What The Papers Say About Lewis's Title

Monday 3rd November 2008

This morning Fleet Street is heralding the beginning a new era in Formula One as Lewis Hamilton dons the crown as Britain's first Champ in more than a decade.

'For a few desperate moments, Felipe Massa had the world championship trophy in his grasp after a perfect race in tricky conditions. As he crossed the finish line the winner, he thought he had done enough. Back down the road Lewis Hamilton had lost the fifth place he needed to Sebastian Vettel, and there was nothing he could do about it.

'Then, in sight of the flag, fourth-placed Timo Glock slowed sufficiently to lose two places, and suddenly Hamilton was, after all, the 30th and youngest world champion in history.' - David Tremayne, The Independent

'Lewis Hamilton and McLaren Mercedes left it very late. So late, in fact, that some television networks thought he had lost the Formula One World Championship and the father of Felipe Massa, his Ferrari rival, thought his son had won.

'With two corners and only the pit-straight left on the 71st and last lap of a thrilling Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton was going down as one of the biggest chokers in world sport. But in the closing seconds of the 1½-hour race and the eighteenth and final contest of a rollercoaster season, the 23-year-old Briton stole past Timo Glock, the German Toyota driver, to make himself the youngest champion in Formula One history.' - Edward Gorman, The Times

'They will reflect on this in years to come and still be shaking their heads in disbelief.

'And they will still be asking: Why did you leave it so bloody late, Lewis?

'With half a mile and 17 seconds of the 18-race season to go, Lewis Hamilton had let the world title slip through his hands for the second successive season.

'Felipe Massa had crossed the line to win the Brazilian Grand Prix and thousands of red-shirted Ferrari tifosi packing the stands in the final straight were on their feet hailing the new world champion.

'And a Brazilian at that - one of their very own, born just 100 yards from Interlagos.

'In the pits, Massa's father Luiz Antonio was having his life squeezed out of him by jubilant Ferrari engineers.

'And then they glanced up at the TV monitor . . .

'It was the double take of all time, their faces changing from joy to total disbelief as they saw Hamilton pass Timo Glock to produce the last, final manoeuvre of a remarkable season.' - Steve Howard, The Sun

'Lewis Hamilton became the youngest Formula One world champion on Sunday at the age of 23 years and 301 days.

'But he claimed motor racing's supreme crown only after a nerve-jangling final lap of an unforgettable Brazilian Grand Prix and said: 'I was almost exploding. I don't know how I kept my cool.'

'It was in the closing 15 seconds that he passed Timo Glock's Toyota to clinch fifth place and take the title by one point from Ferrari's Felipe Massa, the race winner. Like everyone else at an emotionallycharged Interlagos circuit, Hamilton was astonished.' - Jonathan McEvoy, The Daily Mail

'With a quarter of a mile to go and thunder crashing around the Interlagos circuit, Lewis Hamilton was all set to fail for the second year running. Approaching a sweeping left-hand bend for the 71st and last time, the British driver was about to finish sixth in the Brazilian grand prix - one place lower than he needed if he were to become the youngest world champion in the history of Formula One.

'And then, with all Brazil ready to acclaim their compatriot Felipe Massa as the new champion, Hamilton made his heart-stopping move.

'Massa, who had won the race, was already halfway round his lap of honour and waving to the crowd in celebration when the Englishman slipped past the young German driver Timo Glock. Barely 10 seconds later Hamilton crossed the line with the title in his grasp.

'Like Mike Hawthorn, who became the first of Britain's nine world champions exactly half a century ago, the 23-year-old Hamilton snatched the title by a single point. In a race topped and tailed by rainstorms which had the drivers ducking into their pits to change their tyres, he had achieved his target of finishing the race in the top five, whatever Massa did.' - Richard Williams, The Guardian

'Nothing comes easy with this boy. Hamilton was seconds from heartbreak on the circuit where a year ago he lost the world championship by a point in his rookie year.

'The random intervention of rain looked to have wrecked his dream again when Felipe Massa crossed the line first in the Brazilian Grand Prix believing he was Formula One's 30th world champion.

'The celebrating mechanics in the Ferrari garage shared that view. But that did not take account of Hamilton's incredible late surge to reclaim the fifth place he needed with just two corners of the final lap to go.' - Kevin Garside, The Telegraph

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