So far the 2008 season had been fairly unpredictable – full of bizarre results and incidents, and the next round in Montreal was another, perfect example. Problems with the improved parts of the track caused the track to come away at turn 10 - amazingly this was still being fixed the night before the race.

The race itself contained yet another controversial incident and it was a pretty stupid one at that as Hamilton failed to stop at the red light at the end of the pitlane (red due to the safety car passing by). This ended his own and Raikkonen’s race – the Ferrari was already waiting at the lights in front of Hamilton.

This was pretty frustrating to watch, but it did leave the door open for BMW Sauber to take their first 1-2 of the season and Kubica’s first win. Adding to this, Massa’s race was hampered by fuelling problems whilst David Coulthard made his way onto the podium (for the first time since Monaco in 2006) in third.

Raikonnen’s poor luck continued with technical problems in France (race 8), handing the victory to Massa, although Raikkonen still claimed second. Hamilton started in 13th after receiving a very much deserved 10-place penalty for the pitlane incident in Canada.

To further damage his race chances, he also received a drive-through penalty for running off-track immediately after overtaking Vettel – again this was another not-so-black-and-white steward’s decision.

Halfway House

Marking the halfway point this season was race 9 at Silverstone, and along with Monaco, this was also one of the best Grand Prix of the season. Again it was a wet race in the 2008 season, and there was the usual carnage to go along with this.

A large number of cars on the grid found themselves facing backwards on the track at some point in the race. Once again Ferrari struggled: Massa span five times and the team botched the call over Kimi Raikkonen’s tyres to put out their victory chances.

This left room on the podium for Barrichello (his first podium since 2005 and Honda’s first since 2006) and Heidfeld – the only 2 drivers who were not lapped by the race winner, Hamilton. The Brit pulled off a satisfying, dominant and much-needed home win, keeping his place in the fight for the world championship.

Race 10 in Germany was another incident-packed stop on the F1 tour. Timo Glock's right suspension caused a huge crash –launching his Toyota across the track and into the wall. Luckily he walked away from the wreckage but the impact had scattered debris all over the track, bringing out the safety car.

Pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton demonstrated his incredible ability to overtake as he battled it out with Filipe Massa, amongst others, to take the win. Massa finished the race in third, and was was joined by Nelson Piquet. The Brazilian had an incredible race (aided by the safety car), climbing from 17th to 2nd in his Toro Rosso to take his first F1 podium.

Hungary brought more F1 firsts: Kovaleinen took his first win in Formula 1 and made himself the 100th driver to win an F1 Grand Prix. The McLaren number 2 capitalised on the misfortunes of the front runners to take the win - Massa had an engine failure with 3 laps to go, Raikkonen had a mechanical problem in the closing stages and Hamilton came 5th due to an early puncture.

Still, with almost two thirds of the season already over, Kovaleinen had raised more than a few eyebrows having failed to cash-in on victory until now. Rookie driver Timo Glock also took this opportunity to get his first F1 podium, finishing in second place.

Race 12 was at the first of 2 new tracks in 2008, as the European Grand Prix, formerly at the Nürburgring, Germany, moved to its new home on the streets of Valencia, Spain.

The main excitement of the race actually took place in the pitlane, as Filipe Massa was released into the path of Adrian Sutil (after the race he was fined €10,000) and Kimi Raikkonen jumped the gun on his pit stop and set off with the fuel hose still attached, injuring a mechanic.

There was more bad luck for Kimi as he retired with engine failure just 2 laps later. The top 3 cars on the grid -Massa, Hamilton and Kubica - kept form and finished in order on the podium. After the Grand Prix, there was a lot of negative talk about the race, which faced criticism for its processional style. Many fans, even now, agreed this was the least exciting race of the season.

To turn the fortunes and refuel excitement in F1, the Belgian Grand Prix was another race in which unpredictable circumstances determined the outcome on the day.

It was wet or raining all weekend, and during the race inconsistent wet patches on track and a last minute shower reaped havoc. Most memorably, there was an incredible battle between Hamilton and Raikkonen for first place. Hamilton won the battle, and just 1 lap later Raikkonen crashed into a wall under heavy rain.

After the race Hamilton was stripped of his win for cutting a chicane during the fight, and 10 points were instead awarded to Filipe Massa.

The final European race of the season was race 14, in Italy. Although the race took place in September, there was heavy rain all weekend – so much so that the race started under the safety car.

