Hamilton makes history as F1 hits crisis

In 2008 there were 18 Formula One Grands Prix made up of 1,118 laps and 5,500km, but Lewis Hamilton's championship destiny was decided at the last bend and over the final 500-metre stretch of the season's concluding race.

On an unforgettable last lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix, the 23-year-old McLaren driver stormed into the record books as the youngest champion in the history of the sport, but it didn't take long for the sport's champagne to start tasting distinctly flat.

Just weeks after Hamilton's win, the global economic meltdown led to the shock withdrawal of Honda - and its reported 400 million dollar budget - from the grid. With the sport becoming increasingly unsustainable, cost-cutting measures were introduced aimed at trimming its mind-boggling budgets.

From 2009, and with the aim of slicing a third off team costs, engine life will be doubled and revs reduced while in-season testing (except at race weekends) will be stopped.

In 2010, refuelling will be banned while standard engines, costing around 6.5 million dollars a season, are set to be introduced.

Before the financial storm struck, however, there was hurricane Hamilton. In Brazil, he needed only to finish fifth to claim the championship he had lost by just one point on the same Interlagos track to Kimi Räikkönen 12 months earlier. However, two laps from the end he was passed by Sébastien Vettel who charged away leaving the limping Toyota of Timo Glock, running on heavily-worn dry-weather tyres in the rain, in his way. In the end, Glock could not resist and Hamilton nipped past at the final bend before negotiating the final 500 metres in almost complete darkness to take the title by one point. With the decisive move coming so late in the race, local boy and race winner Felipe Massa had thought the title was his and the celebrations were already under way in the Ferrari garage.

"Before it started to rain I was quite comfortable," said Hamilton. "Then it started to drizzle. Vettel got past and I was told that I had to get in front of him. I couldn't believe it. Then, at the last corner I managed to get past Glock and it was just amazing." 

Hamilton won five of the season's races to Massa's six, but the Brazilian was left to rue a poor start which saw him retire in Australia, a race which the Briton won, while spinning off after taking pole in Malaysia. Massa bounced back winning three races in Bahrain, Turkey and France. Hamilton had triumphed in the wet at Monaco despite hitting the barriers and suffering a puncture, then racing from the back of the field to overtake everyone and win.

His victory proved a welcome diversion from the travails of FIA chief Max Mosley, the target of a tabloid sting which had graphically reported his involvement in a sado-masochist sex scandal.

Hamilton was 10 points behind Massa after Magny-Cours before he recovered at the British Grand Prix where he defied the pouring Silverstone rain to win by a staggering 68.5sec, lapping both Feraris. Massa spun five times in the wet and finished last.

At the halfway point of the season, Hamilton and Massa were locked on 48 points along with Räikkönen who had even led the championship in the early part of the campaign. At Hockenheim, Hamilton won again, passing Massa with a bold move in the closing stages and from that point on he never relinquished the championship lead. Not that the outcome of the season was a foregone conclusion.

Massa took a processional win on the streets of Valencia before he was handed victory at Spa after Hamilton was harshly stripped of first place for cutting out a chicane, despite giving back the place gained.

Massa started from pole at the first night-time race in Singapore but finished 13th after a mistake in the pits saw him speed away with the fuel hose still attached to his car.

In Japan, pole-sitter Hamilton overran the first corner and went off the track with Räikkönen and was later hit by Massa. Both were penalised.

The title triumph was a fairytale finish for the boy from an English municipal housing estate whose father Anthony once held down two jobs to help his son realise his dream, but success hasn't come without its problems.

Before the season started, Hamilton was subjected to vicious racist taunts in Barcelona. He then fell out with brooding rivals who criticised his technique and judgement. The Briton, now a multi-millionaire and a tax exile, shrugged it off, confirming his place amongst the glitterati with a world title on his CV and a Pussycat Doll girlfriend on his arm.