Lewis Hamilton wins F1 Title!

It is a sight that you will rarely see in sport – two opposing teams celebrating victory over each other at the same time. But this is exactly what happened in the exciting climax to the Formula One season last Sunday. In a dramatic final race, McLaren’s British star Lewis Hamilton started seven points ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, knowing that all he needed to do was finish 5th in the race to win the title, even if Massa won the race. Interestingly this was exactly the same position Hamilton found himself in last year’s final race, where he had the chance to become the first driver in the history of Formula One to win the title in their rookie season. That time, it was Kimi Raikonnen, also of Ferrari, who started that race seven points behind him in the championship race, and that time it was Raikonnen who took the title, one point ahead of both Hamilton and his then McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso. Hamilton was clearly hoping that the similarities between the two season finales would end at the starting grid.

Felipe Massa started on pole position in Sao Paulo with the chance to win the championship in his home race, while Hamilton started in fourth on the grid. Massa was to lead from start to finish in a commanding performance, leaving Hamilton to fulfil his side of the bargain. The drama of the day was heightened when a sudden shower of rain delayed the start of the race for ten minutes and forced all the drivers to switch to their wet tyres. But the rain was very brief and this meant that after about nine laps each driver was pitting to switch back to dry tyres. The likes of Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Vettel and Alonso, now back with Renault, pitted earlier to make this switch, catapulting them to 2nd and 3rd positions respectively. Hamilton, on the other hand drove more conservatively. Knowing that he only needed 5th to win the championship, he waited for a couple more laps to change his tyres but then fell to 6th place. From this position he would endure a tense race, but he did seem comfortable as he slowly battled back to fourth place over the course of the 71-lap race.

It looked like Hamilton was going to finish in a comfortable 4th place until the rain returned five laps from the end of the race to ensure a nail-biting finale. Neither Massa nor Hamilton could afford to take any chances that this would just be a light drizzle, so they both pitted to change back to wet tyres. However, while Massa maintained his healthy lead in first place, Hamilton emerged from the pit lane in 5th place and with Vettel, breathing down his neck. Toyota’s Timo Glock had gambled and not changed his tyres, jumping ahead of Hamilton into 4th place. His gamble looked to have paid off as the rain refused to fall hard. And in the penultimate lap of the race, the unthinkable happened – the irrepressible Vettel went past Hamilton into 5th place. Hamilton was now in 6th place and was about to lose the championship in the final race – again. He wasn’t fast enough to get back at Vettel and they were both 18 seconds behind Glock going into the final lap. All seemed lost for Hamilton and his fans began contemplating another heartbreaking end to the F1 season.

But what happened next will be forever etched into Formula One folklore. When Massa crossed the line he had won the title, for Hamilton was still in 6th position. The Ferarri team burst into scenes of wild celebrations, but barely twenty seconds later, so did McLaren. What Ferrari hadn’t yet realised was that on the penultimate corner of the race, seconds before the final straight, Hamilton went past a slowing Glock, who was now struggling to keep his dry tyres on the track as the rain started to fall more heavily during that final lap. For Massa, it was exhilarating joy, followed by devastating heartbreak all within a matter of moments. For Hamilton, it was a heart-stopping finale, followed by relief and unspeakable ecstasy once it was confirmed to him that he had indeed finished in 5th place and become the youngest ever driver at 23 years and 301 days to claim the F1 Driver’s Championship!

Hamilton had already shot to global fame thanks to his image and status as Formula One’s first black driver. However, he believes that his victory, much like Barack Obama’s victory in the US elections two days later, should be an inspiration for people from all walks of life to reach for greater heights, and in his case, get involved in motorsports. With several multi-million pound endorsements under his belt already, he is now tipped to become the sports first billion dollar man, such is the potential of his marketability. But more importantly, the question being asked now of his natural talent is – how good can this guy get? Given his early start in the sport, the question now is whether he can go on to match Michael Schumacher’s seemingly impregnable record of seven titles and 91 wins. Hamilton now has one title and 9 wins. Would you bet against him surpassing that record? Only time will tell, it’s early days yet!