PAPER-THIN MARGIN; NOT MUCH SEPARATED LEWIS HAMILTON AND FELIPE MASSA IN 2008'S FORMULA ONE SEASON.(NEWS)

Byline: NIGEL ROEBUCK

WILL THE FORMULA ONE world championship ever be closer than this? Probably not. Eighteen races stretched across the globe, and the season came down to the last part of the last lap of the last Grand Prix, when Lewis Hamilton passed Timo Glock for fifth placeand the four points he needed for the championship.

As the McLaren-Mercedes went by the hobbled Toyota, the Ferrari team was already celebrating what it thought was a drivers' title for Felipe Massa. He had taken the flag just 21 seconds earlier after dominating the Brazilian Grand Prix. Massa did all he could in his title quest, and in the closing laps, it looked as if he had done enough.

Had drizzle not worsened on the final lap, it would have been enough. Hamilton ran sixth and was unable to keep up with Sebas-tian Vettel's Scuderia Toro Rosso, which overtook him toward the end. Just as in 2007, at the same circuit, it looked as if Hamilton was improbably going to lose the title.

Then rain came down hard, and Glock's Toyota, on dry tires, became undriveable, to the point where his last lap took 18 seconds more than the one before. Vetteland, crucially, Hamiltonpassed him. Some speculated absurdly afterward that Glock purposely handed the championship to Hamilton. That was nonsense. For the record, Jarno Trulli's final lap, also driven in a slick-shod Toyota, took even longer than Glock's.

For McLaren, apprehension and gloom turned to disbelieving joy, while a few yards away, Massa's parents and wife began to weep. Meanwhile, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo smashed his TV set to pieces as he watched at home. But Massa handled his disappointment with consummate grace. You needed a stony heart not to feel for the Brazilian, seeing the conflict on his face, the mix of despair and pride.

This was an odd season. Hamilton and Massa emerged as the main title protagonists, yet both on occasion seemed unfocused. They were sublime in their best races yet awful in their worst.