| 14.30 | Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of the 18th and final round of the championship, the 71-lap Brazilian Grand Prix. It is dry for now at Sao Paulo but the rain clouds are moving in meaning when the rains starts, we can pretty much rip-up any preconceived idea as to how the race will unfold! |
| 14.32 | As was the case 12 months ago, it is championship time and this year it is between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa. Hamilton has a seven point advantage meaning even if Massa takes the race win, he will be champion with a fifth place finish or better. |
| 14.34 | Massa has one task and that is to win the race and then see where Hamilton finishes. After dominating qualifying yesterday, Massa is in the perfect position to try and do that from the pole position. It is Brazilian’s home race and he has looked calm and collected all weekend. He has nothing to lose... |
| 14.36 | Jarno Trulli qualified his Toyota a season best second, probably on a light fuel load. Still it is an impressive performance from the Italian who lines up on the front row of the grid. His battle today is to finish ahead of Sebastian Vettel as they are both tied on 30 points in the championship. |
| 14.38 | Kimi Raikkonen won the race last year and with that claimed the championship as Hamilton stumbled. This year his role is to support Massa’s championship challenge. Should Massa fail to finish for any reason, his role switches to winning the race to help Ferrari clinch the constructors’ championship for the seventh time in nine years. |
| 14.40 | Lewis Hamilton starts fourth and would be quite happy to finish the race in the same position to clinch the title. We saw last year that the McLaren driver is prone to errors under pressure. The opening lap will be critical to Hamilton’s title aspirations as will the reliability of the McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 package. |
| 14.42 | Heikki Kovalainen lines up in fifth position and will be doing his utmost to protect Hamilton from any attack from behind. Kovalainen has not had a good season and his battle is to try and score three points more than Fernando Alonso and reclaim sixth position in the championship. |
| 14.44 | Alonso starts sixth in the leading Renault and has stated that he would rather see Ferrari win over McLaren. How much influence he will have remains to be seen, but there is no love lost between the Spaniard and the McLaren Mercedes team. |
| 14.46 | Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais start seventh and ninth for Toro Rosso. It has been an impressive season from the Italian team and they will be looking to maintain their advantage over the Red Bull Renault squad. This is Vettel’s final start for the team as next year he moves to the Red Bull squad. |
| 14.48 | Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica line up eighth and 13th for BMW Sauber. Heidfeld is a fairly safe fifth in the championship but Kubica could lose third position to Raikkonen should the Finn secure a podium position and Kubica fail to score. The BMW team are third in the championship standings, ten behind McLaren. |
| 14.50 | Nelson Piquet starts his first home Grand Prix from 11th position ahead of Mark Webber in the Red Bull Renault. In starting outside of the top ten, they can decide today what fuel levels they would like to race with. It is David Coulthard’s final start in the sister RB4 after a long and illustrious career and he lines up 14th alongside Kubica. |
| 14.52 | Rubens Barrichello may be about to start his final race as well. The Brazilian is seemingly out of favour at Honda despite proving quicker than team-mate Jenson Button for much of the season. Barrichello will be looking for a strong run from 15th position on the grid to try and make his point once again. |
| 14.54 | Williams Toyota seem to be in a state of turmoil at the moment with Kazuki Nakajima 16th and Nico Rosberg a dismal 18th. It is hard to see what else they can do from that position on the grid apart from filling the car to the brim and hope. |
