Rain fell minutes before the race, delaying the start, and as the track dried Massa established a lead of several seconds.

More rain late in the race made the last few laps treacherous for the drivers, but could not prevent Massa from winning the Grand Prix.

Hamilton passed Toyota's Timo Glock in the final corners of the race to finish fifth, securing him the points needed to take the Drivers' Championship.

Hamilton received praise from many in the Formula One community, including former champions Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher.

The McLaren driver also received official congratulations from Queen Elizabeth II and British prime minister Gordon Brown.

The 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix was the 18th and final round of the 2008 Formula One World Championship and was held on 2 November 2008, at the 4.309 km (2.677 mi) Autódromo José Carlos Pace,[2][4] in São Paulo, Brazil.

A maximum of ten points were available for the final race, which meant that Massa could still win the title if Hamilton finished in sixth place or lower.

Coulthard's Red Bull RB4 was decorated in the colours of "Wings for Life", a charity dedicated to raising awareness of spinal cord injuries.

"[13] Red Bull Racing received approval from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, Formula One's governing body, to run Coulthard's car in different colours than his teammate Mark Webber.

[13] This was the last Formula One race broadcast by ITV in the United Kingdom and Telecinco in Spain; the rights went to the BBC and La Sexta, respectively, for 2009.

Hamilton's slow pace in the final qualifying session compared to the first two suggested he was carrying more fuel than his title challengers.

[24] Coulthard, in his final Formula One race, qualified 14th; Rubens Barrichello, in 15th, was quicker than Honda teammate Jenson Button in 17th.

[27] The Grand Prix, which had a race day attendance of 149,600,[2] was due to begin at 15:00 local time (UTC-2), but was delayed by ten minutes when heavy rain hit the track at 14:56.

[26][28] Following the formation lap, Kubica returned to the pit lane, his team changing the car's tyres to intermediates.

The track conditions began to dry early on; Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella was the first driver to stop for dry-weather tyres, pitting at the end of lap two.

[26] Hamilton remained behind Fisichella, and though his McLaren car appeared quicker, he was unable to pass the Force India driver until lap 18.

Vettel was closing in quickly on Hamilton, the McLaren driver needing to finish no lower than fifth to win the championship.

Hamilton and Vettel halted their battle for fourth position when they came into the pit lane to change onto intermediate tyres on lap 66.

[26][35] Glock chose to remain on his dry-weather tyres and rose from seventh to fourth place as those ahead of him made pit stops.

[26] The rain began to fall heavily on lap 69 and Hamilton ran wide, which allowed Vettel to take fifth position.

[26][40] Hamilton did not know of his position upon beginning the final lap and was told over the radio to overtake Glock during the fifth-place battle.

[41] Vettel and Hamilton passed Glock in the final corners, the Toyota driver struggling for grip as his dry-weather tyres slid on the wet track.

Then it started to drizzle and I didn't want to take any risks – but Sebastian [Vettel] got past me and I was told that I had to get back in front of him.

[44] Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was reportedly so angry with the result, however, that he destroyed the television he was viewing the race on.

[45] McLaren boss Ron Dennis praised Hamilton, saying: "He just keeps delivering and, at the end of the day, he's just two years into his career.

"[46] Hamilton received official congratulations from Queen Elizabeth II, following similar plaudits from the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown and the Leader of the Opposition David Cameron.

[49] Massa was praised for his sportsmanship after the race,[50][51] with Joe Saward of GrandPrix.com commenting: "He took defeat with a grace and a style that one rarely sees in modern sport.

[56] His family would receive hate mail from fans and he was particularly heavily criticised by Italian journalists who held the perception that he assisted in helping Hamilton win the championship.

"[28] His team said that they had received the wrong information about track conditions at the start of the race, which led them to keep the Polish driver's car on dry-weather tyres when the rest of the field had changed to intermediates.

[28] David Coulthard expressed his disappointment in his early exit from his final Formula One race, saying: "I'm pretty gutted, it's not how I wanted to end my career."