Brazil Nuts: F1 title decided on last corner of last lap of last race
Click above for high-res gallery of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix
It doesn't get any closer than this. A photo-finish has nothing on the last-minute – make that last-second – end to yesterday's Brazilian Grand Prix, the ultimate decider of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship. Even if you were watching it, chances are you might have missed it. It was that close.
Heading into this final round, the rival pair of young guns Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) were the only two in contention for the drivers' title. But Hamilton's lead in points would mean that Massa would have to win the race with Hamilton coming in no better than sixth place. The win would put the two tied in points, but give Massa the crucial extra grand prix victory to just edge out Hamilton and claim the title. Any less and they'd have to start counting podiums. Saturday's qualifying set the stage: Massa on pole, wildcard Trulli beside and team-mate Raikkonen behind him, with Hamilton stuck in fourth place on the grid. Les jeux sont faites; all bets were placed and the dealer spun the ball. And we wouldn't know who had taken home the prize until the very end. Follow the jump to read how it turned out.
Gallery: 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix
We could give you the play-by-play of each lap and how it turned out, but chances are if you wanted to see every corner unfold, you would have watched it yourself instead of reading about it here. So we're going to skip ahead to the end and give you what you want.
Although the race had started in the rain, the skies quickly cleared up, leaving the drivers with a rapidly drying track and good visibility. But as the race wound to a close, reports of rain came in for the last few laps and the drivers began pitting for the third round to switch to rain tires. Of the cars at the head of the pack, only Toyota's returning rookie Timo Glock gambled to stay on dry tires for the closing laps in the hope of holding on to his solid fourth place. Felipe Massa held his commanding lead for nearly the entire race distance (falling back only temporarily in the pits), all but locking up victory at his home race in front of thousands of cheering fellow Brazilians. Massa was doing all he could to win the race and take the title. Now it would depend on the position in which Hamilton finished.
The young McLaren driver came to Brazil in the same place he had been last season: heading into the final round seven points ahead in the championship. But would he repeat his mistakes and give the title to Ferrari? After starting the race in fourth, he dropped down the field to seventh, only to take fifth again and looking to seize the crown until rookie sensation Sebastien Vettel in the Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso managed to squeeze by him in the penultimate lap. If these positions would hold for less than just two laps, Vettel would be credited for giving Massa the title.
But then the unexpected happened. After Massa had crossed the finish line, Glock, Vettel and Hamilton came through the very last corner before the straight to the finish line. Glock, still on dry tires, apparently couldn't hold on in the corner and both Vettel and Hamilton slipped by. Vettel moved up to fourth place, but most crucially, Hamilton was elevated to fifth. With a fifth place finish, Hamilton won an all-important extra point over Massa – just enough to claim the drivers' title in one of the closest season-ending grands prix in motor racing history.
It was so close, in fact, that the cameras missed it. Massa's family was already celebrating in the Ferrari garage. And the multitude of viewers around the world sat on the edge of their seats as even the broadcasters missed it. But Lewis Hamilton was crowned the youngest ever champion in Formula One history, edging out former team-mate Fernando Alonso, who looked down from the podium alongside a still jubilant Felipe Massa who was still happy to have won his home grand prix and done everything he could to take the title. Next to him were last year's champion Kimi Raikkonen and their team principal Stefano Domenicali, who stepped up to accept the constructors' trophy for the race in symbolic lieu of the constructors' championship that the team secured with their double-podium finish. Maybe not the drivers' title they hoped for, but as Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo pointed out to us last week in Sicily, enough to propel the Scuderia into the history books for securing eight titles in the past ten years. With the titles split between Ferrari and McLaren, the heat is already on for next season.