| 14.56 | Jenson Button starts 17th in the second Honda while the Force India Ferrari duo of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil take the final row of the grid. This is likely to be the final race with Ferrari power for the team as they are expected to ink a deal with McLaren and Mercedes for the 2009 season. |
| 14.57 | The rain has now started! |
| 14.58 | It is raining hard all of a sudden and we have a delayed start. As expected, there is a huge crowd on hand. It really is quite an atmosphere at this event and it is a fitting finale to what has been a most entertaining season of racing. |
| 14.58 | It is raining hard and so the start is delayed to allow the teams to change tyres. |
| 15.00 | The parade lap will now start at 15.10. The heavy shower has passed already and it will dry fast. |
| 15.01 | The question now is about tyres. If it dries quickly, they may be able to remain on the standard tyres, but perhaps intermediates. We shall see! |
| 15.02 | Perfect timing for the rain shower. It really has thrown a spanner in the works. The parade lap gets underway in eight minutes. |
| 15.04 | The forecasts are now saying the next rain shower will be in roughly 30 minutes but that means little as they were not even expecting this shower. The rain has now stopped and the circuit is wet. |
| 15.05 | The safety car is on track and it is still pretty wet. |
| 15.07 | I think they are going to have to start on the intermediate tyre. |
| 15.08 | Tense times. Two minutes to the start of the parade lap. |
| 15.09 | The engines are firing up and the grid is now being cleared. Inters for all it seems. |
| 15.10 | The parade lap is now underway. |
| 15.10 | The start of the lap is wet and dryer further around. |
| 15.12 | Massa lines up on the pole position ahead of Trulli, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Alonso, Vettel, Heidfeld, Bourdais and Glock. |
| Lap 1 | The 71-lap Brazilian Grand Prix is underway. Kubica pitted at the end of the lap. he was on dry tyres. |
| Lap 1 | A clean start although Coulthard is in trouble. |
| Lap 1 | Massa leads Trulli, Raikkonen, Hamilton abd the safety car is now out. |
| Lap 2 | It is Piquet and Coulthard who got together. A real shame for Coulthard. |
| Lap 2 | So we have a pause as the Red Bull and Renault are removed. It seems they made contact at turn two. Out front it was a clean start although Kovalainen did lose a position to Vettel and now runs seventh. |
| Lap 3 | The safety car remains on track and it seems Piquet had nothing to do with Coulthard's incident which was with Button. |
| Lap 3 | Fisichella pits. |
| Lap 3 | Massa leads Trulli, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Kovalainen, Bourdais, Glock and Webber. |
| Lap 4 | The circuit will be drying and that will be a worry for the tyres. |
| Lap 4 | Kovalainen actually lost a position to Alonso on the first lap as well. |
| Lap 4 | It was actually Rosberg that hit Coulthard who then hit Nakajima. |
| Lap 5 | The race is back underway! |
| Lap 5 | Kovalainen passes Alonso and then loses the position at turn two. |
| Lap 5 | A clean restart. |
| Lap 5 | Fisichella is on dry tyres. |
| Lap 6 | Heidfeld passes Barrichello. He lost ground at the start. |
| Lap 7 | Raikkonen is closing on Trulli. |
| Lap 7 | Massa has already pulled two seconds on Trulli who is backing up Raikkonen. |
| Lap 8 | Raikkonen all over Trulli and is lining up a pass. |
| Lap 8 | Rosberg and Button pit for dry tyres. |
| Lap 8 | Heidfeld passes Webber for P10 into the first turn. |
| Lap 9 | Bourdais, Glock, Sutil and Nakajima pit. |
| Lap 9 | Massa lost half a second on that lap to Trulli. |
| Lap 10 | Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Barrichello pit. |
| Lap 10 | It is now time for dry tyres. |
| Lap 10 | The rest will be pitting soon.... |
| Lap 11 | Massa pits from the lead. Kovalainen and Heidfeld also pit. |
| Lap 11 | Kubica has also pitted for a second time. |
| Lap 12 | Trulli and Raikkonen pit together. Hamilton also in. |
| Lap 12 | They have all now pitted. |
