Results of the 2007 Brazilian F1 Grand Prix

At the final race of the F1 season the championship was settled in the most drammatic fashion, as Kimi Raikkonen pulled off an unlikely title victory after taking the chequered flag. Lewis Hamilton failed to become the first rookie to win the title after his luck deserted him and he finished seventh, while his teammate Fernando Alonso had to settle for third behind a Ferrari one-two. Final standings; Raikkonen 110 points, while the two McLaren drivers settled for 109 each with Hamilton placed second.

The race was Hamilton's to lose as he started second and needed to finish only fourth or better, but a tricky move from pole-sitter Filipe Massa blocked him out as Raikkonen snatched second at the start. To make matters worse Alonso edged his way into third and Hamilton's attempt to regain the position saw him slide off the track and rejoin in eighth.

And the day only got worse for the British youngster when his electronic gearbox failed within 10 laps, leaving him coasting for half a lap until it was miraculously ‘reset'. But by then he had slipped into 18 th place and had a mountain to climb. And climb it he did but the 20 second gap was just a bridge too far as Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld managed to stay ahead of him to finish fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Jarno Trulli collected the final point.

Meanwhile, the Ferraris took charge of the race finishing a minute ahead of Alonso. And despite the Brazilian crowd's hopes to see a victory for their homeboy Massa, Ferrari predicably ‘engineered' the second set of pitstops so that Raikkonen emerged as the winner. But that wasn't the end of it. In one last twist, race officials announced the discovery of irregularities in fuel temperature of the cars finishing fourth, fifth and sixth but eventually declined to penalise them. It might have gifted Hamilton the extra points he needed to claim the title, but fate seemed to favour the Finn who has been a title contender for several years.

But it is Hamilton who has become the poster boy of F1, proud to have finished second on his debut. McLaren will be rueing the result after first being stripped of their guaranteed Constructors' Championship over a technology spying row. At one stage their season was shaping up to both titles and a one-two finish, but in the end events conspired against them and they finished empty handed. To make matters worse the simmering rivalry between drivers and bitterness expressed by Alonso over favouritism continued to the very end, with Alonso questioning McLaren's decision to appeal the results of the race.

In the end neither of them got to claim the title, which might be a fitting result. It remains to be seen however if Alonso will stay at McLaren for the 2008 season. And if he does decide to leave, it might open the door for Briton's underachieving Jenson Button to dump his unreliable Honda and race alongside Hamilton. His lap 20 retirement in Sao Paolo was indicative of his entire season.

Brazilian Grand Prix result after 71 laps of Interlagos track:

1. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari one hour 28 minutes 15.270 seconds
2. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1.493 secs behind
3. Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren-Mercedes +57.019
4. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota + 1:02.848
5. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber +1:10.957
6. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber +1:11.317
7. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes one lap behind
8. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota one lap
9. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault one lap
10. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota one lap
11. Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota one lap
12. Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda two laps
13. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Ferrari two laps
14. Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda three laps
R Adrian Sutil (Ger) Spyker-Ferrari 43 laps completed
R Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 40 laps
R Heikki Kovalainen (Fin Renault 35 laps
R Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 34 laps
R Jenson Button (GB) Honda 20 laps
R Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 14 laps
R Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) Spyker-Ferrari two laps
R Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault one lap

Final Standings