Lewis Hamilton claimed his first world championship, and the first for McLaren-Mercedes since 1999, in the most incredible climax to an F1 season in recent memory. Felipe Massa crossed the line to take the win, and at the time, the title, but Hamilton caught and passed the dry tyre-shod Timo Glock on the rapidly moistening track to grab the fifth place he needed to secure the title by a single point.All that after the McLaren man seemed to have conspired to throw the championship away two laps from the end after running wide in the same corner as Robert Kubica unlapped himself, allowing Sebastian Vettel to move past him and consign the Brit to sixth place. But even though he failed to find a way back past the Toro Rosso, the rain increased on the final tour to cripple Glock's pace and give Hamilton the place back.
The whole race itself saw the fortune of the two title contenders change almost at will as the weather conditions played havoc with the track conditions. The tension at the start was ratcheted up a notch when a downpour five minutes before the start caused a ten minute delay while the teams switched to intermediate tyres, with only Robert Kubica choosing to remain on the dry tyres, at least until the end of the formation lap when he pitted to switch, ruining his race before it had even begun.
From the start, despite everyone bogging down in the wet conditions, Massa led away from Trulli, Raikkonen and Hamilton, while Kovalainen was quickly passed by Vettel and Alonso, which prevented any team play from McLaren early on. The only casualties of the first turn, and indeed the whole race, were David Coulthard, who ended his final race at the first corner after being tagged by Rosberg and collecting Nakajima, and Nelson Piquet Jr, who spun out in front of his home crowd to top his dismal debut season.The incidents required a safety car, but once released, Massa extended his lead over Trulli and Raikkonen, with Hamilton contending with Vettel and Alonso behing him. The first crucial choice was when to pit on the drying track and switch back to grooved rubber. Vettel and Alonso timed their stops perfectly, and leapfrogged up to second and third behind Massa, while Hamilton left it too late, and emerged down in 7th behind the front three, Giancarlo Fisichella's Force India which had made the switch earlier, Raikkonen and Trulli.
He dealt with Trulli on lap 13, slithering up the inside into turn 1 despite having to use the wet line into the corner, and then spent a number of laps trapped behind Fisichella before passing him with an identical move on lap 17. At that point, he was where he needed to be to win the championship, and Massa was under all sorts of pressure from Vettel and Alonso. All seemed comfortable for the Brit.
Things changed though when Vettel, who had failed to refuel when he stopped for dry tyres, was forced to pit on lap 27. Suddenly, Massa began banging in fastest laps, easing away from Alonso, while Hamilton's pace stagnated, and he was caught by the Toyota of Timo Glock, though Vettel's pit had now elevated him to fourth.
And so the order continued. The second stops came and went, and after Glock's early stop, he found himself stuck in traffic, allowing Hamilton to emerge in fourth, now just ahead of Vettel. Up front, Massa continued to lead from Alonso, who was dropping off and coming under increasing pressure from Raikkonen, but with Hamilton where he needed to be, and with the buffer of allowing Vettel past should the pressure get too much, it looked like game over.And then the rain returned, and the race moved from tense to downright bonkers. After a couple of laps sliding around on grooved tyres, the field pitted for intermediates, with the order remaining pretty much the same. Except for Glock, who stayed out on the dry tyres, and found himself in fourth place. That left Hamilton fifth, and with Vettel still swarming over the back of him.
With two laps to go, Hamilton ceded the track to Kubica as the BMW man unlapped himself, but then slid wide in the final turn and Vettel scampered through. Suddenly it was Massa's title, and Hamilton looked to have thrown it all away once again. But onto the final tour, the rain increased, Glock was swamped and Hamilton returned to the fifth place he needed.
So Massa took the flag, but Hamilton just about hung on to the glory. More than a slice of luck helped Hamilton out, and it was impossible not to feel sorry for the Massa family in the pits, celebrating like crazy as their boy crossed the line before they suddenly realised Hamilton had won. But in the end, Hamilton was running comfortably where he needed to be before the final rain shower. Perhaps in the end it became less the title nobody deserved to win to the title that nobody really deserved to lose.
Alonso ended up second from Raikkonen, with Vettel taking fourth from Hamilton, Glock, Kovalainen (who fell out of contention during the first round of stops), and Jarno Trulli. Mark Webber ended the year in ninth despite a brave long middle stint almost seeing him nick a point at the last. Nick Heidfeld rounded out the top ten, ahead of his team mate Kubica, who lost his third place in the championship to Raikkonen. Nico Rosberg was 12th despite his contact with Coulthard, with Jenson Button ending 13th. Sebastien Bourdais ran in the points, but was another to lose out in the switch to dry tyres, and he ended 14th, ahead of Barrichello, Sutil, Nakajima and Fisichella, who slipped well back after running in the points.
It has been a championship filled with team mistakes, driver errors, stewarding decisions and media conspiracies, but in the end, we were handed a glorious hour and a half of sporting theatre. Even if you didn't much care where the title ended up, this race gripped you from start to finish.
It may not have been a classic F1 season by a long stretch, but it certainly left the best until last.
| Race Result after 71 Laps | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time/Reason | Pts |
| 1 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:34:11.435 | 10 |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | +13.298 | 8 |
| 3 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | +16.235 | 6 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | +38.011 | 5 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren - Mercedes | +38.907 | 4 |
| 6 | Timo Glock | Toyota | +44.368 | 3 |
| 7 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren - Mercedes | +55.074 | 2 |
| 8 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | +1:08.463 | 1 |
| 9 | Mark Webber | Red Bull - Renault | +1:19.666 | |
| 10 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | +1 Lap | |
| 11 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | +1 Lap | |
| 12 | Nico Rosberg | Williams - Toyota | +1 Lap | |
| 13 | Jenson Button | Honda | +1 Lap | |
| 14 | Sebastien Bourdais | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | +1 Lap | |
| 15 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | +1 Lap | |
| 16 | Adrian Sutil | Force India - Ferrari | +2 Laps | |
| 17 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams - Toyota | +2 Laps | |
| 18 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India - Ferrari | +2 Laps | |
| R | Nelson Piquet Jr | Renault | Spinny | |
| R | David Coulthard | Red Bull - Renault | Hitty |
Final Drivers Championship Standings -
1 Hamilton 98pts, 2 Massa 97pts, 3 Raikkonen 75pts, 4 Kubica 75pts, 5 Alonso 61pts, 6 Heidfeld 60pts, 7 Kovalainen 53pts, 8 Vettel 35pts, 9 Trulli 31pts, 10 Glock 25pts, 11 Webber 21pts, 12 Piquet Jr 19pts, 13 Rosberg 17pts, 14 Barrichello 11pts, 15 Nakajima 9pts, 16 Coulthard 8pts, 17 Bourdais 4pts, 18 Button 3pts, 19 Fisichella, Sutil, Davidson, Sato 0pts.
Final Constructors Championship Standings -
1 Ferrari 172pts, 2 McLaren-Mercedes 151pts, 3 BMW Sauber 135pts, 4 Renault 80pts, 5 Toyota 56pts, 6 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 34pts, 7 Red Bull-Renault 29pts, 8 Williams-Toyota 26pts, 9 Honda 14pts, 10 Force India-Ferrari, Super Aguri-Honda 0pts.
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