Home
Change
category
"

Louise Goodman: 2008, Lewis Hamilton

November 2008 and for the final time, I arrive at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Interlagos, in São Paulo, Brazil, to cover the last round of the 2008 F1 World Championship with my colleagues in the ITV team.

In the 12 years I had reported live from the pit lane and paddock for ITV F1, I had not seen a Brit crowned World Champion. The previous season had seen Lewis Hamilton come ever so close, having burst onto the scene in his rookie year driving for McLaren, he almost made it, only losing out in the final race at Brazil. This time going into the final race, he was leading the championship by 7 points from his main rival, Felipe Massa.

Were Massa to win the race, Lewis had to finish no lower than 5th to take the title. Qualifying on Saturday saw the crowd on their feet as their home boy, Massa took pole from the Toyota of Jarno Trulli. Lewis was back on the second row of the grid in fourth.

All the ITV team went out for a meal that night, our last time together as one big family.

Race day came and the atmosphere was electric. The crowd sensed an opportunity for a Brazilian driver to lift the world title in front of his home nation. Expectations were enormous. Hamilton v Massa. McLaren v Ferrari

Interlagos is one of the shortest circuits on the F1 calendar, but it is a hilly circuit and its locations ensures the one thing that is predictable is that the weather is likely to play a big part in any race. This day was to be no exception.

For much of the race, Lewis appeared to be in control of his own destiny. Massa was doing everything he could, leading the race, with Lewis in or around 4th place, comfortably high enough to take the world title.

All changed though. Central to the ensuing drama was Toyota’s Timo Glock, who was running a different strategy to most of the teams and was fuelled to the finish. On lap 63 light rain began to fall on the circuit.

It was now a test of nerves and skill for each of the drivers and teams to make the right call on the choice of tyres. As the rain continued, Seb Vettel started to hunt Lewis down. As the track became more greasy both drivers pitted on lap 66 with 5 laps remaining, to change to intermediate tyres. Massa did the same on lap 67. All the front-runners had been in, but Glock chose to stay out on slicks. This meant Lewis was now down to 5th, Massa still leading, so no room for any errors now. The rain got heavier and on Lap 69 disaster struck, Lewis slid wide on a corner and Sebastian Vettel nipped past.

2 laps remaining and with Vettel pulling away from Lewis all Felipe Massa seemingly had to do was keep the car on the tarmac to take the race win and the world championship.

A little over 3 minutes later, Massa crossed the line and all hell broke loose in the Ferrari pit garage, with the team bosses and mechanics celebrating a famous victory and the title.

My colleagues in the commentary box, Martin Brundle and James Allen didn’t believe it was all over yet though and whilst a lot of the world’s media concentrated on a Ferrari victory, Martin and James made the call correctly, pointing out that Glock could barely keep his car on the circuit.

Fernando Alonso crossed the line to take second place and as the rain continued to lash down, Kimi Raikkonen took the final spot on the podium.

As the celebrations took hold in the Ferrari team garage, Vettel hunted down and passed a struggling Timo Glock, whose slick tyres now had zero grip. Glock had just 2 more corners to go, once he crossed the line in 5th the championship would be Massa’s.

Lewis was making up ground rapidly, but all appeared too late as Glock entered the final long left hander up the hill toward the finish. As he did so, Lewis exited the second to last corner, his intermediate tyres struggling to cope with so much water, but working far better than Glock’s.

In a truly heart stopping climax to the world championship, the silver McLaren of Lewis Hamilton drove past Timo Glock on the final corner of the final race to cross the line in 5th position. Martin and James declared Lewis Formula 1 World Champion for 2008. Lewis could be heard over the team radio asking for confirmation of where he had finished and for a few seconds I don’t think anyone could quite believe he had snatched the title back from Ferrari.

Chaos in the pit lane ensued as joy turned to despair for Ferrari. The sportsmanship shown by Massa that day was something that I’ll always remember – he showed immense dignity and accepted what was obviously a crushing blow with true grace.

Meanwhile there was utter jubilation at McLaren. Now was the time for my big challenge. I was determined that I was going to be the first to interview Lewis. The media scrum was enormous, but there was no way I was missing this. ITV’s last F1 race, our last championship. The experience of 12 years of reporting live from the pit lane came to the fore and with a large dose of determination, I got that first interview with the new World Champion. Lewis, together with his father Anthony, celebrating a truly memorable victory. It was emotional for all of us!

Louise Goodman

www.louisegoodman.com

Memory added on September 8, 2013

Comments

No comments have yet been added to this memory.

Add a comment

Mark as favourite
Louise interviewing Lewis. Image copyright Louise GoodmanLouise interviewing Lewis. Image copyright Louise Goodman