Sebastian Vettel out-qualified his fellow competitors who were struggling in the wet (Hamilton, Raikkonen & Kubica all failed to make Q3) and went on to claim pole. He led the race for all but 3 laps and crossed the line to become the youngest ever race winner in F1 (taking the title away from Alonso).

This was Torro Rosso’s first ever win, the first German driver to win since Michael Schumacher in 2006 and the youngest ever podium – Vettel, Kovaleinen and Kubica had an average age of 23 years and 350 days.

It’s almost too obvious to state, but F1 drivers are notorious for being adrenaline junkies. Mark Webber is one of them, and was taking part in an adventure bike challenge in Tasmania when he had a serious accident on the penultimate day of the event.

The 32-year-old was speeding down a steep hill when he collided with a 4x4 on a narrow gravel track, after which he needed to be airlifted to hospital. Webber was then taken immediately into surgery where he had to have pins placed into his right leg.

Ironically the race, called the Mark Webber Challenge, is not only named after the Red Bull driver but is well and truly his own project, as he foots a large portion of the bill.

After 6 seasons in Formula 1, Webber was one of the first to confirm his 2009 seat when he renewed his contract with Red Bull Racing. However, such is the demand for peak physical fitness in F1, and with such a serious injury, it has brought into question whether Webber will be able to recover in time.

A statement on his website said that Webber is expected to be back for the first race of the season – his home Grand Prix in Melbourne, which takes place in March. The injury does mean, however, that he will miss out on winter testing – a vital part of the F1 off-season for both the car and the driver.

One can only imagine, then, that the Aussie will surround himself with some of the world’s best doctors and physiotherapists to help speed up his rehabilitation and get him back in the driving seat as soon as possible.

Finally the biggest poorly kept secret in the history of TV is out in the open. Martin Brundle has agreed to leave ITV and sign with the BBC to reprise his current role with the new broadcaster of F1 in the UK.

When it was first announced that BBC was taking over the F1 TV deal from 2009 through 2013 inclusive, the first thing on everyone's lips was whether Martin Brundle would come over with the rights. Brundle joined ITV when they snapped up the rights in 1997 and forged a terrific partnership with incumbent legend Murray Walker. When Walker stepped down, Brundle stayed and was joined by James Allen.

Brundle's no nonsense approach made him very quickly a fans favourite and he has won the RTS Television Sports Award for best Sports Pundit on no fewer than four occasions. His grid walks have gone down as one of the best features in sports broadcasting and when he managed to grab Bernie Ecclestone as the now infamous 2005 US Grand Prix, he showed himself as a world class journalist as well as broadcaster.

He'll be joined by his third lead commentator since he started in form of Jonathan Legard. The former Radio Five Live F1 correspondent joins the box in a move that will be welcomed around F1 circles.

In the pit-lane Lee McKensie will be joined by the only other member of ITV's on-air team that is making the switch in the form of Ted Kravitz. This is arguably the only surprise in today's announcement as Kravitz seemed like he knew he was leaving F1 at the Brazilian Grand Prix so you suspect this deal went down late.

In the studio we'll see Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard joined by front man Jake Humphrey. The 30 year-old presenter has been groomed for big things by the corporation This is without a doubt the only appointment that has raised eyebrows around fans of the sport but I might be in the minority but I do think he can be a good presenter on the big stage.

So all in all I think I'm pretty happy with the team. Getting Martin Brundle and paying him whatever it took was the first (and only) priority for me. I'm happy that they have also included Murray Walker is some capacity as the 85 year-old will be part of BBC's online team working for the BBC sport website.

Good start BBC.

Coming off the back of a controversial season in 2007, it was going to be a hard-push to have another year so headline-grabbing, so shocking, and as competitive as the last.

Adding to this, last year was a very negative season for F1. The spy-gate saga was on top of the agenda for a large part of 2007, and was present throughout 2008 with McLaren banished to the end of the pitlane.

There was a handful of new drivers that joined the line-up this season, including two sons of former F1 legends: Kazuki Nakajima (son of Saturo Nakajima) moved from Williams test driver to racing driver, and Nelson Piquet Jr (son of the three times world champion), also came from a role as test driver. Both would be driving for Renault. They were joined by Sebastian Bordais (Torro Rosso) and last year’s BMW test driver, Timo Glock, who was welcomed to the F1 driving elite by Toyota. Ralf Schumacher was the only 2007 driver not to be making a return to the F1 line-up this season.

