Sao Paulo - Lewis Hamilton needed to show experience beyond his years Sunday as the 23-year-old withstood a nerve-wracking Brazilian Grand Prix to become the youngest Formula One world champion in the history of the sport. In a race that had everything, including a hectic finale caused by a rain shower as the race drew to a close, Hamilton overtook Toyota's Timo Glock on the final lap to secure the fifth-place finish that the McLaren-Mercedes driver needed to pip Ferrari's Felipe Massa to the title by a single point.
Massa went into the last race of the season trailing the Briton by seven points, needing both a victory and a Hamilton finish outside the top five to become the first Brazilian since the late Ayrton Senna in 1991 to take the title.
Unlike 2007, when a disappointing seventh-place finish at Interlagos saw Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen beat Hamilton to the title in the then-22-year-old's rookie season, the McLaren driver summoned up the resources necessary to get over the line this time, finishing on 98 points, one clear of Massa.
"I am just thankful and proud of the team and everyone around me who has given me the opportunity. It was a tough race, the toughest of my life," Hamilton said.
Starting from fourth on the grid, Hamilton appeared to have learnt from his mistakes last year when he blew a 17-point lead over the final two races, driving within himself to hold the same position as the race reached its conclusion.
But a late rain shower saw the leaders make unscheduled pit stops while Glock gambled by staying out on dry tyres. Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel managed to pass Hamilton to leave the McLaren driver in sixth and staring disaster in the face for a second year in succession.
When Massa crossed the finish line, his Ferrari team celebrated, thinking he had clinched not only the race win but the title. But to the horror of the Italian marque and to Hamilton's relief, Glock couldn't hold on.
"I was on dry tyres at the end of the race when it was raining quite badly, and it was just impossible on the last lap," said the German.
Hamilton still wasn't sure if he had done enough, but the news wasn't long in arriving from the McLaren box.
"I thought, 'Do I have it? Do I have it?' And when they told me, I was ecstatic," he said.
"I dont know how I kept my cool, and I was very fortunate especially on the last lap, and, you know, this has been my dream."
Hamilton's victory caps a meteoric rise through the ranks.
Born in in Stevenage, England on January 7, 1985, to a white mother and a black father, Hamilton was introduced to racing through karting at the age of 8. Two years later, he met McLaren boss Ron Dennis.
McLaren signed up the prodigy to the McLaren young driver programme when he was 13 years old, supporting Hamilton as he made a name for himself first in karting before going on to win the British Formula Renault championship in 2003.
Hamilton claimed victory two years later in the F3 Euroseries, thanks to 15 race wins, before moving immediately on in 2006 to instant success in the GP2 series, winning the title in his rookie year.
He almost repeated the feat in his F1 rookie season, only to lose out to Raikkonen, but Hamilton did enough for Dennis to be convinced that McLaren's future lay with the youngster rather than his then teammate, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. That faith has now been vindicated.
"Even when Sebastian got past Lewis, we never gave up, and Lewis never gave up, because we knew that Timo was on intermediate tyres," said Dennis.
"But Lewis took his chance brilliantly, and the result was one of the most thrilling finishes in sporting history. I'm so proud of Lewis; I'm so proud of the team; everyone - every single one of them - did an absolutely fantastic job."
