The 30 second World Champion

Spare a thought for Felipe Massa. The Brazilian did everything he needed to at Interlagos, he won the race from pole position and as he crossed the line, Lewis Hamilton was in 6^th place, needing fifth to take the title.

Massa had 38 seconds lead over Hamilton. He was world champion elect.

But on that final lap, Timo Glock was struggling on dry tyres and the rain began falling harder, just as McLaren expected it to. Their weatherman was under real pressure from the pit wall as he had predicted a heavy downpour and McLaren had instructed Hamilton to let Vettel, who had passed him for fifth place, go because they felt he would catch and pass Glock. It took half a lap longer than they expected but he did it.

After an 18 race championship, it all came down to how hard it would rain in the last 100 seconds of the race and it took until the last corner of the last lap of the last race of the season for the decisive moment. Massa had half a minute to believe he was champion and then reality did a 180 degree switch on him and he lost it. He was world champion for 30 seconds.

I spoke to his engineer Rob Smedley afterwards, as nice a bloke as you could ever meet in F1 and one of the most competitive. He was very dignified, but his eyes were red with tears. He's been through some real personal hardships with his wife so he knows that winning or losing in sport is not a matter of life or death. But at the same time, this was the cruelest of sporting reversals and it was very hard to take. Ferrari have the constructors championship, which is right  because they had the fastest car for most of the year and their drivers both contributed. Kovalainen's disappointing performances doomed McLaren in that respect.

But Massa's development as a driver has been very impressive, mentored by Smedley. Both men know that this could be Massa's only chance of winning the title, because next season Ferrari expect Raikkonen to bounce back to form with the new car and if he doesn't you can bet your bottom dollar that they will hire Alonso or possibly Kubica for 2011, because they fear that Hamilton will get away from them now.