Gallery: 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix
2009 Brazilian Grand Prix
1 Felipe Massa Ferrari
2 Fernando Alonso Renault
3 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari
4 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari
5 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
6 Timo Glock Toyota
7 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes
8 Jarno Trulli Toyota
9 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
10 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber
11 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber
12 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota
13 Jenson Button Honda
14 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari
15 Rubens Barrichello Honda
16 Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari
17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota
18 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari
Fastest lap: Massa, 1:13.376
Not classified/retirements:
Nelsinho Piquet Renault
David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault
World Championship standings
after 18 rounds
Drivers:
1. Hamilton 98
2. Massa 97
3. Raikkonen 75
4. Kubica 75
5. Alonso 61
6. Heidfeld 60
7. Kovalainen 53
8. Vettel 35
9. Trulli 31
10. Glock 25
11. Webber 21
12. Piquet 19
13. Rosberg 17
14. Barrichello 11
15. Nakajima 9
16. Coulthard 8
17. Bourdais 4
18. Button 3
Constructors:
1. Ferrari 172
2. McLaren-Mercedes 151
3. BMW Sauber 135
4. Renault 80
5. Toyota 56
6. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 39
7. Red Bull-Renault 29
8. Williams-Toyota 26
9. Honda 14
Get a WordPress.com Blog
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
hyundaifans.com 11:35AM (11/03/2008)
So did Glock give Hamilton a "gift" or were his tires really that bad that he could no longer put the power down for that last corner?
Reply
Franz 11:46AM (11/03/2008)
There was no gift. Glock's tires were just impossible to drive on in the wet. If you check the sector times you'll see that Glock was considerably slower in every sector on that last lap:
Sector 1: Glock, 24.8 vs Hamilton, 21.6 vs Vettel, 21.8
Sector 2: Glock, 54.7 vs Hamilton, 45.2 vs Vettel, 45.1
Sector 3: Glock, 25.0 vs Hamilton, 19.3 vs Vettel, 19.0
Also, Glock's sector times were quicker than those of his teammate Trulli who was also on the dry tires at the time, so unless there was some mass conspiracy going on at Toyota (unlikely, considering how aggressively they went after McLaren & Ferrari in both qualifying and the first stint) his difficulties were legit.
Remember at Spa this year how Heidfeld on the intermediates charged his way up from 11th to 3rd on the final lap? F1 cars are virtually undriveable on the wrong tires when wet. If you also take into consideration that the last corner at Interlagos is usually taken flat out (190 mph or better... impossible to do on dry tires in the wet) you'll agree that Glock had to back way off. He had no choice. He even said as much in his interviews.
Luis 11:56AM (11/03/2008)
Everyone will have their opinion...I think Hamilton got an early Christmas present...
slicecom 12:03PM (11/03/2008)
If you look at Glock's lap time on the last lap vs Trulli, who was in the same car, with the same tires, in the same conditions, he was actually FASTER than his teammate. There was no gift. Doesn't anyone remember the end of Spa!? Same thing happened!
Dondonel 12:27PM (11/03/2008)
@Franz
Those times are useless, post the same comparison on the previous lap.
Franz 12:37PM (11/03/2008)
@ Dondonel:
Useless? Lemme see if I have this right... the sector times for the last lap (the wettest lap of the entire race) are useless, but the lap times from the previous lap when it wasn't yet raining very hard would be more useful in helping to determine how much of a disadvantage Glock would be at from being on dry tires on a wet racetrack?
C'mon dude... seriously...
Temple 12:39PM (11/03/2008)
If Toyota wanted to gift McLaren a win they would have pitted the cars and changed tires along with everyone else when it started to rain. Since Glock was behind Hamilton at that point.
If anything, they gambled to get ahead of Hamilton by staying out on dry weather tires (and give Massa the victory). If the gamble payed off people would be saying Glock took the WDC from Hamilton with their bold move.
In fact, there would have been absolutely no excitement in the last few laps if Toyota didn't do that gamble; Hamilton was 4th and Vettel 5th before changing to intermediates. Only because Toyota jumped to 4th by not changing tires, and Hamilton losing a spot to Vettel (and out of the championship), did it become interesting.
On the last lap, Glock's time was actually faster then team-mate Trulli, both running in the 1:44s range. The Toyota's were a good 20s slower with dry weather tires then rest of the field on intermediates and Glock seemed to be pushing hard.
