Lewis Hamilton from the German. However, on the final lap he and Vettel made up an 18-second gap to overtake Timo Glock, who was struggling on dry tyres, on the last corner to re-take fifth place and deny race-winner Massa the title by one point. This made Hamilton the youngest driver to win the World Drivers' Championship, the first black driver, and the first British driver to win the World Championship since Damon Hill in 1996. Hamilton was verbally heckled and otherwise abused during pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya by several Spanish spectators who wore black face paint and black
2008 Hungarian Grand Prix date", and colleague Simon Arron termed it as "one of the finest afternoons of his F1 career". Both drew attention to his controlled aggression at the first corner of the race, followed by his relentless, mistake-free pace. Arron, in particular, noted that Massa's first-corner passing move was more typical of Hamilton's attacking style than his own, and was a "defining moment" in Massa's championship campaign. Hamilton himself later expressed surprise that Massa had been able to overtake him in such a manner, and warned his rival that "it won't happen again". Hughes described the Grand Prix as "a throwback race",