With the AT&T Williams drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima qualifying in
ninth and eleventh grid positions the prospects for the fifty seven lap 2008 European Grand Prix at Valencia were looking positive. With Massa on pole and Hamilton second the grid would move away on their formation lap with the
exception of Barrichello and Sutil who would start from the pit lane, with both of these drivers had made changes to their gearboxes. Everyone was starting the race on the harder option tyre.

Only Nico was on the super soft tyres for his opening stint. Kazuki was on the harder tyre. It would be interesting to see what strategy the pair are running. Massa would return to the grid and the rest of the field would form up behind him. The lights would go out and the race was on. At Turn one Massa was leading from Hamilton, Kubica, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Vettel, Trulli, and Nico. At the end of lap one Massa was leading by 1.4 seconds. Nico was in eighth and Kazuki was showing as going into the pit. Kazuki had damage to his front wing after having run into the rear of Alonso.

Alonso had slowed due to traffic seeing the FW30 hit him in the rear. Alonso would lose his rear wing seeing him pit. A fastest lap from Hamilton on lap two, 1m:40.977. Kazuki would return to the track but was last. It was shown that Coulthard had spun after been hit from behind. lap three and it was Massa's turn for a fastest lap, 1m:40.256. Massa was leading by 1.8 seconds. Kubica was till in third followed by Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Vettel, Trulli, and in eighth Nico.

Lap four and Massa was again fastest, 1m:40.170. Alonso would retire from his car in the pits. Nico was 14.4 seconds behind the leader. Massa would extend his lead out to 2.9 seconds with another fastest lap on lap five, 1m:40.160. Another fastest lap on lap six with a 1m:40.091 for Massa. Hamilton would respond with a 1m:40.090 on lap seven but the gap was still 2.9 seconds to Massa. Coulthard would make contact trying to pass Sutil. He was able to continue. The top eight were all fairly well spread out as Massa dropped into the 1m:39's with a 1m:39.633 on lap eight.

That lap would see Kubica run about four seconds slower that Hamilton and Massa dropping back to have Kovalainen and Raikkonen right behind him. Nico was still in eighth and Kazuki a distant last. Lap nine and Massa was again fastest with a 1m:39.466. He was now leading by 3.8 seconds over Hamilton. Kubica was continuing as Massa went faster with a 1m:39.285 on lap eleven. Nico was now 26.3 seconds behind Massa.

Nico was 6.6 seconds behind seventh placed Trulli. Massa would continue to lower the fastest lap with a 1m:39.167 on lap thirteen. Massa was now 4.8 seconds ahead of Hamilton on lap fourteen, after dropping in another fastest lap of 1m:39.024. Lap fifteen and Coulthard would pit from seventeenth. Massa was next to pit on lap sixteen. He would come back out on the harder tyre. He would return just in front of Raikkonen in fourth.

At the front Hamilton was pushing setting a new fastest lap with a 1m:38.884 on lap sixteen. Raikkonen was stuck behind his fuelled and slower team-mate Massa. lap seventeen and Hamilton would pit, joined by Vettel. He would also stay on the harder tyre. Kubica was now leading from Kovalainen but the Pole would pit on lap eighteen. Raikkonen was also in. Bourdais was also in from eleventh. Kubica and Raikkonen stayed on the harder tyre. So it was Kovalainen leading from Massa, Hamilton, Trulli, and Nico. Trulli would pit on lap twenty staying on the harder tyre.

Nico was now fourth and on lap twenty one Kovalainen would pit. He was joined by Nico. Massa was again leading from Hamilton by 3.0 seconds with Kubica third followed by Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Glock, Raikkonen, Trulli, Vettel, and Nico now in tenth. Kazuki was down in eighteenth. Glock and Heidfeld had yet to pit. Lap twenty three and Heidfeld would pit taking on the harder tyre. Heidfeld would return in eleventh. Hamilton was to lose further time to Massa and on lap twenty four was 5.1 seconds behind the Ferrari.

Lap twenty seven and Massa's lead was now 6.5 seconds over Hamilton. Lap thirty and Webber would pit from tenth on what should be his only stop. Fifth placed Glock was still yet to make his first pit stop. Button would pit on lap thirty as Massa eased out some further time over Hamilton, 8.4 seconds. Lap thirty one and Glock would finally make his pit stop. He would switch to the softer tyre for the run to the chequered flag. Lap thirty two and Kazuki would pit, joined by Barrichello.

Glock was now in ninth but would not have to stop again. Nico was 4.4 seconds behind Vettel. Piquet would also make his only stop, pitting from eleventh. He would take on the softer tyre. Lap thirty four and Massa was fastest with a 1m:38.840. Massa was piling on the pressure with another fastest lap on lap thirty five, 1m:38.757. Ninth placed Glock was dropping away from Nico in eighth. Massa would pit on lap thirty seven almost touching Sutil on the exit. Nico would pit on lap thirty nine. Massa was under investigation for the incident with Sutil. Hamilton would pit on lap thirty nine. The next lap and Vettel would pit.

Lap forty one and Kubica would pit from third taking on the softer tyre. Kubica would return in sixth. Trulli and Heidfeld would make their next pit stops. Sutil would run off the track and into the tyre barrier. Lap forty four and Kovalainen and Raikkonen would pit. Raikkonen would take the fuel nose with him seeing Kimi stop. One of the mechanics was pulled out. Raikkonen was down to sixth. It was announced that the incident with Massa and Sutil would be investigated after the race. The Ferrari mechanic was stretchered off to the circuit medical centre.

Lap forty five and Massa was leading Hamilton by 7.1 seconds with Kubica third. Kovalainen was fourth followed by Trulli, Raikkonen, Vettel, Glock, and in ninth Nico. Kazuki was down in seventeenth. On lap forty seven Raikkonen would stop on the start-finish straight with an engine failure. This would see Nico now in eighth. He was 1.5 seconds behind seventh placed Glock with nine laps remaining. Kazuki was now one lap down on lap fifty one. Nico had lost ground to Glock with the gap now 2.7 seconds so with only a handful of laps remaining it would be surprising to see Nico finish higher than eighth. Lap fifty two it was out to 3.6 seconds.

Kazuki was now in fifteenth. At the front the order was Massa from Hamilton, Kubica, Kovalainen, Trulli, Vettel, Glock, and in eighth Nico. With the top eight positions remaining static the final laps would count down and we would have Massa cross the line to win the 2008 European Grand Prix, his fourth race win of the season. Nico would have to settle with a single point which was hardly the result that the Williams team was hoping for. It was really a race where the Williams team again failed to show and real improvement in performance from the FW30. Kazuki would finish in a disappointing fifteenth place after his early accident running into Alonso.

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  1h35:32.339
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     5.611
 3.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +    37.353
 4.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    39.703
 5.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +    50.684
 6.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    52.625
 7.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +  1:07.990
 8.  Rosberg       at&t Williams-Toyota  (B)  +  1:11.457
 9.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +  1:22.177
10.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +  1:29.794
11.  Piquet        Renault               (B)  +  1:32.717
12.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Button        Honda                 (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
15.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  +     1 lap
16.  Barrichello   Honda                 (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:38.708

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)    46
Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)    42
Alonso        Renault               (B)    1