitting. |
| Lap 41 | Hamilton now leads Raikkonen by 12 seconds. Massa is now two seconds behind Raikkonen. |
| Lap 42 | Hamilton is backing off a little at the front. He needs to save the Mercedes V8 for its second Grand Prix at Interlagos. Vettel pits. |
| Lap 43 | Some tense faces on the Ferrari pit wall. Raikkonen has yet to back off enough to allow Massa into second. |
| Lap 44 | Button pits from 11th. |
| Lap 45 | Kovalainen's puncture is costly for McLaren in the constructors championship as Ferrari will gain four points over McLaren to make it 11 points heading to Brazil. |
| Lap 46 | Raikkonen gained half a second on that lap from Massa... Massa will not be happy... |
| Lap 47 | Will Heidfeld let Kubica ahead for fifth? |
| Lap 47 | Bourdais is right with Nakajima in the battle for 12th. |
| Lap 48 | Raikkonen slows a little more and Massa closes in to 1.5s. |
| Lap 49 | Kovalainen has caught Webebr who runs in 14th. |
| Lap 49 | Raikkonen is now really backing off. Massa will pass any second. |
| Lap 50 | Here we go, Raikkonen allows Massa ahead into turn 14. |
| Lap 50 | So Hamilton now leads Massa by 16 seconds. |
| Lap 51 | Oh dear, Kovalainen pits and retires. Did he give up or have a problem? |
| Lap 51 | Kovalainen was battling with Webber so there was nothing wrong with the car. My guess is he wants a fresh engine for Brazil. |
| Lap 52 | Alonso is pushing on in fourth and looking to put pressure on Raikkonen who has had to back off. |
| Lap 54 | Alonso gets the gap down to four seconds behind Raikkonen. He will run out of laps though but at least he is pushing hard for Renault in case. |
| Lap 56 | Lewis Hamilton wins the Chinese Grand Prix. He becomes the fifth different winner at this circuit in five races following on from Raikkonen, Schumacher, Alonso and Barrichello. |
| Lap 56 | That is Hamilton fifth win of the season as Massa finishes 15 seconds back in second. Raikkonen is third ahead of Alonso, Heidfeld, Kubica, Glock and Piquet. |
| Lap 56 | A dominant win from Hamilton who heads to Brazil with a seven point lead in the championship from Massa. |