So coming into 2008 there was a lot to live up to, a lot to prove and a lot at stake. Predictions were that Raikkonen would defend his championship title hands-down, many believing that the fashion in which Lewis Hamilton lost the championship in ‘07 was evidence enough that he wasn’t world champion-material.

Round 1

It didn’t take long for pre-season speculation to be dispelled. At the very first Grand Prix in Australia, Hamilton laid down the gauntlet as a championship contender with a strong win. Ferrari had a terrible opening weekend, with both driving and mechanical failures plaguing the team and neither car landing in the points. Safety car antics enabled Heidfeld and Rosberg to take a place on the podium and also caused Barichello to be disqualified for exiting the pitlane under a red light.

At round 2, in Malaysia, defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen entered his own bid for the championship by taking the win at Sepang. But it wasn’t all glory for Ferrari just yet; Raikkonen’s teammate, Filipe Massa span out for the second race in a row already giving rise to speculation that he might lose his seat at Ferrari in 2009. The first of many controversial stewards' decisions in the 2008 season came early on – a 5-place penalty handed down to both McLaren drivers for blocking in qualifying meant the team had a quiet weekend overall.

Filipe Massa’s opportunity to disprove the critics and start his own championship bid came at round 3 in Bahrain, when Massa got his first finish and win of the season. Both he and Raikkonen took the first 1-2 of the season and were joined on the podium by pole-sitter Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber. With two podium finishes in a row the Pole put himself firmly in contention for the world title and put his team at the top of the constructors' championship for the first time in their history.

Hamilton had another miserable weekend, crashing into Alonso and whilst continuing with the race, he finished outside the points in 12th.

Ferrari got their second 1-2 of the season in Spain (race 4) which took place amongst the biggest off-track controversy of 2008 – allegations made again Max Mosely in the British press. On track Heikki Kovaleinen’s high speed crash was the main incident this weekend, caused by rapid tyre deflation. The Finn lost consciousness on track and was airlifted to hospital, but was said to have just a mild concussion.

Along with the rest of the drivers, Kovaleinen was back two weeks later in Turkey. Ferrari nearly claimed a third consecutive 1-2, although at the last minute Hamilton squeezed ahead of Raikonnen to claim second. It was a historic Grand Prix for Brazilian Reubens Barichello in the Honda who became the most experienced driver in Formula 1 with 257 race starts.

Coming up to the sixth race of the season, Ferrari reigned supreme - they had won 4 out of 5 races and the partnership was looking fierce - much stronger than the less-experienced McLaren alternative. Fortunately for McLaren, Monaco was next. This is a street circuit that favours the British team, and is arguably the most coveted win of them all - exactly what McLaren needed to boost their momentum. In very wet conditions, there was plenty of action, enough aquaplaning and general carnage for crash-junkies to get their fix, as well as drive-through penalties and safety cars – all comprising one of the best Grand Prix of the season. Even when Kimi Raikonnen cruelly ran into the back of Adrian Sutil it only added to the drama, and proved that F1 isn’t always about the win. The Force India driver was about to collect what would have been his team’s only points of the season.

Fans of both cycling and motorsport have been given reason to celebrate after it was announced that Chris Hoy and Lewis Hamilton will race head to head at Wembley.

Chris Hoy, who is a legend in the world of cycling after winning numerous Olympic medals, will race against Lewis Hamilton, the young British Formula One champion, in a man versus machine event in the middle of December.

The Race of Champions event will see Lewis Hamilton drive a road car manufactured by Mercedes whilst Chris Hoy will race his bicycle around the same circuit.

The Formula One champion, who has barely left the sporting headlines since his famous victory, has revealed his excitement at seeing thousands of fans "for the first time since becoming world champion”. Hamilton believes that the Race of Champions will be a fitting end to his extremely successful year.

Chris Hoy is similarly excited about the prospect of the Wembley event. He believes that although he will struggle to match the car in terms of acceleration, the twisty nature of the circuit may work to his advantage. Hoy thinks that the race will be “close” and is keen to give “absolutely everything” in his attempt to overcome the challenge of Hamilton.

Although the race between Hamilton and Hoy will be the highlight of the evening, the Race of Champions event will also see other legends in the world of motorsport competing against each other. Individuals including Michael Schumacher, Andy Priaulx, and Troy Bayliss will be appearing at Wembley.

Fans of Formula One were shocked this week by news emerging from China. The country is considering bringing an end to its Formula One Grand Prix, with a final decision on the proposal likely to be made early next year.

