Lewis Hamilton has become the youngest ever Formula One World Champion, eclipsing the former holder of that honour, Fernando Alonso, by 122 days. He also becomes only the second driver, after Jacques Villeneuve, to win the championship in only his second season.
But it wasn’t easy. Hamilton arrived in Brazil with a seven point lead over Felipe Massa and only needed to finish fifth to claim the title. Last year, Hamilton held a similar seven point lead over Kimi Raikkonen going into the final race but managed to lose the championship by a single point. This time he won it by a single point.
Running in fifth place, and looking like the championship would be his, he was then overtaken by Sebastian Vettel two laps from the finish, pushing him down to sixth. Into the final lap and he was still sixth, unable to catch Vettel. Deja Vu. Then, on the final corner, both Vettel and Hamilton managed to slip past fourth placed Timo Glock, who was having trouble controlling his car in the wet, and, back in fifth place, Hamilton was champion.
The winner of the race, Felipe Massa, could hardly hold back the tears after having seen the championship slip from his grasp at the final bend.
A massive piece of luck for Lewis Hamilton who very nearly managed to lose the championship for a second time at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil.
Hamilton is undoubtedly a talented driver, and has been selected for greatness by none other than Michael Schumacher, but there do seem to be a number of question marks still remaining, most notably his ability to cope under pressure.
He’s young, only 23 years old, but so are other drivers. However, none seem to be under the same amount of media pressure as Hamilton, his every move and thought being reported and scrutinised ad infinitum. Recent media stories and interviews all seem to have centred on questions about ‘the pressure of this’ and the ‘pressure of that’. If the poor guy wasn’t feeling the pressure at the beginning, he almost certainly must have been by the end.
Add to that, of course, the enormous burden imposed on him by the expectations of an entire nation! Surprised he hasn’t been squashed by all the pressure.