Lewis Hamilton’s last-lap championship win voted best F1 race of the 2000s

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Hamilton triumphed in a tense finale in Interlagos

The heart-stopping conclusion to the 2008 F1 championship – which saw Lewis Hamilton snatch the title away from Felipe Massa at the last gasp – has been voted the best F1 races of the last ten years by F1 Fanatic readers.

The 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix garnered more than 40% of the votes cast.

Second place went to the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix, which saw another decisive last-lap pass. Kimi Raikkonen scorched from 17th on the grid to pass Giancarlo Fisichella for the win on the final lap.

Another race from 2008 – the Belgian Grand Prix – was ranked third, along with many comments about how much better it would have been if the stewards hadn’t got involved…

See the results in full and review the classic 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix below.

Review the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix

Best race of the 2000s - results (click to enlarge)

See more results of F1 Fanatic polls: F1 Fanatic polls archive

Image (C) Daimler

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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49 comments on “Lewis Hamilton’s last-lap championship win voted best F1 race of the 2000s”

  1. christopher (sennaboy3)
    20th December 2009, 1:20

    I have to admit I’ve watched this race 6 or 7 times at this point. What a classic. The podium celebration, with the light dimming, rain, wind and Massa with tears in his eyes is just epic. I keep hoping the outcome will change ;)

  2. more so a case of new f1 fans that support LH and have little history other than the last few years than it being best grand prix.

    if anything this race should be one of the best moments in gp history…not the best race as a whole.

    it was exciting…well the last 5 laps or so…but the entire race wasn’t that exciting.

    I would be interested to know what people think was the best GP ever…?

    1. Mark Hitchcock
      20th December 2009, 1:52

      Being a bit elitist there.
      There are a lot of votes and things which can be accounted for by new fans being attracted by Hamilton…but I don’t think this is one of them.
      The reason it won is because even though it wasn’t a great race, it was exciting whether you are a Hamilton fan or not (which for the record I’m not, and it’s sad that I’ve even gotta say it) because no-one was expecting it to go down to the last corner.

      I agree it shouldn’t have won the race of the decade but I can understand the reasons it won…and it wasn’t all down to Hamilton bias.

      1. You must know by now that if Hamilton is involved in any popular vote in any shape or form, scorn will be poured on the entire enterprise.

        1. ..and conversely, if Hamilton isn’t involved scorn will be poured on the entire enterprise. ;)

          1. Not true – give examples. There are a plethora of examples of Hamilton scorn, this one included.

      2. Agree completely with Mark

    2. I agree that it was more of a ‘best moment’ than ‘best GP’, but I don’t think the new LH fans have skewed the result.

      I’m neither a Hamilton nor Massa fan (though was hoping Massa would take the title), but I was on my feet hollaring at the tv during the last laps of this race, and was buzzing for hours afterwards. It’s not inconceivable that the result would be the same without the Hamilton fans… just with less of a winning margin.

      Having said that, I voted for Japan 05. :)

    3. I would think another race, since this one was fixed by timo glock. Not only was the race fixed by him but also the championship. Strange, I always though it’d be m. scumacher to fix a championship. At least it went to a real racer and not a chump, but massa should have a championship. This is the world of f1 though, so what happened seems just about right. Too many outside influences for it to be a proper sport, but the drama has me on this site and watching every other weekend so kudos to bernie!

      1. if you are so against the way things happen, than why do you follow the sport? @ his_majesty

        1. Read the whole thing, the drama has got me hooked. The cars are awesome as well, and I’ve been watching since the start of RB’s career and need to at least finish it with him.

      2. …thats right Lewis had a race win taken away from him and gifted to Massa, was dropped positions and was the most penalised driver of 2008, only to be given a hand towards the championship on the last lap, in the most chaotic race conditions….

        Funny how you ppl dont seem to regard the 2007 Brazilian GP with the same cynicsim….bizarrely on change of gear, a sequential gearbox disengages and the car loses power and a minute later amazingly drive is fully restored!….any guess as to how many lines of code that would need!!?? ;)

        1. That’s quite a conspiracy theory you have there SYM.

          I’m standing up!

        2. he was the most penalised driver of 2008 because he was the sloppiest driver of 2008..and he didn’t even get penalised at Monza, after his Webber and Glock episodes..but running red lights and taking other drivers out is ok with you?..and in France, “anyone can win from the front, only legends win from behind”, started 13th and finished 10th, true legend that..even then he got penalised for cutting a corner, since he’s prone to do that at times

      3. José Baudaier
        20th December 2009, 18:32

        Glock didn’t fix the race. If it wasn’t for him Hamilton would have never lost the 4th place and wouldn’t stop being the champion for that few laps.

    4. Terry Fabulous
      20th December 2009, 6:12

      I can see your point AP.