China’s largest city, Shanghai, has hosted a Grand Prix every year since 2004 on a track which cost over £160 million to build. The city has a contract with Formula One for another two years but increasing problems have caused officials to reconsider the staging of the event.

Attendances over the past five years have been extremely disappointing and people living and working in Shanghai are not fans of the event. Embarrassingly for officials in the Chinese city and for Formula One, spectators from other areas of the country are often specifically transported to the track in order to give the impression of popularity on race day.

Qiu Weichang, who is currently the deputy director of the Shanghai Administration of Sports, has revealed that officials in China would like “at least to break even” and would ideally like to reap some of the benefits currently seen by Formula One officials.

The commercial boss of Formula One, Bernie Ecclestone, has benefitted from a large financial gain since China started hosting a Formula One Grand Prix and Qiu Weichang is keen to “create a win-win situation, for our side and for Bernie”.

The deputy director was also keen to play down the possibility of a night race in the city of Shanghai. Although Singapore sees the benefits of night races, Shanghai has its “own situation” and would not necessarily benefit from a race during the evening hours.

Jenson Button has been reassured by Honda following a poor Formula One campaign. The chief executive of Honda, Nick Fry, has revealed that the general consensus remains that the British driver is “immensely talented”.

Fry did not end his praise at this point. Rather, he continued to state that with the right car, Button would be capable of competing at the highest level and may even be able to act as a close rival to Lewis Hamilton.

Fry was forced to issue this reassurance to the driver after another disappointing campaign from Button. He managed to pick up just three points this year and has won only one Grand Prix in over 150 races. Furthermore, the driver will find himself out of contract at the end of December.

This year, Jenson Button retired at the Australian Grand Prix on just the first lap and only finished tenth in Malaysia. In Bahrain, he managed to run over the wing of David Coulthard’s vehicle and he also failed to finish in the British Grand Prix. Furthermore, Button had to bear the embarrassment of being the only driver to retire during the Grand Prix in France.

Last year, Nigel Mansell criticised the driver for not taking his chances during the early years of his career. Mansell believed that the driver should have won more races and stated that Button remains prone to under-performing in tough races.

2007 saw Lewis Hamilton emerge as the major force in the British motorsport scene and this may have dented Button’s confidence. Indeed, the driver admitted that the 2007 campaign had been a “total disaster”.

The 2008 campaign has been a disappointing one generally for Honda. Button’s team-mate, Rubens Barrichello, managed to pick up just eleven points this year. Fry was keen to reveal Honda’s plans to provide Bruno Senna with the chance to test one of its cars later this month.

Bruno Senna has a famous uncle familiar with the world of Formula One. Ayrton Senna is a true legend in the motorsport scene and his nephew will hope to follow in his footsteps. Fry believes that he will do a “great job” and, after showing impressive form, he has become a “prospective candidate” for Honda next season.

Senna is not the only individual with the chance to prove himself at the highest level. Honda will also allow another driver to test its cars before the driver line-up is finalised. The line-up may not be finally decided before Christmas. This driver has not yet been named but it is clear that Honda is keen to explore all potential options.

Hopes remain high for next season, with the addition of Ross Brawn to the team being an exciting recent event. Brawn is the former technical director of Ferrari and he will bring a much-needed level of technical experience to the team.

However, Button and Barrichello should rightly be feeling the pressure at the moment. Fry was keen to send the drivers a public reminder that they need to “deliver the results” and perform well consistently, just like any “other person in the team”.

Honda has announced that Lucas Di Grassi, the young driver from Brazil, will be given the chance to test for them later this month in Spain. Honda is expected to name its drivers for the next Formula One campaign by Christmas and the first winter test will be held at the Circuit de Catalunya in the middle of November. Di Grassi will join up with the team at this point.

Ross Brawn, the team principal for the Honda team, believes that Di Grassi has fully deserved this fantastic opportunity to prove himself at the highest level. Furthermore, he believes that the Brazilian driver has the “potential” to compete with the legends in the world of Formula One.

Di Grassi will be extremely excited but also incredibly relieved by this opportunity. Renault overlooked the 24 year old after deciding to stay loyal to Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jnr. Di Grassi has been part of the team’s development programme since 2004.

This recent rejection was therefore disappointing for the driver, particularly since he has impressed in GP2 throughout this season. GP2 has a good reputation for providing Formula One with drivers since it was formed three years ago.

It seems that Di Grassi is keen to grab hold of this opportunity with both hands. He has spoken of his plans to spend time at the Honda factory before the test in Spain. This will allow him to converse with engineers and learn about the set-up of the team before trying to prove himself to the team officials later this month.

