Lewis Hamilton claimed the Formula One title on the last lap on Sunday, making a pass on the final turn to take fifth place in the Brazilian Grand Prix and beat race-winner Felipe Massa by a point in the season standings.
The 23-year-old McLaren driver needed to finish fifth or better at Interlagos to ensure he would become F1’s youngest-ever champion.
He was in sixth place until passed Toyota’s Timo Glock on the last turn. Fernando Alonso was 24 when he won the title in 2005 with Renault.
PHOTO: EPA
“I am speechless,” Hamilton said. “It’s been a long journey in which I had the support of many people. My team did a fantastic job during the entire year and we sacrificed ourselves a lot. I am happy for having achieved this for all of us.”
Ferrari’s Massa won Sunday’s race in front of his home crowd, but it wasn’t enough to erase the seven-point lead Britain’s Hamilton held entering the season-ending race.
He needed to win and keep Hamilton out of the top five or place second and hope Hamilton finished outside of the points to become the first Brazilian season champion since the great, late Ayrton Senna in 1991.
Massa won in 1 hour, 34 minutes, 11.435 seconds at the Interlagos track. Alonso was second for Renault, 13.298 seconds behind, Kimi Raikkonen took third and Sebastien Vettel was fourth.
“I think it was the most incredible race I ever saw in my life,” Massa said. “So many things happened. It was a crazy race.”
“Unfortunately we missed by one point, but that’s racing. We need to be proud. The race was just perfect, we did everything just fantastically,” he said.
Hamilton’s title comes a year after he missed out by one point despite entering the final race with a seven-point lead over eventual champion Raikkonen of Ferrari.
A second meltdown loomed when Hamilton fell to sixth place Sunday after being overtaken with two laps to go by Toro Rosso’s Vettell, who also passed Glock.
Glock held onto fifth place until the last turn when he was forced to slow in the pouring rain because he was still on dry tires. Hamilton took his chance, moved into fifth place and finished the season with 98 points.
He became the first British F1 champion since Damon Hill in 1996, although for a few moments it wasn’t clear whether Hamilton or Massa had won the championship with both pit teams celebrating.
Hamilton had a long embrace with his father, Anthony, and both were apparently crying. He then kissed girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger, a singer with The Pussycat Dolls pop band.
He said he didn’t know if he had won the championship when he crossed the finish line.
“I was shouting, ‘Did I win? Did I win?”’ Hamilton said. “Then they told me when I was on the corner and I was ecstatic. It’s a dream.”
Massa, who started from the pole position, wept profusely on the podium.
Cautious from the start, Hamilton avoided the problems that cost him the title in Brazil last year, putting together a consistent run that kept him in the top five during most of the race.
He fell to seventh at one point, but quickly recovered, at least until the rain began to fall with five laps to go, forcing most of the leading cars to change into wet tires.
Hamilton’s pace slowed considerably, as other drivers were able to keep pushing.
“I was very comfortable before it started raining,” Hamilton said. “Then it began drizzling and I did not want to take any risks. Then he [Vettel] passed me and I was told I should stay in front of him. I could not believe it. Then, in the last corner, I passed Glock.
“It was one of the most difficult races of my entire life,” he said.
Heavy rain in South America’s biggest city on Sunday forced organizers to delay the start by 10 minutes.
The rain soon stopped, but the track was wet and most teams changed into wet tires.
All the front-runners made it through the first corner without a problem, with Massa leading and Hamilton in fourth. But a first-turn crash involving Red Bull driver David Coulthard, in his last race, forced the safety car to come out.
Hamilton was slowed by Trulli coming out of the pits, falling to seventh place. He quickly moved up to sixth after Trulli spun in front of him, and then passed Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella on lap 17 to get back to fifth.
The Briton maintained his position after the second round of pit stops. With Vettel out of sequence after choosing to put on dry tries earlier than other drivers, Hamilton moved up to fourth again and was in a safe position until the downpour.
It started raining lightly with 12 laps to go, and more strongly with seven left. Hamilton came into the pits with five laps remaining, and Massa a lap later.
Hamilton was unable to make a move on Vettel but bided his time to pounce on Glock, who was struggling to stay on the track.
Massa’s win gave Ferrari the constructors’ champion, with McLaren failing to win that title since 1998.
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