Hamilton Blows It

Brazil Grand Prix 2007 - Pressured right from the off as both Kimi Raikkonen and then Fernando Alonso pushed their way past into the first corner, Lewis Hamilton showed off his rookie status and completely lost the plot. Trying unnecessarily to get back past Alonso at turn four, Hamilton ran off the track and found himself down in eighth place when he rejoined.

He spent the next few laps slewing around trying to improve his position. Then, on lap eight, his car slowed down. Something was wrong. He was trying hard to find his gears but no response and in the blink of an eye (OK, a few blinks) he was at the back of the field some 40 seconds behind the leaders.

It was panic, it was palpitations, it was pressure. It was pathetic. Mr Arrogant, who thought he was the new Senna, was suddenly beat.

Hamilton eventually got things going again but he was now way behind. He needed a miracle.

Alonso could have won if he had made second place his own, but at no point in the race did he seem to have more pace than the Ferraris. He was to finish third.

All that remained was for the Ferrari team to finesse Kimi into first place and x-fingers nothing mad happened behind them. Some spectacular crashes and slides did occur but not enough to let Hamilton move up the field to more than 7th place, which left him one point behind in the championship.

Raikkonen was Formula 1 champion by one point - one point from both Alonso AND Hamilton. The Fin of course went totally crazy and was seen to smile and crack at least two jokes in the post-race press conference. That's what passes for unrestrained joy up his way and you could almost taste the chilled vodka being prepared in his motor home for the celebrations.

Alonso was asked about the 'difficult year' at McLaren and played the perfect flat response, droning on in a measured pace about 'working together' and 'finishing the job' etc. blah blah blah. Despite losing the championship you sensed that he felt just a touch justified. Alonso was brought to the team as the No.1 driver and saw his position undermined the minute team boss Ron Dennis thought his protege could win it. It's the 'my car is so good the driver is unimportant' syndrome and it bit him in the bum.

This championship was lost by McLaren not won by Ferrari.