New era of Formula 1

Journey through the year of another fabulously intense championship

The year 2008 will go down in books as a hugely significant year in the history of Formula 1. The first ever night race being held and the crowning of the youngest and the first black driver meant the shackles were broken. As we witnessed yet another cliff-hanger of a finish, we also went through a lot of drama, misfortune, joy and sorrow of teams and individuals throughout the season, which added immensely to the aura of it all.

Fernando Alonso’s return back to Renault meant that Heikki Kovaleinen became the new partner of wonder boy Lewis Hamilton. It all started with disappointment for Ferrari, who could not have a dream start at the Australian GP, which was won by Hamilton, but they bounced back in Sepang, and as a team from then it was dancing horses all the way. Apart from the frontrunners, it was Robert Kubica, who in his BMW Sauber generated a lot of attention for his brilliant performances, such that with the season’s first phase over, the championship fight looked tight with Hamilton, defending champion Raikkonen, Massa and Kubica all within three points of each other and firmly in the running.

In the Canadian grand prix, Kubica led a historic one-two to take his and team’s first win and the lead of the championship. This happened after a disastrous incident in which Hamilton ran into the back of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari at the end of the pit lane as the Finn sat at a red light waiting for the safety car to pass. Nico Rosberg made the same mistake and both he and Hamilton were given grid penalties for the next round. The incident consigned all three drivers to an early retirement. Massa excels in France and Hamilton overcomes wet-weather conditions to win in front of his home crowd at Silverstone. Exhausted but happy, the British driver described it as ‘the toughest win of my career’.

At the top of the drivers’ table it was even closer, with Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen tied at the top and Kubica just two points adrift. And just as their on-track skirmishes heated up, Ferrari and McLaren officially drew an end to their off-track hostilities over the 2007 spy scandal-the alleged spying by McLaren to receive secrets of Ferrari machinery.
In the Valencia circuit, Massa moved ahead of Raikkonen in the points table with a clinical display.

Belgian Grand Prix was a disaster for Raikkonen when, while coming first, he crashed dramatically with two laps to go, reminding us all of the similar incident which happened at Nurburgring in 2005. It was a bitter blow to his title hopes as Massa took second position, but inherited the win for Hamilton’s alleged hand in Raikkonen’s misfortune, and opened up a 17-point gap over his team mate and title holder. In Italy, Kubica is the biggest beneficiary as Vettel stuns the top guns with a maiden win for Red Bull. The Pole finished third behind Kovalainen, while Massa’s sixth place put him just one point shy of Hamilton, who took seventh. Raikkonen was again out of the points in ninth.

The special moment finally arrived when the first ever night race took place at Singapore. Under lights, the track and scenery had an amazingly attractive look to it. It was won by Fernando Alonso, who finally got back up there and displayed his magic, the same magic which won him the Championships of 2005 and 2006, especially the latter year in which he denied Schumacher a fairy tale end to his career. Hamilton was the only title contender to gain out of this race with a third-place finish.
Alonso followed it up with another win, Kubica taking the second position to get back in the hunt. Raikkonen ended his points drought but by this time, it was far too late.

The season’s penultimate race was dominated by Hamilton, with Massa coming second and Kubica with a disappointing sixth-place finish. All eyes were now on the final race, which promised to go right down to the wire like last year.

Local boy Felipe Massa drove his heart out to almost achieve the impossible and seize the Championship from the hands of Lewis Hamilton, who snatched fifth place by the skin of his teeth, thus becoming the youngest and the only black driver in the history of Formula 1 to be the World Champion. But as Massa took the chequered flag, Hamilton was denied the Championship as he was coming sixth, but then dramatically, he overtook a slowing Timo Glock at the end of the final corner and broke the hearts of all Brazilians out there.

An amazing professional that he is, Hamilton was the deserved winner of the season. Differences with double World Champion Fernando Alonso and the last race disaster were chapters from his rookie season he never wanted to repeat. His endurance and patience finally paid off for him when at long last Lady Luck smiled. Future looks bright as the history is created- the first driver of Black origin has won a Formula 1 Championship.
At the age of ten, he had approached McLaren team principal, Ron Dennis, at an awards ceremony and told him "I want to race for you one day". Needless to say, Ron Dennis will be proud of him.