Hamilton wins Formula One title in Brazilian GP drama
The stage was set for easily the most anticipated race of the year, the season ending Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. The situation was eerily similar to last year, except that it was Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and not Kimi Raikkonen who was in the title hunt. Massa’s chances for the title had suffered a big blow at the Singapore Grand Prix, where the snaking fuel hose put paid to his hopes. He headed to Brazil knowing that he had to win, and that Hamilton should finish atleast sixth or worse.
At qualifying, Massa took pole and everything seemed to be headed Ferrari’s way as Hamilton had a bad run and only managed to come in fifth. The race itself was fantastic, everything boiled down to the last lap, and Massa took the chequered flag. Finito ! But hey wait, let’s rewind a bit.
The real drama started when, due to rain towards the end of the race, all the top five drivers at that stage pitted for wet tyres, whereas Timo Glock, who was sixth, chose to remain on track.
After the pit stops, Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen regained their places, but Hamilton and Vettel now trailed Glock, and things were still ok for Hamilton. He then made an error on the 70th lap, allowing Vettel to pounce and claim the crucial fifth place.
In the meanwhile, Massa had crossed the line, almost half a minute ahead, and with Hamilton still at sixth place, the Ferrari tifosi went wild, celebrating what they believed to be a Ferrari victory as well as Massa becoming World Champion. However, the finish was yet to be scripted.
With Vettel and Hamilton thrashing it out, the obstacle was Glock, still on dry tyres and struggling to keep his place. Hamilton overtook Vettel and then as Glock appeared to slow down, went past him as well, stunning the huge Ferrari and Brazilian crowd into sheer disbelief, becoming the youngest ever F1 World Champion, as well as the sport’s first non-white one. The irony ? He won by a single point, the same margin by which he lost the title last year !
Though there was a flurry of arguments all over the net about the race being fixed, or Glock being paid off by McLaren etc, the fact is that Hamilton deserved to win. Ferrari simply made too many mistakes this year, and looked a pale shadow of their former self, with cars giving way in several races. Reliability, once a Ferrari hallmark, was simply in short supply, though they managed to take home the Constructor’s title. Massa summed it up best, saying, “We need to congratulate Lewis. He did a great championship, and he scored more points than us, so deserves to be champion.”
The footnote was the retirement of David Coulthard, the ageing warhorse, who went out in a pathetic manner, caught in a spin thanks to Rosberg, and then walking back to the pit lane. Hardly a grand finish to a long F1 career. Adieu, DC !
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