AZZO45b 9:07PM (11/03/2008)
Besides the lap times posted by Franz (thank you BTW) there is ONE more reason to IGNORE this moronic Toyota pimpin' for McLaren
Ready? Actually its 600 MILLION reasons... that is the 2008 Panasonic Toyota F1 budget. WTF would Toyota help McLaren Mercedez??????????? PLEASE!!!
A second reason... Timo Glock is not a Lewis Hamilton fan. Give Lewis his due... just because Ron Dennis is a tube steak doesn't mean Lewis is the same Ferrari can't win every year... DAMN!
Roni 8:02AM (11/04/2008)
Actully the gamble worked for Glock, he was 7th, before the changes (behind McLaren's Kovalainen) and finished 6th, giving his team a very imported extra point.
Look at what Glock has to say at the Formula 1 officel web site: www.formula1.com
ilya 11:54AM (11/03/2008)
It's funny, but the last sentence of the first paragraph is very true. I was watching the game in a pool house on a tiny TV, while playing pool with my friends. Figures out, I missed Hamilton passing Glock and regaining 5th position and therefore though Massa took it until I was told otherwise!
Reply
Mayoman 11:56AM (11/03/2008)
This was an unbelievable race. I wanted Massa to win, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole race. And when Vettel passed Hamilton at the end i thought it was over. I couldn't believe it.
This right here is why I watch F1, and will continue to watch it for a long time. Next year Alonso will be fully into the mix again. It's going to be spectacular.
Reply
Franz 11:52AM (11/03/2008)
Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton. Massa drove an absolutely perfect race (as expected @ Interlagos) and would have been equally deserving of the title if he had pulled it off, but after the ridiculous incidents at Spa & especially Fuji, you can't help but feel like justice was finally served. I think the McLaren team did extremely well too, considering they were forced to be conservative with Lewis' fuel load & chassis set up, ultimately compromising his race pace.
ps. Watch out for Vettel in the very near future. He definitely has what it takes to be a championship contender.
Reply
Brad 1:12PM (11/03/2008)
I agree. I thought Massa drove the perfect race under rather difficult conditions. Sad for him to lose like that but I do think Hamilton is justified being the champion especially after the royal screwing the FIA gave him after Spa. But you can look back on the season at a lot of "what ifs". What if Massa didn't drag the fuel hose down pit lane at Singapore. What if his engine didn't give up 3 laps from the finish at Hungary. What if Hamilton doesn't plow into the rear of Raikkonen's car at Montreal, etc.
Glock just had no traction for the last lap or so and was in real trouble for that last run up the frontstretch. That's mostly uphill all the way and with no traction control, on dry tires, in the rain, he had no chance to keep Vettel, Hamilton, etc. behind him.
I was glad to see Vettel go ahead and attack Hamilton and pass him. I was wondering if he was just going to concede the position to Hamilton and stay behind him. That STR is awesome in the rain.
Brian B 12:02PM (11/03/2008)
Why no info about Loeb wrapping up the WRC driver's title? Why no WRC coverage here?
Reply
Pat 12:18PM (11/03/2008)
Why don't you submit it ...
why not the LS2LS7? 1:23PM (11/03/2008)
Maybe because Loeb is boring as hell. I don't think it's a coincidence that we went from "Hollywood" Petter Solberg to Leob and WRC lost coverage.
Loeb is a great driver. But he's an awful interview.
Pat 2:09PM (11/03/2008)
Because F1 is the world's most popular motorsport and if anything should be covered it is F1. Not that WRC isn't awesome and exciting and immensely popular, but F1 is just more popular (by number of fans).
ken_aisin 12:00PM (11/03/2008)
I'm sure Timo didn't have time to care about Lewis's championship in the final lap. Seriously, dry tires on wet at such speed? He was probably more focus on not getting killed rather than someone else's title dream.
Reply
modifierwong 2:46PM (11/03/2008)
Well said...
I chuckled when I read your comment. Driving on slicks in an F1 car, in the rain is probably like driving in the winter with Bridgestone RE-050's
adrian 12:07PM (11/03/2008)
I thought it was a bit suspect however on the last bend you could see Glock fighting to keep the car on the track in the wet. Other cars passed him as well remember.
Reply