Lewis Hamilton shocked us all at the weekend. Most people believed that they were going to be viewing either a ‘red mist’ moment or a boring, comfortable (albeit a lot more relaxing) cashing-in for the driver in Brazil. However, neither of these options occurred.

Ferrari absolutely dominated at Interlagos. Massa and Raikkonen qualified first and third respectively. Trulli qualified second, increasing the tension of the race as a result of rumours about the driver making a deal with Ferrari to help Massa win. In the end, however, he proved to be no real threat. Hamilton qualified in a respectable fourth position on the grid, with his team mate conveniently qualifying in fifth.

At the start of the race it seemed like Hamilton’s sights were set not on the win (he had no realistic chance of touching the Ferraris), but on maintaining fourth place or at the very least securing fifth place. The first challenge came right at the start. Hamilton was surrounded by enemies (Massa, Raikkonen, Trulli, and Alonso) and it looked likely that mischief was about to occur on the track.

However, just moments before the race began, the heavens opened. Heavy rain fell on the track for about ten minutes and this helped to relieve the tension as the drivers were forced to worry about tyres and general wet setup. Hamilton's rivals no longer had the opportunity to think about how to squeeze him off the track.

The Start

The start was delayed and rain was falling heavily from the sky until the last moments before the race began. The start was therefore a cautious one. Grid formation was maintained going into the first corner, with Kovaleinen doing well to support Hamilton. Unfortunately, David Coulthard became a victim of a Williams sandwich on the first corner and this effectively ended his race 71 laps early. Piquet also crashed out on the first lap and the safety car was needed to clear up the wreckage.

The second major challenge, which proved to be important in contributing towards Hamilton’s victory, came in the form of movements from Vettel, who jumped from seventh to fifth, whilst Alonso displaced Kovaleinen.

By the eleventh lap, all the front-runners had pitted in order to change their tyres to suit the dry track. This ended Trulli’s chances of getting on the podium, whilst Alonso managed to move further in front, taking advantage of pitting earlier than his rivals.

The Middle Stint

Hamilton spent the middle part of the race moving between fifth and fourth. He was clearly doing his best to fight off a relentless Vettel in order to defend fourth place but the McLaren seemed to be lacking pace (apparently due to a lack of downforce). If Vettel had taken fourth place, the best Hamilton could have hoped for would be for the final fifteen laps to be free of any major incidents.

However, much to the glee of the Formula One broadcasters, fifteen laps from the end it was announced that more rain was about to fall. With just nine laps to go, the promised rain started to fall from the sky. Another judgement call was therefore needed: pit for wets or stick? Although the rain was not too heavy, the teams were not willing to risk a major downpour on slicks (most drivers, with the obvious exception of Timo Glock, opted for wets).

This was nothing short of a disaster for Hamilton. Glock managed to move into fourth place and Vettel looked ready to pounce to take fifth. Unfortunately, this did occur with just three laps of the race left. Hamilton’s chances of winning the world championship now rested purely on the rain. It needed to become heavier in order to wipe out Timo Glock.

Last Lap Lewis

In all the Grand Prix races I have watched, I have never seen the important battles being decided after the chequered flag has been waved. Interlagos, I assumed, would be no exception, and in those closing moments it looked so unlikely that anything would change.

Massa had already crossed the line. His family could be seen celebrating in the pit and Vettel was running away with Hamilton’s championship. Then, during the last few seconds, Hamilton came across a struggling Glock, who had lost pace coming up the final hill in the increasingly heavy rain.

This was the third to last corner of the race and it was extremely wet but Hamilton had nothing to lose. He overtook Glock without making a fuss and turned a situation where he was about to lose everything into a moment of true triumph. This moment brought him the finest accolade of his career: his first world championship title.

Formula One is known at times for its processional racing style but that was not the case here. Incredibly, it all came down to the last lap. The entire championship was decided on just a few corners.

The whole world watched as the prematurely celebrating Ferrari team was stopped in its tracks as they heard the news that Hamilton had passed Glock in the final stages of the race. The dumbfounded looks on their faces will stay with me forever.

The Final Result

The final point scorers were, in order: Massa, Alonso, Raikonnen, Vettel, Hamilton, Glock, Kovaleinen and Trulli. The championship therefore finished with only a single point deciding the winner. The order is as follows: Hamilton (98pts), Massa (97pts), Raikkonen (75pts), Kubica (75pts), Alonso (61pts).

