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Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton opened up about his maiden F1 title in 2008. The Brit edged out Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in the last lap of the last Grand Prix of the season to win the title in his second year.
While talking to Graham Bensinger, he said, “I didn’t enjoy it at all. I think getting to formula One was an incredible achievement for my family. Then we got to formula one. The pressure was so intense that the pressure to deliver above and beyond people’s expectations.”
He then added, “There were some strange things going in the business and almost like anything to stop me from succeeding. I wasn’t much mature enough to grasp everything that was going on and to enjoy it. ”
Melodrama in Brazil
The last race of the 2008 season was in Brazil where Lewis Hamilton needed to finish fifth place or above to win the championship. Whereas Felipe Massa was required to win the race to confirm his title. The hometown hero did everything perfectly as he led the grid.
Luckily for Massa, Hamilton was also out of the top five. But suddenly towards the end, the British driver passed Tim Glock during the final few corners to finish fifth and denied the race-winner Felipe Massa the title by a single point.
Unfortunate, but it is like that: Massa
Talking about the Championship loss, Massa expressed that he lost the championship in the Singapore race of the season. Massa said, “I would say maybe the race I feel that we lost the championship was Singapore.”
“At Hungary, I was leading the race and I had an engine problem but that is one of those things that happens. But what happened in Singapore is unacceptable. It cannot happen. I lost the championship there. Unfortunate - but it is like that,” he added.
“I would say I am happy for what I did and I hope I can be even more happy from now until the end of my career. What happened there is like in football when you have a match where they pay the referee. It is the same. We see so many matches in football that they pay the referee and the team that loses goes to the courts. But in Formula One nothing happens,” Massa concluded.