2008 F1 champion - Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton finished the year with 98 points, one point ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who went on to win the race at his home circuit of Interlagos.

Heikki Kovalainen finished seventh, a result that saw Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team come second in the constructors’ championship with 151 points. Ferrari amassed a winning total of 172 points.

At the age of just 23 years, 10 months and 26 days, Hamilton is the youngest champion in Formula 1 history. He takes McLaren’s 12th drivers’ world title, and the third for the McLaren Mercedes partnership, which won the drivers’ title in 1998 and ’99 with Mika Häkkinen.