| Lap 12 | Massa leads Vettel... just! |
| Lap 12 | So a real shake up in the order. |
| Lap 12 | Massa leads Vettel, Alonso, Raikkonen, Fisichella. |
| Lap 13 | Hamilton passes Trulli who then half spins. |
| Lap 13 | Hamilton runs sixth at the moment. |
| Lap 14 | So the early stops paid off for Fisichella, Vettel and Alonso. |
| Lap 14 | Credit to Fisichella, a great position in a car that has no place in the top ten. |
| Lap 14 | Raikkonen is backing up the field in fourth. That is his job at the moment to allow Massa some margin at the front. |
| Lap 16 | Hamilton is all over Fisichella and looking for that fifth position. He needs fifth to be champion. |
| Lap 17 | Hamilton gets a slide at turn two and drops back from Fisichella. |
| Lap 17 | Only two seconds cover the top three with Raikkonen six seconds back in P4. |
| Lap 18 | Hamilton passes Fisichella into turn one. A nice clean move. |
| Lap 19 | Vettel gets the gap to Massa to under a second. Alonso is close behind in third. |
| Lap 20 | Now Hamilton is fifth, he is not too keen to try and close on Raikkonen. |
| Lap 21 | Trulli tries to pass Bourdais and pushes him wide. |
| Lap 21 | Trulli really cost Bourdais there as he drops down to 13th. He lost five positions... |
| Lap 22 | Vettel is right with Massa and really putting the pressure on the Ferrari driver. |
| Lap 23 | Two seconds cover the top three still with Raikkonen ten seconds back in fourth. Hamilton, fifth, is keeping the gap to Raikkonen at five seconds. |
| Lap 24 | Kubica runs in 17th. He pitted at the end of the parade lap and moved from dry to wet tyres. He then pitted again on alp 11 or so to change back. What a weekend he is having. |
| Lap 25 | Fisichella remains seventh with Trulli and Kovalainen right behind him. |
| Lap 26 | Hamilton, fifth, has Glock closing in on him so he needs to manage the gap ahead and behind. |
| Lap 27 | Out front, Massa is a second ahead of Vettel with Alonso three seconds back in third. |
| Lap 27 | Fisichella has now dropped 14 seconds behind Glock as Kovalainen passes Trulli. |
| Lap 27 | Vettel pits from second. |
| Lap 28 | Kovalainen passes Fisichella for seventh. |
| Lap 29 | With Vettel having pitted early, Alonso now runs seconds ahead of Raikkonen, Hamilton, Glock, Vettel, Kovalainen and Fisichella. |
| Lap 30 | Massa laps Nakajima who has a second spin a few laps ago. |
| Lap 31 | Alonso is four seconds behind Massa and as things stand, Hamilton would be champion. |
| Lap 32 | Vettel, sixth, is 30 seconds behind the race leader but has made one more stop. |
| Lap 33 | BMW have Heidfeld tenth and Kubica in 17th. |
| Lap 34 | Hamilton keeps locking his front left wheel under braking into turn one. |
| Lap 34 | Button pits his Honda. |
| Lap 35 | A quick lap from Massa gets the gap to Alonso out to five seconds. |
| Lap 36 | Another fast lap from Massa who must be getting ready to pit. |
| Lap 37 | Alonso has no answer to the pace of Massa and is now over six seconds behind. Glock pits from fifth. |
| Lap 37 | A slow stop from the Toyota team. |
| Lap 38 | Glock exits behind Rosberg so he really did lose a lot of positions. There was a problem with the fuel hose. |
| Lap 39 | Massa pits from the lead. |
| Lap 39 | It is a clean stop for Massa. |
| Lap 39 | Massa is back out in fourth position. |
| Lap 40 | Fisichella and Bourdais pit. |
| Lap 41 | Alonso pits his Renault. |
| Lap 41 | Hamilton pits from third position. |
| Lap 41 | Barrichello pits his Honda. |
| Lap 41 | Hamilton has exited ahead of Trulli in sixth position. |
| Lap 42 | Rosberg pits. Raikkonen and Kovalainen have yet to stop a second time. |
| Lap 43 | Kovalainen pits his McLaren from fifth. Heidfeld in too from eighth. |
| Lap 43 | Raikkonen pits from the lead. |
| Lap 44 | So Massa regains the lead from Vettel, Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton and Webber. |
| Lap 45 | Hamilton is on track for the drivers' championship, Massa the race win and Ferrari the constructors' championship. |
| Lap 45 | Button has passed Barrichello for 11th position. |
| Lap 46 | Glock's slow pitstop cost him position to Kovalainen. |
