Motorsport · 2008 · São Paulo, Brazil
The Last Corner of the Season
Needing fifth place to win his first world title, Lewis Hamilton passes a driver on the wrong tyres at the final corner of the final lap of the season.
1 point
Championship margin
5th or better
Position needed
Final lap, penultimate corner
Decisive overtake
Lewis Hamilton went into the 2008 season finale at Interlagos needing only a fifth-place finish to beat Ferrari's Felipe Massa to the title. Massa won the race in front of his home crowd, and with two corners of it remaining Hamilton was running sixth, which is why the Ferrari garage had already started celebrating a Massa championship.
Toyota's Timo Glock had stayed out on dry-weather tyres as rain fell late in the race, a gamble that left him with nothing as the track got wetter. On the final lap Hamilton caught him and went past at the second-to-last corner, moving back into fifth place moments before the chequered flag.
The commentary caught up with it mid-sentence, asking the television audience in real time, 'is that Glock?'. Hamilton had his first world title by a single point, settled in the last few hundred metres of the season.
Watch the Moment
