Full Throttle

Lewis Hamilton has been crowned Formula One champion after finishing fifth in the Brazil Grand Prix.

He beat Felipe Massa to the title by one point after Massa won the season-ending race in front of his home fans at the Interlagos circuit.

Arguably in one of the most dramatic finishes to a world title it culminated in Lewis Hamilton becoming the sport’s youngest world champion. As thunder boomed over Interlagos, and on a track becoming wetter by the second in the closing laps, Hamilton was on the verge of missing out.

Running in sixth and with title rival Felipe Massa running away with the expected race win, Hamilton’s heart was about to be broken for a second time, as it was at this track a year ago.

But he can thank Toyota for taking the title as they failed to call in Timo Glock to take on wet tires.

With the German still on dry rubber and running in fourth at the time, he slowly started to drop back.

Just one kilometer from the conclusion of the Brazilian Grand Prix, and at the penultimate corner, Hamilton passed Glock to claim fifth place – and with it the title.

Over the team radio, when it became apparent he had taken the title, an emotional Hamilton said: “I’m speechless – that was so pretty close. “You guys have done an amazing job all season. This is for you and my family.”

“It’s amazing, I can’t get my breath back,” he said before his father Anthony ushered him away.

Hamilton senior had earlier told ITV television: “What can I say. I can’t say anymore. I really can’t find any words.

“It’s absolutely great and that’s a shame that the crowd are doing this (booing). They should be sportsmen. We have the championship and let’s look forward to the next one.”

Felipe Massa was followed home by two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Renault and third place Ferrari teammate outgoing champion Kimi Raikkonen.

Sebastien Vettel was fourth for Toro Rosso after passing Hamilton in the final laps and Hamilton fifth, just, after his late recovery when Glock slowed down and finished sixth.

Hamilton’s McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen of Finland came home seventh.

The start was also dramatic, adding to the tension and nerves as the clock ticked down to the five red lights disappearing as a short, sharp, torrential downpour soaked the track a mere three minutes prior to the official start.

At that point all the drivers had settled into the cockpit of their cars ready for the short run down to the defining Senna S series of initial turns.

When they eventually filed away, the leaders tip-toed their way through the Senna S, but sadly it was where David Coulthard’s 15 season career ended.

The 37-year-old Scot, in his 246th and final grand prix, was hit from behind by one Williams in the form of Nico Rosberg prior to running into the other driven by Nakajima.

Although the Japanese managed to keep going, Coulthard’s car sadly came to rest in the middle of the circuit, ultimately bringing the safety car into play.

Nelson Piquet, almost certainly in his last race for Renault, was another casualty as he spun off all on his own, smashing into one of the barriers before stopping on the grass.

Although already drying in places, the safety car stayed out for three laps before eventually returning to the pits. Appreciably there were a few twitchy moments for a number of the drivers given how wet the circuit was in places, but they managed to survive for a precarious few laps.

It was all a question of time as to when they would switch to dry tires, with Giancarlo Fisichella the canary in a coal mine for Force India as he had gambled early on.

The veteran Italian had taken on dry tires on lap two at a point when the safety car was on track, and initially, running at the back of the field, he was slower than leader Massa by 12 seconds.

As the time difference between the two rapidly decreased, from lap eight onwards, the cars filed into pitlane.

All of which preceded The Shake-up. Hamilton had dropped to seventh, a position that would see him miss out on the title, but it wasn’t to be for the home town Massa and I suspect he will be cursing approach to the Senna S to sometime to come.

Hamilton’s triumph made him first Briton to take the world title, ninth overall, since Damon Hill in 1996 and the first McLaren champion since Finn Mika Hakkinen in 1999.

The previous youngest champion was two-times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault who was 24 years, one month and 27 days old when he won the title in 2005. Hamilton was 23 years, nine months and 26 days old as he drove to glory on Sunday.

Massa had been hoping to be the first Brazilian champion since Ayrton Senna in 1991.

Cross posted at F1 Rage.