      However, we are not casual F1 fans ranking a race on the number of crashes or bizarre incidents. In which case 2003 silverstone would have won hands down.

      We are F1Fanatics and are ranking a race by the extra criteria of how the action is placed in the context of the championship, and how the moment is placed in the context of the history of the sport!

      In which case Brazil 2009 is a worthy winner. For flat out racing action which you would show a friend to get them to become F1 fans, there are plenty of races more worthy.

  3. José Baudaier
    20th December 2009, 2:17

    Now everybody, let’s give a big “Thank you Timo Glock!” for providing us this amazing lasp turn championship decision, and best race of the decade.

  4. Definitely not the best race, in my opinion. I recall thinking to myself that the middle part was a little dull. It was a very dramatic end though, which was great.

    I don’t recall any great racing/overtaking/duels though. As far as racing action goes, many races had better moments, e.g. Webber/Button at Abu Dhabi this year was better than anything duelling at Brazil last year.

  5. Prisoner Monkeys
    20th December 2009, 3:35

    The 2008 Italaian Grand Prix came last!?

    1. Tell me about it Prisoner Monkeys! Obviously there are lots of good races listed here but Italy 08 should be higher than last. It showed a bit of real racing with a rookie in one of the worst teams out-performing all the top drivers. It may not have impacted on a championship but as an individual race it was fantastic to watch.

      1. I’m surprised Italy 08 made the shortlist at all. The 2004 & 2009 races were better in my opinion.

    2. I agree that this one shouldn’t be last. Fantastic first win for Vettel. This one also sticks in my mind for Lewis’s charge from 15th to 7th with some of the most audacious driving I’ve ever seen.

      1. Good point, with Vettel taking the glory I’d forgotten about Lewis being on top form too.

  6. A deserving winner.

  7. HHs out in force! Give it a rest….

  8. I didn’t vote for Brazil 2008 as I didn’t think the race itself was the best of the 2000s, but I think it received the most votes because of the dramatic conclusion to the championship which I can understand.

    I suppose any poll such as this will always be skewed in favour of the most recent races because those are the ones that are the freshest in our minds, but I think Brazil 2008 will probably go down as one of the most memorable F1 moments ever that will get talked about for years.

  9. I did vote for Japan however I would not say I am disappointed with the result. The race I don’t think was that great until the last couple of laps. I wish they had heart rate monitors on drivers. The jump in Hamilton’s heart rate as Vettel slipped past would have been interesting to see. I still think Japan was a better overall race. Kimi getting Fisichella into turn 1 and Alonso taking Schumacher on the outside of 130R. Absolutely Brilliant stuff. Now that I think about it I’m going to watch these again!

  10. I don’t get the anti Hamilton feeling you have in the UK. can someone please explain what he has done to deserve it. I am not a Hamilton fan and I voted for Germany 2000. Brazil 08 was big on drama but not racing.

    1. It’s called “racism”. It’s quite rife in good old Blighty, and it is getting worse every year.

      1. Although I agree that racism is a problem in the UK I really don’t think that has much to do with the Lewis issue. He was controversial in the same way Kobayashi was at the end of the 09 season. It’s because a rookie came along and gave the veterans a run for their money and, being a rookie, took a few dangerous risks and misjudged things at times. Lewis’s judgment has become a lot better this season and as I result people will moan about him less now.

      2. S Hughes, it’s not racism. To call it racism is to cloud the issue of real racism in Britain and elsewhere (and Britain doesn’t have a huge problem with racism, it has a problem with a vocal minority who are good at grabbing headlines in the tabloids).

        Hamilton was disliked largely because of the fact that he seemingly came from nowhere into a winning car. To casual fans he may not have seemed to deserve his instant success and to long-term F1 fans he seemed like an arrogant young-gun who was a challenge to one of their established heroes (Alonso).
        And the way the media reported it only added to that misguided view.

        1. How would you know about racism? I think I would know a lot more about it than you. Nothing more annoying than people proclaiming something isn’t racism when they’ve probably never been a victim of it. Typical UK/Daily Heil type of view.

          1. How can you possibly know what M. Hitchcock’s personal experience with racism might be?

            He’s not saying it’s not a problem in the UK, just that it’s less of a factor than other things in Hamilton’s case.

          2. Mark Hitchcock
            21st December 2009, 1:31

            Jesus…you have an incredibly wrong impression about me Hughes and frankly I’m offended.
            If anyone here is displaying the typical Daily Mail thing it’s you. They twist things out of perspective to get a reaction, slander people and just plain make things up to put across the impression they want.
            I’m passionately ANTI-daily mail, a campaigner against parties like the BNP etc. I’m liberal, pro-immigration, pro-multiculturalism, and a campaigner and passionate advocate for human rights around the world, including in Britain.
            Your snap judgement of me and the way you’ve chosen to express it in the most hateful way say a lot more about the problems in modern Britain than anything written about Hamilton in the tabloids.

