• Rewind to ... 2008 Brazilian GP

By the skin of his teeth

© Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Race:
• Brazilian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton is on the verge of a second world championship but he, or any other driver for that matter, is unlikely to ever win a title as dramatically as he did six years ago. The phrase "you couldn't script it" is one used too often in sport but, if you wanted to write a screenplay about a dramatic title finale, the final laps of the Brazilian Grand Prix would be as close as you could get to perfect sporting theatre.

Hamilton was seven points ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa coming into the Interlagos decider in 2008. All he needed was fifth place or better if the Brazilian won the race. Massa may have been closer had his championship challenge not faltered at two key points; an engine failure while leading during the final laps in Hungary and an unfortunate series of events following Nelson Piquet Jr's infamous crash in Singapore, which would later become known as the Renault race fixing scandal.

In 2007, Hamilton and McLaren had blown the championship in the rain in China and at the finale in Interlagos - where Kimi Raikkonen capitalised to claim his maiden title. A year later, Hamilton returned to Brazil knowing it would take a similar catastrophe to deny Britain its first title since Damon Hill in 1996. But unlike the refined and calm 2014 version we have seen this season, this was the raw and unpolished Hamilton who occasionally seemed to be his own worst enemy. Anything was possible.

On the Saturday Massa claimed a dominant pole, his third in a row in Brazil, with Hamilton qualifying fourth. The stage seemed perfectly set. However, until lap 63 the race had been tense but without major drama. Massa led away from pole and was in control of proceedings. Hamilton was fourth, though the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel - F1's latest wonderkid and race-winner in Italy - had started reeling him in. Then everything changed. It started raining.

At first there was little reaction on the pit walls of McLaren and Ferrari except curiosity at what the other was doing. Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen came in for intermediates on lap 65. Massa's team-mate Raikkonen followed suit a lap later. Most of the field pitted the following lap, including Hamilton and Vettel. Hamilton emerged in front of Vettel but crucially had lost fourth position.

In the chaos of it all, Toyota had told Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli to stay out on dry tyres. This elevated Glock from seventh to fourth and meant Hamilton was now desperately holding off Vettel for the points he needed to be champion. And then, disaster. Two laps from the finish he ran deep at Juncao and Vettel snuck by. As it had a year earlier at Interlagos, it looked the title was about to slip through Hamilton's fingers.

The worsening rain now meant Hamilton was no longer chasing Vettel but waiting and hoping for Glock's gamble to backfire. On lap 70 and 71 his lap times were fine in comparison - in fact, at one point he was some five seconds quicker than Trulli. But the rain was falling heavier and on the final lap Toyota's gamble failed. Glock was now struggling just to keep his car on the track but he was still fourth as Massa crossed the line.

Massa, Ferrari and the Brazilian fans celebrated … prematurely. Hamilton, heading up the hill towards Juncao for the final time, moved to the inside to pass a red and white car struggling to stay in a straight line. "Is that… is that Glock, is that Glock going slowly? That's Glock!" was Martin Brundle's immortal call in the ITV commentary box as Hamilton went by.

Later, in the midst of conspiracy theories which originated in the Spanish media, Glock was forced to defend himself: "I had no chance to resist the guys on wet tyres because they were just so much quicker. I had to stay off the racing line because there was so much tyre rubber on it, which becomes incredibly slippery in the wet. I don't know how anyone can think that I just pulled over. If Lewis had not overtaken me in that corner, he would have overtaken me on the following straight because there was no way I could go flat out on the dry tyres."

An emotional Felipe Massa acknowledges his home crowd on the podium © Getty Images

Enlarge

Hamilton crossed the line fifth, clinching the title by a single point. Cruelly, as he did so, the cameras cut to Massa's family being told what had happened as they celebrated wildly in the Ferrari garage. Joy turned to despair and, for Massa, tears, wiping away his eyes as he pulled into parc ferme. For some 30 seconds he had been world champion. Even Hamilton was unsure as he crossed the line, later saying: "I thought 'do I have it, do I have it?' And when they told me I was ecstatic." At the time the victory made him the youngest champion in the sport's history.

Meanwhile, Massa's attitude in defeat endeared him to Formula One fans. The Brazilian's heart-thumping on the podium and post-race humility embodied sportsmanship. "Unfortunately we missed by one point but that's racing. We need to be proud of our race and our championship. It's one more day of our life when I will learn a lot but, for sure, I'm very emotional." Massa has not won a race since; a cruel reminder of the world championship he won and then lost.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.