18 years ago today, arguably F1’s most iconic title showdown took place in Brazil – with an ending of the highest sporting drama.
Every great F1 title showdown has an iconic phrase.
For every “No, Michael, no, that was so not right,”, you have a “and colossally that’s Mansell, that is Nigel Mansell,” but to butcher George Orwell’s allegorical classic Animal Farm, all F1 title showdown phrases are equal, but some are more equal than others.”
That brings us to the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix – and arguably one of the most famous phrases in the history of Formula 1: “Is that Glock? It is, that’s Glock.”
Now, most things being equal, Toyota driver Timo Glock was going to be an alsoran in the title-deciding race in Sao Paulo, with Lewis Hamilton leading on 94 points and Felipe Massa second on 87.
These were the days points being awarded in the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for the top eight, and the mathematics went that if Massa won the race, Hamilton would need to be fifth or better. If he finished sixth or worse with the Brazilian winning, Massa would be world champion by dint of a sixth win of the year to Hamilton’s five to break the tie of 97 points.
And for long periods of that dank Sao Paulo afternoon, the title race was at risk of not coming to the boil, with Massa clearing off out front, but Hamilton maintaining station in fourth, with a young whippersnapper by the name of Sebastian Vettel causing trouble, again, in his Toro Rosso.
And then the rain came.
So, both pitted, but whilst Massa did so and retained his lead from Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, Hamilton’s equation changed.
That was because whilst he rejoined in fifth place, he had lost his safety buffer of the extra position as both he and Vettel had been passed by the Toyota of Glock, who with nothing to lose, was going for broke and staying out on dry tyres.
This meant that if Hamilton lost position to Vettel, he would be sixth, and the trophy engraver would be doing Felipe Massa instead of Lewis Hamilton.
With just three laps to go, Robert Kubica unlapped himself, and crucially as he passed Hamilton at the bottom of the hill at Juncao, Hamilton slithered wide to gift Vettel fifth and himself staring at the prospect of losing a second straight world title in Brazil, following 2007.
He was never going to pass the Ferrari-powered Vettel, so attention turned to Glock, who was 15s clear of the two drivers who would dominate F1 over the next decade, as three laps became two, and then one.
And Hamilton then got his gift. Glock, struggling on those dry tyres was crawling around the final lap, with Hamilton passing at Juncao on the final proper corner of the final lap of the final race of the season.
The rest, as they say, is history.
But there was a sting in the tail.
Massa’s ongoing court case
Earlier in the season, Massa’s chances of a straightforward win were undone in Singapore, after Nelson Piquet Jr crashed deliberately to bring out the safety car – under which Massa pitted and drove off with the fuel rig attached.
He finished 13th at Marina Bay, with Piquet’s father telling Charlie Whiting of the FIA at the Brazilian GP about the potential deliberate nature of the crash.
Whiting told then FIA president Max Mosley, and depending on who you believe, Bernie Ecclestone.
That conversation is now key to the current ongoing court proceedings Massa has launched in the UK.
It is based off a 2023 interview Ecclestone gave, in which he claimed he was aware during the 2008 season that Piquet crashed on purpose, and elected with Mosley to cover it up to “avoid a scandal.”
Massa and his legal team allege that this is part of a grand “conspiracy” and that he should be awarded £64 million in damages for lost earnings and the FIA failing in its duty to investigate immediately.
Mosley decided not to after speaking with Whiting, as he felt there was not sufficient evidence, with Piquet Jr not willing to go on the record. That changed in 2009 when Piquet was sacked by Renault, with Piquet then going on the record, with the World Motor Sport Council report dropping in September 2009.
Massa is not seeking to overturn Hamilton’s 2008 title, but rather simply be known as the ‘rightful 2008 champion.’
