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How Hamilton won the 2008 F1 title in the last corners at Interlagos

Felipe Massa won the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix at home, but Lewis Hamilton passed Timo Glock in the final corners to take the title by one point.

A red Ferrari Formula 1 car driving along a track lined with grass and barriers
Felipe Massa in his Ferrari at the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix, two months before the title decider in Brazil. Photo: Mark McArdle, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On 2 November 2008, Felipe Massa won his home Grand Prix and was on course to be Formula 1 world champion. Then Lewis Hamilton passed Timo Glock in the final corners at Interlagos.

As F1 returns to São Paulo this weekend, here is how that title decider played out.

Seven points and one simple sum

The Brazilian Grand Prix was the last of 18 races in 2008. Hamilton led for McLaren on 94 points, seven ahead of Ferrari's Massa on 87.

The sum was simple. Hamilton would be champion if he finished fifth or better. Massa could only take the title if Hamilton finished sixth or lower, and he would win any tie on countback because he had more race wins.

Massa did his part. He took pole position, his third in a row at Interlagos, with a lap of 1:12.368.

Rain at both ends of the race

Heavy rain fell just before the start and delayed it by ten minutes. Massa went on to win the race from pole.

Light rain returned on lap 63, with eight laps left. Almost every team called its drivers in for intermediate tyres, which are made for a damp track.

Toyota kept Timo Glock out on dry tyres. As the cars ahead pitted, he climbed from seventh to fourth, which pushed Hamilton down to fifth.

Two laps of chaos

On lap 69 the rain grew heavy. Hamilton ran wide and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel slipped past him into fifth.

That dropped Hamilton to sixth, and as things stood Massa was champion.

Glock was struggling for grip on his dry tyres. In the final corners of the last lap, Vettel and then Hamilton went past him.

Hamilton finished fifth, and that was enough.

Champion by one point

Hamilton won the title with 98 points to Massa's 97. At 23 years and 300 days, he was then the youngest champion in the sport's history, a record that Vettel took in 2010.

Massa said afterwards that he had "almost done everything perfectly", and he congratulated Hamilton. Ferrari had some consolation: Massa's win and Kimi Räikkönen's third place sealed the constructors' title, with 172 points to McLaren's 151.

Massa never won another Grand Prix. His victory that day was the 11th and last of his career.

Race it on Late Brake

Interlagos is one of six real circuits in Late Brake, the free browser game. Watch the braking boards into the Senna S and the final corners, then race your own ghost and see how much time you find on the run to the line.

Sources: Wikipedia: 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix

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