The fifty seven lap 2008 Bahrain Grand Prix would see the AT&T Williams team see their drivers start from eighth and sixteenth grid positions. Nico would start ahead of team-mate Kazuki Nakajima. In a pre-race interview Nico said that
"the one we want to beat is Jarno (Trulli).... We have a very good chances to beat him." The wind had picked up, possibly causing problems for teams with their gear ratios on the long straights.

Most of the field would start with the softer tyre. The exception to this was Nico who would start on the harder tyre. With BMW's Robert Kubica on pole the grid would form up and the lights would go out. The start would see Massa passing Kubica at the start. Hamilton would make a bad start and was down in tenth. Massa was leading from Kubica, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Trulli, Heidfeld, Nico and Button in eighth. Hamilton would hit the rear of Alonso's Renault. It was under acceleration of of an corner and Hamilton would see his car ride up over the rear wheel of the Renault, destroying his front wing.

Button would pit as Hamilton dropped down the order. Raikkonen had passed Kubica as Hamilton and Coulthard both pitted. Coulthard had a right rear puncture. Massa would set a fastest lap on lap two, 1m:39.522. Another fastest lap on lap three for Massa, 1m:39.214. Nico was attacking Trulli for sixth. Heidfeld had passed Kovalainen for fourth.

Button would set a new fastest lap on his lap three but Massa would beat this with a 1m:36.752 on lap four. Kazuki was down in sixteenth. Hamilton was down in eighteenth. Lap five and Kubica was still looking at getting past Raikkonen. He would set a fastest lap, 1m:36.186. Raikkonen would fight back with a fastest lap, 1m:35.393, on lap six.

Lap seven and a new fastest lap for Massa, 1m:34.643, to see his lead out to 4.3 seconds. Nico was still looking to pass Trulli. Kazuki would pass Sato for fifteenth. Tenth placed Glock was challenging ninth placed Alonso. Lap eleven and Piquet would pass Bourdais for thirteenth. Lap twelve and Massa would set a new fastest lap, 1m:34.593. His lead was now 5.1 seconds over Raikkonen. Kubica and Heidfeld were in third and fourth. Nico had dropped away from Trulli with Trulli 1.8 seconds in front of the Williams. This would grow to 2.4 seconds on lap thirteen. Nico's performance should be viewed in light of the fact that he was running with the harder tyre.

Hamilton was still in eighteenth. Lap fourteen and Raikkonen would respond to Massa with a fastest lap, 1m:34.322. Kazuki was still in fifteenth. Another fastest lap for Raikkonen on lap fifteen, 1m:34.281. Trulli was now 3.4 seconds ahead of Nico. Lap eighteen and Kubica would pit. A new set of soft tyres on the BMW. Nico would also pit and take on the softer tyre. Piquet would pit from thirteenth. On lap seventeen Raikkonen had set another fastest lap but the following lap Massa would go faster, 1m:34.217. Button and Coulthard would make contact with Button losing his nose as his car rode up onto the Red Bull.

Button would pit as Massa still lead from Raikkonen, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Trulli, Webber, Alonso, and in eighth Glock. Lap twenty one and Raikkonen would pit as Massa put in another fastest lap on lap twenty, 1m:34.178. Trulli and
Alonso would also pit. Button would pit again to retire. Lap twenty two and Massa would pit. He had gone four laps longer than Kubica. Heidfeld and Kovalainen would also pit.

Nico was down in thirteenth and Kazuki fourteenth. Webber would pit from second. Fisichella and Barrichello would pit from seventh and eighth. At the front the order was Massa from Raikkonen, Glock, Kubica, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Trulli, Webber, and in ninth Nico. Lap twenty four and Bourdais would pit from tenth. Glock would pit from fourth. As a result of the first round of pit stops Webber had been able to get pass Nico. Nico was now running in eighth, 3.8 seconds behind Webber. Massa was now 5.1 seconds ahead of Raikkonen and looking very comfortable. Kazuki was in eleventh and on a one stop strategy.

Lap twenty nine and Kazuki would set a personal best, 1m:35.745. Glock was now attacking Nico while Lap thirty one would see Raikkonen fastest, 1m:34.068. Raikkonen was now 4.0 seconds behind Massa. Hamilton would pit from fourteenth.

Another fastest lap for Raikkonen, 1m:34.062, on lap thirty two. Kazuki would finally pit from eleventh. He would change from the harder to the softer tyres. Massa would respond on lap thirty four with another fastest lap, 1m:34.221.
Raikkonen would fight back with a new fastest lap on lap thirty five, 1m:33.709. It was a real fight between the Ferrari's.

Kazuki had now been lapped. Lap thirty eight and Massa would set a fastest lap, 1m:33.600. Kimi would pit from second. He would return in fourth. Massa would pit the next lap, taking on the harder tyre. Raikkonen was caught up in traffic so it really was looking very good for Massa. Nico would pit on lap forty one. Kubica was leading from team-mate Heidfeld. Kazuki was running in thirteenth.

Kubica would pit on lap forty two, taking on the harder tyre. Piquet would retire in the pit with a gearbox problem. Webber would pit from seventh on lap forty three. The next lap and Trulli would pit from sixth. Heidfeld was leading Massa by 7.1 seconds. Heidfeld was pushing hard at the front. Lap forty five and Glock would pit from sixth. The next lap and Heidfeld would pit from the lead. Massa was now back in the lead from Raikkonen, with Third placed Kovalainen yet to pit. Nico was back in eighth and Kazuki thirteenth. Kovalainen was right behind Raikkonen. He would finally pit on lap forty eight.

Lap forty eight and a fastest lap for Heidfeld, 1m:33.565. Massa was leading Raikkonen by 7.6 seconds, with Kubica third. Kubica was trying to pull himself up onto the back of the Ferrari. Lap forty nine and Kovalainen would set a new fastest lap, 1m:33.193. With just five laps to run the order was Massa from Raikkonen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Trulli, Webber, and in eighth Nico.

The laps would count down with little change and Massa would start the final lap and would bring his Ferrari across the finish line to win the 2008 Bahrain Grand Prix. Raikkonen was second and the BMW's of Kubica and Heidfeld third and
fourth. The final points would go to Kovalainen, Trulli, Webber, and the last point would go to Nico. After an encouraging start to the weekend for the Williams team the race would see only a single point result. The race pace simply was not there.

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  1h31:06.970
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +     3.339
 3.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +     4.998
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +     8.409
 5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    26.789
 6.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +    41.314
 7.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    45.473
 8.  Rosberg       AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  +    55.889
 9.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +  1:09.500
10.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +  1:17.181
11.  Barrichello   Honda                 (B)  +  1:17.862
12.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  +     1 lap
15.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda     (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda     (B)  +     1 lap
18.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     1 lap
19.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Kovalainen, 1m:33.193

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Piquet        Renault               (B)    42
Button        Honda                 (B)    20
Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    1