Kovaleinen wasn’t a strong enough or lucky enough contender to secure the constructor’s title for McLaren, who came second to Ferrari by a margin of 21 points. They were followed by BMW Sauber in third, Renault in fourth, and Toyota in fifth.

Although in many ways it was a cruel end to Massa’s season, when viewed in the light of all the controversies of 2008 (namely the intervention of the stewards' decisions), it seemed only fair that Hamilton took the championship.

He is now the youngest driver ever to win the Formula One world championship and is the first McLaren winner since 1999. He is also the first British title-holder since Damon Hill in 1996.

Well done Lewis! Better luck next time, Filipe.

Now go out and do it again, please.

It’s not been a great year for fans of British sport. The English Rugby League team has just been humbled by an extremely exciting Australian side, the England cricketers have been left licking their wounds after embarrassment in the final of the Stanford Super Series, and let’s not even think about the fortunes of the England football team prior to the appointment of Fabio Capello.

Last week also saw Andy Murray disappoint, after his shocking exit from the Paris Masters at the hands of David Nalbandian. However, this weekend saw wide smiles return to the faces of sports fans across the country after a tense, exciting, nerve-wracking and truly brilliant day in Brazil.

Lewis Hamilton, who is still only 23 years of age, was crowned world champion after a thrilling finale to the Formula One season. The driver is one of only two people to have claimed the championship in their second season. Jacques Villeneuve, the Canadian driver, achieved this feat in 1997.

Hamilton also became the youngest ever Formula One champion, beating Fernando Alonso’s previous record, and was left speechless and overwhelmed by the events of the day.

He was unable to describe his emotions, stating that “it’s pretty impossible to put my feelings into words”. However, he was able to describe his relief at winning after such “a long journey” and he believes that “all the sacrifices” made along the way have been made worthwhile.

The race in Brazil left fans of the young driver on the edge of their seats. Felipe Massa, who was truly gracious in defeat, won the race, leaving Hamilton needing to claim fifth position or higher.

However, with just one lap to go, the young Brit was in sixth position. Thankfully, the final corner saw Hamilton dramatically speed past Timo Glock and claim the position needed to earn him the world championship.

The television coverage showed some interesting scenes at the end of the race. Ferrari officials and friends and family of Felipe Massa were shown celebrating before coming to the realisation that Hamilton had managed to win the world championship.

When the accurate results filtered through to the respective camps, it was the turn of Hamilton’s family to smile. The driver’s father was overcome with emotion and the youngster was quick to show his gratitude: “I’m ecstatic, very emotional, very thankful for my team and my family and everyone who has supported me”.

Hamilton continued to praise Ron Dennis, the McLaren team boss, thanking him for the “opportunity” handed to him “years ago”. He believes that winning the world championship has gone some way to paying him back but he is still keen to win titles in the future.

As always with sporting events of such intensity, there was some controversy after the race. Timo Glock was forced to defend himself after accusations from various sectors of the Formula One world that he had helped Hamilton win the title.

Glock was angry that the weather had affected the race and was obviously simply upset that the “last lap just cost us the chance to be in the top five”.

This weekend will see fans of Formula One licking their lips at the prospect of a real showcase event in Interlagos, Brazil. Two of the sport’s best drivers, Filipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton, will be going head to head (although, for fans of the British youngster, hopefully not literally), to see who can become the next Formula One world champion.

Hamilton is 7 points ahead with only 10 points available but this is Filipe Massa’s home grand prix. With everything to gain and nothing to lose, he certainly won’t be holding back once the race starts in Brazil on Sunday.

So far during free practice, Massa, the 2006 winner, has finished top, with Hamilton coming in a close second. Key to the race in Brazil will be getting a clean start and definitely avoiding any carnage which may occur at the tricky first corner (the Senna Esses).

This means that qualifying will be crucial. However, qualification is set to favour Massa, who always starts well, whereas Hamilton is renowned for his below-par starts.

Ultimately, Lewis Hamilton needs to finish in fifth place or higher. If he fails to do so, Massa will be able to take the title with a first or second place finish. British fans of the sport will be hoping for Hamilton's sake that the pressure does not get to him.

Furthermore, his friends, family, and fans will be keeping their fingers crossed and praying that the youngster does not repeat the mistakes made in Fuji. One final wish on the behalf of all watching in the UK is that Massa’s close allies (Alonso & Raikonnen) do not get in the way of the British driver.