Hamilton reveals confusion of Interlagos thriller
Lewis Hamilton celebrates after finding out he is world champion
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Monday, 03, Nov 2008 10:56
Formula one world champion Lewis Hamilton has admitted he didn't know whether or not he had won the title as he crossed the finish line in Brazil.
In one of the most dramatic finishes ever to an F1 season, Hamilton's McLaren scraped into fifth place on the final corner of the last grand prix of the season to snatch the drivers' crown away from race winner Felipe Massa by a single point.
The result meant the Briton became the youngest-ever world champion in the history of the sport at the age of 23 years, ten months and 26 days.
Hamilton is also the first McLaren driver to triumph overall since Mika Hakkinen won his second title in 1999.
Afterwards the Stevenage-born racer described the race as "the most dramatic… of my whole life".
"It's pretty much impossible to put this into words - I'm still speechless," he said.
Hamilton also revealed the confusion of the closing stages, when he dropped to sixth behind Sebastian Vettel's Toro Rosso.
Despite McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh's protestations that the team always believed Hamilton would have time to pass the slow-running Timo Glock, who was still on slick tyres on the wet track, Hamilton said the team told him he would need to get back past Vettel to stand a chance of taking the title.
"Before it started to rain I was quite comfortable, and I was just focused on having a clean race," Hamilton explained.
"Then it started to drizzle and I didn't want to take any risks - but Sebastian got past me and I was told that I had to get back in front of him. I couldn't believe it.
"Then at the very last corner I managed to get past Timo - it was just amazing.
"This was one of the toughest races of my life, if not the toughest.
"I was shouting, 'Do I have it? Do I have it?' on the radio. It was only when I took the chequered flag and got to turn one that the team told me I was world champion.
"I was ecstatic."