| Lap 47 | Massa loses half a second to Vettel on that last lap. Alonso remains close behind in third and Raikkonen is keeping the gap constant in fourth. |
| Lap 47 | Kubica pits from 15th. Another slower lap from Massa and Vettel is now three seconds behind. |
| Lap 49 | Vettel closes again next time around and is now just two seconds behind. The question is if he has to stop again. Because they started on wets, they do not need to run the soft tyre. |
| Lap 49 | Webber pits from sixth. |
| Lap 50 | Is Massa in trouble or just allowing Vettel to close in? |
| Lap 51 | Vettel gets the gap down to 2.5 seconds. Alonso is now seven seconds back in third. |
| Lap 51 | Kubica, 16th, follows Hamilton but is a lap down. |
| Lap 52 | Vettel pits from second. |
| Lap 52 | Vettel exits behind Hamilton who has the lapped Kubica behind him. |
| Lap 53 | After running as high as fifth, Fisichella is now down at the back with Sutil as Nakajima pits. |
| Lap 53 | Massa leads Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Vettel, Kovalainen, Glock and Trulli. |
| Lap 54 | Vettel is now closing in on fourth placed Hamilton who will probably let him move ahead. |
| Lap 56 | Vettel is now one second behind Hamilton. The question now is rain and if there will be any ahead of the chequered flag. |
| Lap 57 | Button pits from 11th. |
| Lap 58 | Some teams are saying rain is on the way. We shall see but as it stands, Hamilton is on track for the title. |
| Lap 59 | Hamilton remains in fourth a second ahead of Vettel. |
| Lap 60 | Raikkonen is closing on Alonso and is now just three seconds behind the Renault driver. |
| Lap 61 | Raikkonen puts in another fast lap and gets the gap to two seconds. |
| Lap 62 | Unless it does rain, the battle is for second between Alonso and Raikkonen. |
| Lap 63 | Alonso and Raikkonen lap Bourdais with just a second between them. |
| Lap 64 | There are now a few spots of rain. |
| Lap 64 | It remains to be seen if this is real rain or a few drops as Vettel is now right with Hamilton. |
| Lap 65 | Nakajima pits his Williams. |
| Lap 66 | Heidfeld pits from tenth. He takes wets - nothing to lose. |
| Lap 66 | Others at the back all pitting for wets now too. |
| Lap 66 | It is now raining. |
| Lap 66 | Kovalainen, Barrichello and others now pitting. |
| Lap 66 | Webber, Sutil and others pit as Hamilton defends position. |
| Lap 67 | Alonso, Raiikkonne, Hamilton, Vettel pit. Massa and Alonso stay out. |
| Lap 67 | Hamilton exits ahead of Vettel and behind a BMW. |
| Lap 68 | Massa pits. |
| Lap 68 | I don't think Alonso has stopped... |
| Lap 68 | So... Massa leads Alonso who did pit. Hamilton is now fifth and must keep Vettel behind him. |
| Lap 68 | Glock is now P4 and has not pitted. |
| Lap 69 | Tense. If Vettel passes Hamilton for fifth, Massa is champion. |
| Lap 69 | Barrichello pits. |
| Lap 69 | Vettel remains a second behind Hamilton. Massa leads Alonso, Raikkonen, Glock, Hamilton, Vettel. |
| Lap 70 | Hamilton runs wide at the final turn and Vettel moves ahead! |
| Lap 70 | Wow. Hamilton is pushing like mad now to try and regain the position! |
| Lap 70 | Hamilton has to try and make the pass or Massa is champion! |
| Lap 71 | Massa is on the last lap! |
| Lap 71 | WOW! Massa is on target. |
| Lap 71 | Massa wins the Brazilian Grand Prix! |
| Lap 71 | Hamilton is all over Vettel... |
| Lap 71 | Glock slows... |
| Lap 71 | Glock is slow and loses positions and Hamilton finishes fifth. WOW... Why is Glock slow... he was on the wrong tyre. |
| Lap 72 | SO Lewis Hamilton takes fifth position as Glock drops down to sixth at the final turn. He was on the dry tyre. Hamilton is world champion. |
| Lap 71 | That has to be the most dramatic finish ever. Hamilton is champion and Massa loses out on the very last turn as Glock slows.. |
| Lap 71 | Amazing. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton who at the age of 23 years, nine months and 26 days becomes the youngest ever Formula One World Champion. Commiserations to Felipe Massa – he’ll be back very strong again next year. |
