“Is that Glock?” : Throwback to Lewis Hamilton’s incredible maiden F1 championship victory on this day 14 years ago


“Is that Glock?” : Throwback to Lewis Hamilton’s incredible maiden F1 championship victory on this day 14 years ago

Lewis Hamilton won his first F1 title at the 2008 Brazilian GP

Lewis Hamilton is considered one of the greatest drivers in the history of Formula 1. The seven-time world champion has rewritten the history books with a whole host of records to his name. As such on the current F1 grid, he is undoubtedly the most famous driver. He was also knighted by the then Prince of Wales – King Charles, solidifying his legacy outside the sport. Over the years, Hamilton was regarded as an unstoppable beast until Max Verstappen beat the Brit for the world championship in 2021.

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Hamilton’s family had a tough time during the early days as his father worked multiple jobs to keep his son racing in the junior karting championships. Later on, Ron Dennis was greatly impressed with young Hamilton and signed him up as a junior driver for McLaren. This along with his dominant performances in junior racing series, opened the door for the British driver to F1.

Hamilton recently spoke about various aspects of his life at Jimmy Kimmel Live

Ever since entering Formula 1, the 37-year-old has been on the charge, where he competed for the championship in his debut season itself. He was left a few steps short of becoming the first rookie F1 world champion. Though he did win his first world championship the next season, he had a few less successful seasons in McLaren before leaving for Mercedes in 2013. The inception of the hybrid era allowed Mercedes to dominate the sport, and the rest is history.

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Lewis Hamilton clinches the world championship in the last lap

Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa were neck-to-neck throughout the 2008 F1 season

In 2007, the Brit was seen as a weak opponent against the newly crowned two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, but Hamilton proved the critics wrong by beating his teammate on multiple occasions, leading to Alonso leaving the team at the end of 2007. After the failure to win the championship in the previous year, Lewis was a man on a mission- to be an F1 world champion.

The 2008 season witnessed a close battle between the Brit and Ferrari‘s Felipe Massa, with both drivers being almost equally matched throughout the year. Heading into the season finale in Brazil’s Interlagos, the duo had 5 grand prix wins each, but Hamilton had a 7-point advantage over his Brazilian rival. With the points system of 2008, this meant that Lewis only had to finish fifth in case of Massa’s victory to secure the title.

It was in the last few moments, that Hamilton got the required fifth place

The 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix started with damp conditions forcing the drivers onto the intermediate tyres. Lewis started the race in P4 but struggled to gain places in the early stages as he was stuck behind Giancarlo Fisichella in the Force India. Later on, however the Brit went ahead and did his best to stay put. But Hamilton was then challenged by a young Sebastian Vettel in a Toro Rosso who had earlier matched Massa’s lap times.

In the latter half of the race, Hamilton ran wide, giving Sebastian the chance to gain the fifth place, which would have given Massa the championship. In the last lap, Massa crossed the finish line in 1st place and all eyes were then on Hamilton who was struggling to overtake the Toro Rosso. But then, Timo Glock in the Toyota was seen losing speed, with Martin Brundle’s iconic words,“and… is that Glock? Is that Glock going slowly?, Hamilton swept past the Toyota giving him the needed fifth-place finish and that was it. Lewis Hamilton was the champion of the world, on 2nd November 2008.

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The McLaren garage was euphoric, with team members, and guests all cheering for their newly crowned hero. Hamilton had won the F1 championship in the last lap, it felt like a dream. Massa was heartbroken after coming so close to victory, but the Brazilian accepted his defeat and congratulated the Brit. The last lap of the race went down in history as one of the most dramatic and memorable moments in Formula 1. For Hamilton, however, this was just the beginning.

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