For the previous 20 years, the Japanese Grand Prix had been held at Suzuka Circuit, but at this race it returned to Fuji for the first time since 1977.

As a consequence of the race, Hamilton extended his lead in the World Drivers' Championship to twelve points over McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso.

His Ferrari teammate, Felipe Massa, dropped out of championship contention after finishing the race in sixth position.

McLaren would have been leading the table on 202 points had they not been given a penalty in the Hungarian Grand Prix, and then disqualified entirely due to the espionage controversy that year.

Takuma Sato was 15th in the Drivers' Championship for Super Aguri, whilst compatriot Sakon Yamamoto had yet to score for Spyker F1, having debuted at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Qualifying one saw the two Spykers of Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto and the two Super Aguris of Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato eliminated, along with Alexander Wurz in the Williams and Rubens Barrichello in the Honda.

Qualifying two saw the elimination of the two Renaults of Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen, David Coulthard's Red Bull, Vitantonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso and the Toyotas of Jarno Trulli and Schumacher.

Sebastian Vettel in the Toro Rosso and Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber occupied row 5, just behind Jenson Button, getting his best qualifying of the season in the Honda, and Mark Webber's Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton then pipped his more experienced McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso to earn the fifth pole position of his career.

[3] During the initial safety car period, the FIA instructed the lapped driver Vitantonio Liuzzi to pass the field and catch up to the back of the queue as quickly as he safely could, as a way of gauging whether the track was ready for the race to begin in earnest.

When the safety car finally left the circuit, the two McLarens began the race proper at the head of the field, in front of the quick-starting Sebastian Vettel.

Mark Webber was in fourth by the first racing lap as a result of the collision,[3] despite still suffering from the after-effects of food poisoning, having earlier vomited into his helmet during the first safety car period.

The collision put Heikki Kovalainen's Renault in second place, which he managed to hold until the end of the race, despite repeated overtaking attempts by Kimi Räikkönen.

[8][9] The free practice session on Saturday was abandoned after repeated delays due to fog, which grounded the medical helicopter.

[13] These doubts were realised when, after the qualifying session on Saturday, the shuttle buses could not leave because the road on the east gate of the circuit sank around 16:00.

Tsugawa mentioned: ...Although I have worked in Formula One for thirty years, this is the first time I have seen a Grand Prix race without seeing fans wave the flag of Ferrari.

[28][29] Despite the problems and criticism, the team principal of Toyota F1, Tadashi Yamashina praised the event: ...I would like to say congratulations to Fuji Speedway for hosting this race for the first time in 30 years.

[32] On 16 June 2008, 109 spectators went to Tokyo District Court and took an action against the circuit to claim total 32 million yen (US$295,500) in compensation for bad health and missing the race due to the problems with the shuttle buses.