The 2008 championship fight went down to the wire as both Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa had a chance of winning the title in the season finale at Interlagos. Massa needed to win the race and hope that Hamilton finished P6 or lower to claim the title. While Massa came close, it was not enough as Hamilton clinched the championship by making crucial overtakes to finish P5.
With Massa losing, his race engineer Rob Smedley ended up in tears. Speaking of the same, Smedley said on the most recent episode of the Pitlane Life Lesson podcast,
“I took myself off and went behind the little hospitality building in Sao Paulo and I cried for about an hour. Literally, uncontrollably, with no one else there, just on my own. Maybe not an hour but like 30 minutes. And then sorted myself out and that was the end of it.”
Massa indeed did lose the championship in dramatic circumstances. After all, Hamilton passed Timo Glock to finish P5 on the last corner of the last lap in Brazil. This overtake helped the Briton to finish one point ahead of Massa in the standings and claim his maiden title.
On this day in 2008, Lewis Hamilton won his first F1 World Championship on the last corner of the last lap in Brazil
Beating Felipe Massa by just 1 point. Ferrari couldn’t believe it pic.twitter.com/7Ya3oJfePo
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) November 2, 2022
The 2008 championship saga continues following the Crashgate revelation
The 2008 championship fight between Massa and Hamilton continues to be discussed as revelations about the infamous Crashgate incident were made earlier this year by former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
He recently came out and revealed that the FIA knew about the scandal, but still remained silent and delayed the investigation to protect the integrity of the sport. Ecclestone is referring to the incident when Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed at the 2008 Singapore GP, on the orders of his Renault boss Flavio Briatore, to help Fernando Alonso win the race.
On hearing Ecclestone’s shocking revelations, Massa decided to file a lawsuit against him, the FIA, and F1. The Brazilian demands justice, suggesting that the 2008 championship could’ve swayed his way, had the concerned authorities done their job.
