2008 Formula One season

The 2008 Formula One season was the 59th season of the Formula One World Championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) — the governing body of motorsport — as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The season was contested over eighteen rounds, which started in Australia on 16 March and ended in Brazil on 2 November. The 2008 season saw the debut of the Singapore Grand Prix, which was held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, in Marina Bay, Singapore and was the first Formula One race held at night. The European Grand Prix moved to a new venue at the Valencia Street Circuit, in Valencia, Spain

Lewis Hamilton won the Drivers' title by a point – by overtaking Toyota's Timo Glock on the final corner of the final lap of the final grand prix of the season to claim the required 5th-place finish – from Brazilian Felipe Massa while Massa's teammate, the 2007 world champion, Kimi Räikkönen was ranked third, with two wins. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro won the Constructors' title. In winning the title, Hamilton became the youngest driver ever to win the title (a record since supplanted by Sebastian Vettel's winning of the 2010 Drivers' title) and the first black driver to do so. He was also the first British champion since Damon Hill in 1996.