Held on Sunday the 6th of July 2008, the British Grand Prix started in heavy rain conditions. The race took place over 60 laps around the 5.141km (3.194 miles) circuit.
McLaren-Mercedes driver Heikki Kovalainen started on pole position after qualifying first the day before with a time of 1:21:049. Red Bull driver Mark Webber lined up on the front row alongside Kovalainen and reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari right behind them in third.
Once the race got underway, British driver Lewis Hamilton had rose from fourth to second in his McLaren-Mercedes after overtaking Webber and Raikkonen. On lap 5, Hamilton made his way past his teammate Kovalainen after being closely behind him for several laps. Just before this, Hamilton’s title rival Felipe Massa spun twice on the same lap resulting in him to drop to the back of the field.
By lap 10, Hamilton had extended his lead to 6 seconds after his teammate spun and was passed by Raikkonen. As the track dried, Raikkonen began to catch Hamilton and by the time they both pitted on lap 21, the gap was under a second. However, Hamilton pitted for intermediate tyres whereas Raikkonen and Ferrari gambled and just refuelled without changing tyres. The rain almost instantly became heavier after and Raikkonen was unable to find grip.
By lap 27 and around 8 seconds off the leading Hamilton, Raikkonen was passed by both Kovalainen and Nick Heidfeld. Then, Heidfeld overtook Kovalainen for 2nd. Raikkonen finally pit on lap 30 and dropped to eleventh place.
Robert Kubica overtook Kovalainen just before the McLaren driver pitted for a second time. On lap 37, both Honda drivers took a gamble on extreme wet tyres. On the same lap, race leader Hamilton went off the track on to the grass and rejoined without any noticeable damage. On lap 38 with a 30 second lead, Hamilton pitted for new intermediate wet tyres and refuelled. After both Hamilton and Heidfeld had pitted, the gap was 36 seconds.
With 20 laps to go, Rubens Barrichello on extreme wet tyres had made his way up to fourth as the Honda driver was lapping around nine seconds quicker than the majority of the field. Kubica ended his race in the gravel after losing control of his car. On lap 47, Barrichello pitted from second after passing Heidfeld and built a 20 second gap. The Brazilian driver rejoined in third place.
The rain had stopped but a lot of standing water remained. Massa running last spun for the 5th time after having a miserable British Grand Prix.
On lap 60, Lewis Hamilton crossed the line to win the race by 68 seconds ahead of Nick Heidfeld in second and Barrichello in third. Hamilton’s win margin was the largest since 1995 Australian Grand Prix. Hamilton’s win has been named as one of the best wet-weather drives in the history of Formula 1. Hamilton’s win also tied him with Raikkonen and Massa in the driver championship at the top of the championship.