Result FORMULA ONE

Formula One : Massa victorious, Hamilton champion after nail-biting finish in Brazil

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton is the 30th - and youngest-ever - world champion. Lady Luck was on his side after title rival Felipe Massa dominated at Interlagos. The Brazilian crossed the line first after a pluperfect performance - and seemed to have achieved the impossible - as Hamilton trailed in sixth.

Rain in the closing stages had prompted the first five - Massa, Renault’s Fernando Alonso, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, Hamilton and Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel - to pit for wet tyres. Crucially, Timo Glock, running sixth for Toyota, did not.

Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen resumed in first to third places, but Hamilton and Vettel fell behind Glock. That was still good enough for Hamilton. But then, under pressure on the 70th lap, he made a crucial mistake and slid wide. It was all Vettel needed and the Toro Rosso driver pushed through to snatch away the fifth place that Hamilton needed to become champion.

Even as Massa crossed the line, Hamilton was only sixth and the Brazilian was the champion. But as Vettel and Hamilton slammed out of the final corner, Glock’s Toyota was slowing in front of them, the German struggling for grip on his increasingly unsuitable rubber. From the jaws of defeat, the British driver snatched back the crown in one of the most dramatic title deciders in history. No Hollywood script could have been more exciting.

Rain at the start had added to the drama, and saw Red Bull’s David Coulthard make an undignified exit from his last Grand Prix after he was tapped into a spin by Williams’ Nico Rosberg, which then involved Rosberg’s team mate Kazuki Nakajima. Coulthard was out on the spot, while Renault’s Nelson Piquet went off in Turn Three and was also out.

Massa controlled things throughout, with Toyota’s Jarno Trulli soon falling back from an initially strong second-place run as everyone began changing from wet to dry-weather tyres after seven laps. Vettel, running a different fuel strategy to the other leaders, was always a threat, running second ahead of Alonso and pressuring Massa several times before stopping earlier for fuel. Raikkonen ran some way behind this trio, but closed in rapidly on Alonso in the final stages and was close to him as Massa crossed the line 13.2s ahead.

Hamilton took few chances, was always around fourth or fifth, and looked easily on target until that dramatic battle at the end. Glock finished sixth, limping across the line well ahead of McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen, and Trulli, the final points scorers.

Mark Webber brought his Red Bull home ninth, ahead of the BMW Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica, the team thus failing to score for the first time in 2008. Rosberg was 12th ahead of Honda’s Jenson Button, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais (whose chances of points were ruined after a clash with Trulli in Turn One), Honda’s Rubens Barrichello, Force India’s Adrian Sutil, Nakajima and Giancarlo Fisichella. The Italian Force India driver was the first to stop for dry tyres on Lap Two, and ran as high as fifth before the inevitable decline as faster machinery hit its stride.

After those gripping final laps there was almost disbelief at McLaren as Hamilton scraped home, but Massa had that covered as he graciously conceded defeat.

“We need to congratulate Lewis,” he said. “He did a great championship, and he scored more points than us, so deserves to be champion.”

Ferrari’s consolation was to win the constructors’ world championship but, ultimately, and in the most dramatic circumstances imaginable, this was Lewis Hamilton’s and McLaren’s day.

source : http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/11/8632.html

Result at Interlagos,Brazil

Driver Team Grid Pts.
1 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 71 1:34:11.435 1 10
2 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 71 +13.2 secs 6 8
3 1 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 71 +16.2 secs 3 6
4 15 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari 71 +38.0 secs 7 5
5 22 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 71 +38.9 secs 4 4
6 12 Timo Glock Toyota 71 +44.3 secs 10 3
7 23 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 71 +55.0 secs 5 2
8 11 Jarno Trulli Toyota 71 +68.4 secs 2 1

Driver Standing

01 Lewis Hamilton 98
02 Felipe Massa 97
03 Kimi Räikkönen 75
04 Robert Kubica 75
05 Fernando Alonso 61
06 Nick Heidfeld 60
07 Heikki Kovalainen 53
08 Sebastian Vettel 35
09 Jarno Trulli 31
10 Timo Glock 25

Constructor Standing

01 Ferrari 172
02 McLaren-Mercedes 151
03 BMW Sauber 135
04 Renault 80
05 Toyota 56
06 STR-Ferrari 39
07 Red Bull-Renault 29
08 Williams-Toyota 26
09 Honda 14
10 Force India-Ferrari 0



Hamilton speechless after dramatic title finale

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was almost lost for words after he took the 2008 drivers’ title by finishing fifth in Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix. He secured the place on the final corner of the final lap of the final race of the season to finish the year with 98 points, one more than Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who won the Interlagos race.

"The most dramatic race of my whole life,” said Hamilton. “It’s pretty much impossible to put this into words: I’m still speechless. It’s been such a long journey, but I’ve always had the support of my family, the team, our partners and the fans. We did a fantastic job throughout the whole year and, with all the sacrifices we made, I’m so thrilled to be able to win this for everyone.”



Prior to that dramatic final lap, Hamilton had looked set for heartbreak once more in Brazil, scene of his failed 2007 title bid. Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel had forced his way past in the closing stages, leaving the Briton sixth when he needed to finish fifth. But Toyota’s decision not to pit for wet tyres when a late shower arrived meant that fourth-placed Timo Glock rapidly became easy prey for both Hamilton and Vettel.

"Before it started to rain I was quite comfortable, and I was just focused on having a clean race,” added Hamilton. “Then it started to drizzle and I didn't want to take any risks - but Sebastian got past me and I was told that I had to get back in front of him. I couldn’t believe it. Then at the very last corner I managed to get past Timo - it was just amazing. This was one of the toughest races of my life, if not the toughest. I was shouting, ‘Do I have it? Do I have it?’ on the radio. It was only when I took the chequered flag and got to Turn One that the team told me I was world champion. I was ecstatic."

At the age of just 23 years, 10 months and 26 days, Hamilton is the youngest champion in Formula One history. He is the 12th man to win the drivers’ title with McLaren, who last took the crown with Mika Hakkinen back in 1999.

"Well, that was a really tough race,” said team boss Ron Dennis. “We never pushed hard, we never did anything silly, but of course the late rain made things extraordinarily tense. Even so, even when Sebastian got past Lewis, we never gave up, and Lewis never gave up, because we knew that Timo was on intermediate tyres. But Lewis took his chance brilliantly, and the result was one of the most thrilling finishes in sporting history. I'm so proud of Lewis; I'm so proud of the team; everyone - every single one of them - did an absolutely fantastic job."

source : http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/11/8635.html