Today saw Kimi Raikkonen pull-out the win he needed at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, Brazil to be crowned the Formula 1 World Driving Champion! UPDATE: Things are never straight forward as McLaren appeals!

The Kimster came into this final round of the 2007 campaign third in the championship standings, trailing Hammy and Fred and looking like a real long-shot for the crown. However, a rookie mistake by Hamilton in turn 4 of lap 1 where he tried too hard to needlessly wrest P3 back from Fred, put the title within reach of the Kimster, who was charging off in second place behind Massa. At that point, Fred looked like the favourite until the door for Kimi really opened when Hammy encountered some power delivery problems — perhaps the result of some curb-hopping during his attempts to recover position — forcing him to slow twice and fall to 18th position. Seeing that, Ferrari pulled Massa in for his second stop a little earlier than necessary, which game Kimster some margin in which to put down some flying laps and leapfrog his team-mate, if only by a hair.

Needless to say that Hammy is wishing he had clinched it last race in China instead of crashing-out on his way down pitlane. Similarly, Fred must be cursing his crash in the monsoon-affected Japanese GP at Mount Fuji. If only…

The race, and the result was historic for a few reasons:

- first time in a generation that there was a three-way fight for the World Championship going into the last race of the season;
- Kimster, widely regarded as one of, if not the the, fastest drivers on the planet takes his first World Driving Championship after having several slip through his fingers due to mechanical difficulties;
- first time in 50 years that the the man standing 3rd going into the last race comes through to take the title; and
- Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro’s first ever one-two at the Interlagos Circuit.

Fred finished the race in P3 behind Kimi and Massa. He and Hammy, who finished 7th, ended up tied at 109 points, with Kimi a scant one point ahead at 110 — you can’t get much closer than that. The fight also underscored the international nature of the sport with a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Finn driving an all-Italian car for an Italian team, and a dark-haired, latin, Spaniard joining the first black driver in F1, a Brit with roots in Trinidad, in Anglo-German cars.

On his victory lap, we saw an unprecedented level of fist pumping from the Kimster, who is normally the most guarded and unemotional of the F1 drivers, which has earned him the nickname Iceman. As would be expected of Kimi, he came on to the podium and took a swig of champagne before any of the official proceedings had started, let alone completed.

The post-race interviews actually saw Kimi, who just turned 28 on October 17th, break a toothy smile, as if he could no longer suppress it. While he held it all together, the emotion under the surface was evident. As usual he was gracious and thankful for the efforts of his team, his management, his family, and his sponsors who brought him to F1 from “nothing” in Finland. Interestingly enough, he noted that he feels better in his current team than he has anywhere before. In particular, he feels better than he did last year (at McLaren).

This brings a close to the best F1 season in a long time, despite the Spy-gate saga and its handing of the World Constructors’ Championship to Ferrari. Kimster showed himself to be the steady, calm, and even tempered racer that he is and claimed a long overdue crown. Hammy hit the series like a 10-ton truck, turning the series on its head, nearly becoming the first rookie to take the championship, but ultimately showing that he is in fact human. Fred drove like the two-time WDC that he is, but showed a side of his persona that had only barely surfaced during his time at Renault. Speculation on whether he stays at Macca next year will surely continue, but his closing remarks acknowledged his issues with the team while pointing out the success they realized together.

Despite the concerns of many observers, it seems we’re doing fine without Schumi…

UPDATE: McLaren has appealed the stewards’ decision to not penalize BMW Sauber and Williams for fuel irregularities as penalties for those teams could give Hammy the title.