“The most dramatic race of my whole life,” said Hamilton. “It’s pretty much impossible to put this into words: I’m still speechless. It’s been such a long journey, but I’ve always had the support of my family, the team, our partners and the fans. We did a fantastic job throughout the whole year and, with all the sacrifices we made, I’m so thrilled to be able to win this for everyone.”
Hamilton looked to be heading for a repeat of last year’s final race after Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel went past him in the final stages of the race. Hamilton, now sixth, was trying to fight back to gain that title winning 5th place, but after changing to intermediate tyres to gain grip in the drizzle, Hamilton lost pace and couldn’t keep up with Vettel who tore away in conditions to his liking. Although the rain helped Vettel, it worked poorly for Toyota as Timo Glock decided to stay out and as a result, lost out at the dying stages.
“Before it started to rain I was quite comfortable, and I was just focused on having a clean race,” added Hamilton. “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.”
“Well, that was a really tough race,” said team boss Ron Dennis. “We never pushed hard, we never did anything silly, but of course the late rain made things extraordinarily tense. Even so, even when Sebastian got past Lewis, we never gave up, and Lewis never gave up, because we knew that Timo was on intermediate tyres. 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.”
At 23 years, 10 months and 26 days, Lewis Hamilton is now the youngest ever world champion that the sport has scene. The 12th man to win the title, he is the first for McLaren since Mika Hakkinen in 1999.