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 Spanish Grand Prix BMW driver Robert Kubica and Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen held the next three positions, all with 14 points. In the Constructors' Championship, BMW Sauber were leading with 30 points, one point ahead of Ferrari, and two ahead of McLaren-Mercedes. After Hamilton won the season opener in Australia, Ferrari had dominated the next two races in Malaysia and Bahrain. In the Malaysian Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa had claimed pole position, and while he later spun off and retired, his teammate Räikkönen went on to win the race. Ferrari's form had continued at the Bahrain Grand Prix, where Massa had