            If you’ve been a victim of racism then you should know better than most what it’s really like and should know that blaming the dislike for Hamilton on racism is just wrong and like I said, takes the focus off real racism that happens all over the world.
            Do you think that accusing people who don’t like Hamilton of being racist is going to make people more or less likely to take racism seriously?….I’ll tell you the answer. It will make people less likely to take it seriously and do more damage than good.
            It is precisely the sort of thing you’ve said here which fuels the ridiculous ideas of Daily Mail readers that minorities who complain about racism are being “touchy” or “can’t take a joke”.
            If you really care about racism (like I do), don’t use it as a weapon in your arguments when it was never present.

  11. Having voted for Spa 2008, I can hardly complain about Brazil 2008 winning. I voted for Spa because the big fight at the end was between the two race leaders and had been going on (although not as closely) for the entire race, with Hamilton and Raikkonen shadowing each others’ lap times and only being seperated by Lewis’ spin and hs worse time through traffic. For me, Brazil was just nervy until the agonising final few laps (and for all the whiners about Glock, maybe you should consider how close Kubica came to interfering in the title race by the way he unlapped himself), when the great excitement came.

    I think Brazil won because it was a dramatic conclusion to the title, and as such deserves to be the winner.

    1. Spa 2008 was indeed a wonderful, wonderful race with every facet of F1 compressed into a single race (including poor stewarding). It was also visually stunning, like Spa always is, with the cars speeding through the Ardennes – it was a thing of beauty.

  12. for those who say glock gifted hamilton victory,he was running on 7th befor the rain n he moved to 4th after the rain,so wat he was trying to do was d exact opposite,he could ve gifted massa the victory,unintentionally though

  13. Anyone else surprised Brazil 2007 doesn’t seem to feature?

    1. It didn’t get enough nominations to make the shortlist:

      https://www.racefans.net/2009/12/12/best-f1-race-2000-2009-poll/

      1. Ah yes. I guess 2008 overshadowed it somewhat.

  14. Hamilton WINNING the Championship? Gimme a break. He actually LOST it when Vettel over took him and moved Hamilton to 6th, it was then AWARDED to him when Glock spun near the last turn, involuntarily moving Hamilton back to 5th. The guy’s a good driver but he didn’t WIN the Championship and he surely doesn’t deserve the MBE. Period!

    1. Blah blah blah. In any close championship you can always point to a thousand things and say well, if THAT hadn’t happened, the outcome would have been different. But it wasn’t. Period.

      It’s not like he cheated to get where he is. I don’t understand what it is a bout a supremely talented young man that seems to give some people a rash.

      1. It’s not like he cheated to get where he is. I don’t understand what it is a bout a supremely talented young man that seems to give some people a rash.

        My sentiments exactly.

        1. Absolutely, Lewis and Felipe would BOTH have been deserving champions given how close it was. In the end it went to Lewis and good for him. I’m sure it won’t be the last time that either of them will be in contention.

  15. call me a new fan-boy/casual fan if u like…but a great race to me is the number/or significance of incidences in a race. so the incident of the last lap of brazil 08 made it a great race from my perspective. although i agree there were better races as a whole.
    the belgian GP of 08 was a great race…until the stewards interfered with the result (an unfair ruling IMO)

    In regards to the LH hate, it boils down to a number of factors as ppl stated above including race whether u like it or not. in reality, any rookie in any sport that has instant success using the best equipment will be hated by many and to be perceived as arrogant.

    a lot of you diehard fans that have been following the sport for decades have a biased view on other teams, drivers, rookies etc whether you think so or not. that’s the territory that comes with following a sport for so long. its great to hear your opinions, facts and history for a casual fan such as myself, but i must keep in mind your inbred bias lol.

  16. While you guys battle your love/hate with Hamilton… which mind you takes up way too much of this blog… I just watched the 2003 Australian GP and how this race didn’t get short listed is beyond me.. I guess being the first race of the year there were no championship implications… but if you can, have a look at this beauty..
    unpredictable start with cars on dry’s and inters.. lot’s of different leaders.. amazing battles with Kimi and Shumi… even Montoya getting into the action… Micheal ends up losing both barge boards and the Ferrari not being on the podium since Germany in 2001..
    a thrilling race from start to finish!!

    Let’s ease up on the Hamilton squabbles and concentrate on the racing… :)

  17. This is the best F1 blog out there. Let’s keep it that way! The LH controversy has been already discussed to death. I just want to say one thing for the benefit of future arguments:
    Don’t Feed The Trolls.

  18. Where is Silverstone 2003?
    That was one of the best races I’ve ever seen.
    Although Suzuka 2005 was that little bit better.

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