F1: Hamilton gets the point

Of course, the last instruction was ignored but it was Rosberg who caused the race's only accident, punting Coulthard out of his last race on the first corner, canoning him into Nakajima whose car never worked properly after that.

Kubica, who was off the pace until the last few laps (about which more later) finished the warm up and into the pits. He pottered around until he was lapped by Hamilton, and then ... well, I don't want to spoil the end of the story.

Massa blasted off the line, with Trulli in hot pursuit, and except for a few laps resulting from pit stops, led the whole race, setting the fastest lap.

Hamilton started fourth. Given that his objective was to finish now lower than fifth, this appeared to be playing at the margins but the truth was that for whatever reason, McLaren simply could not get the cars set up - either for the dry as in practice and patently not for the wet, as for the start of the race.

Trulli's brave challenge faded but Toyota proved to have strength in depth - Glock was in fourth place as Massa crossed the line to win the race and the Championship.

Or not.

For Hamilton, his race was simple: don't fall below fifth and don't crash. For this team, the task, given its history of stuffing up at critical moments, was don't stuff up.

And don't emulate Honda who somehow managed to fill their pit box with fire extinguisher foam that bubbled up wildly and turned into a

Somehow, Hamilton got out of position and Kubica tucked under his rear wing, seemingly hiding behind Hamilton to make up positions as back markers moved out of Hamilton's way. Hamilton shook him off but Vettel had cruised up behind Kubica and then started harassing Hamilton.In the last six laps, rain came again. At a last-minute tyre change for intermediates, Vettel and Hamilton pitted together and stormed off. Hamilton, as he had almost all race, stayed off the kerbs and stayed on the racing line. Vettel ducked and dived but the cars and drivers were evenly matched with Hamilton in front.

Vettel's Torro Rosso's performance was so out of character for the car that one has to wonder whether his engine supplier, Ferrari, had given Torro Rosso the latest and most powerful version of their race engine for this final race. A similar question also arose due to the stellar performance of Fisichella who boosted his Ferrari powered Force India up ahead of Hamilton, causing the McLaren driver to make his only aggressive move of the race.

After all, six Ferrari powered cars hounding Hamilton would certainly increase Massa's chances of winning the championship.

But it was Kubica who started the chain-reaction that brought Vettel into play. Lapped by Hamilton and Vettel, Kubica found speed in the dying laps of the race - and with two laps to go decided to unlap himself. He dived out from hiding, this time behind Vettel, and passed him, then dived inside Hamilton who, taken by surprise, went wide. Vettel tucked in behind Kubica, and past Hamilton.

With two laps to go, Hamilton had just been slipped from the all-important fifth place to sixth. And in Championship terms, sixth was nowhere. On sixth, with a Massa win seeming inevitable, Massa and Hamilton would have finished the season with the same number of points. But the Interlagos win would give Massa one more win - and that would seal the Championship in his favour.

Hamilton chased down Vettel, but seemingly unable to get close enough. The supposedly Red Bull II team was surely punching above its weight with grip and power that far exceeded what would have been expected from the team normally.

And that was how it stayed.

Except.....

Remember Glock? As Massa crossed the line, Glock was fourth, a stunning performance from the young driver and from a team that has consistently proved that throwing money at F1 is no guarantee of elevating a team out of mediocrity.

Remember when in 2003 a last-lap crash between Alonso and Webber, in the wet, closed the track after McLaren's Räikkönen was declared the winner under the count-back rule, a decision that was overturned when a recount was done and it was realised that Fisichella had in fact crossed the finish line ahead on two occasions. So Jordan's Fisichella was declared the winner.

So as jubilation reigned in the Ferrari pit, and as Massa's family danced and hugged each other with joy, the 2008 race held one last surprise: Glock's Toyota slowed dramatically as his decision to finish the last few laps with dry tyres came back to bite him and with just two corners to go back markers streamed past him, and so did Vettel. And so did Hamilton.

In the pit lane, Hamilton's family and friends and team were resigned to Hamilton losing the Championship at Interlagos - just like last year.

But word reached them of Glock's problems ahead of it reaching Ferrari who, it seems, had watched their men cross in first and third and lost interest. Their joy turned to disbelief as Hamilton's group's despondency turned to unabated joy.

Massa and Hamilton were both in tears. Massa's car headed to the top-three parking lot and Hamilton parked in the pit lane, not even in Parc Firme, too emotional to refit his steering wheel, and totally disinterested in the fact that six feet away Button's Honda was ablaze. Button was no longer with the car but, after the season he has had, if he had been one suspects that his reaction would have been "let the damned thing burn."

Massa's podium was lacking in the sparkle and jubilation that is usual when a home driver wins his national GP. Hamilton sat in his garage, body shaking as he sobbed in relief, his father holding him.

The FIA interviewer in the post-race interviews gave all the signs of thinking that Massa had been unfairly deprived. Commentators on TV channels and print media have most frequently described Hamilton's fifth place as "controversial."

Last year, Hamilton lost the Championship by one point. This year he has won by the same margin despite dirty tricks by Ferrari and the FIA to conspire to prevent his win.

It's difficult for Hamilton supporters not to gloat over the reaction in the Ferrari pit. But it's karma, poetic justice or any similar thing you want to call it. Hamilton had points docked after a race, in that case utterly unfairly. Massa was awarded points after a different race, despite his dangerous driving. This time, Massa's Championship, as they thought as he crossed the line, was snatched by the man who rightfully deserved it, and by more than the single point that decided it.

The one thought that came to mind as Hamilton crossed the line in fifth was that this time luck had run McLaren's way. And unless Ferarri or the FIA decided to question whether Glock had "fixed" the result, it would remain so.

Ferrari places the constructors' championship higher than the drivers' and the FIA's assistance had already given Ferrari an almost unassailable lead. So the team's motivation to challenge was already weakened. One suspects that a quiet word with the FIA would have elicited the response that to try to overturn Hamilton's championship would look like a witch-hunt and that had been tried in 2007. Another one would cause undue harm to the sport.

So it is that a little half-black, half-white kid from a broken home with a father who worked four jobs to keep his son go-karting because he wanted to be a racing driver didn't stand on the top step of the podium in Brazil yesterday.

But this morning, he's standing on top of the world.

Job done.