By Jonathan Noble Monday, November 3rd 2008, 09:59 GMT
A new champion and a season finale like no other. That is all anyone was talking about late on Sunday night as the downpour that helped turn the Brazilian Grand Prix into a thriller got heavier and heavier while the paddock packed away for the last time this year.
It had been a crazy afternoon at the end of a pretty crazy season - but few in the paddock would argue that F1 had crowned a worthy winner.
Heck, even former world champion Fernando Alonso made a return to the McLaren garage on Sunday night - 12 months on from walking out of there for the last time - to congratulate Hamilton on his success.
F1 now heads for a fortnight break before the 2009 season kicks off in earnest at the first winter test in Barcelona. For now though, focus switches to a tiny bit of rest and relaxation at the end of a year we won't forget for a long time.
After the dramas that the entire Formula One community seemed to have getting their visas for the Chinese Grand Prix, it was thought the worst of the red tape was behind us. But not so for two individuals in Brazil.
The first has been widely reported with the Canadian Formula Una coming to Brazil for Red Bull's paddock babe finale having got confused about the type of visa she needed to get into the country. She thought her credit card was good enough...
Sam MichaelThe other drama befell Williams technical director Sam Michael, who originally had not been planning to come to the final race in Brazil so he could concentrate instead on preparations for 2009.
However, team co-owner Patrick Head decided that he needed to stay back at base ? so Sam had to change his plans. Unfortunately, he had left it too late to get his visa sorted.
"Normally I would get a visa every year, but Patrick was down to do this race anyway, so I could take care of stuff at the factory," explained Sam. "Unfortunately I worked too hard during the week before and got quite a lot of stuff done, so it was alright for me to come out for a few days. There were also a lot of meetings here, FOTA and TWG..."
Brazilian visas normally take up to five days to get sorted, so Frank Williams got involved to try and help moves things along. In the end, a direct call to the embassy ? and the offer of two Williams baseball caps ? fast tracked Sam's paperwork and meant he could fly out to offer a helping hand.
David Coulthard's final race for Red Bull Racing was the main focus of attention off track ? with all eyes on circuit looking simply at what Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton were up to.
Coulthard had thought he would be able to get through the weekend without letting the emotions of the occasion get to him ? but all that went to pot when he realised as he left home at Monaco for the airport that he would be coming home as an ex-grand prix driver.
And it was fairly clear from the moment he ventured into the Interlagos paddock that it was going to be a very special occasion for him.
David CoulthardAs well as getting team boss approval for a special one-off livery to support the Wings for Life charity foundation, Coulthard was presented with a mini race car and baby-sized overalls for his soon-to-be born son by team members at Red Bull Racing.
"Its going to be a little DC, but hopefully with a bigger willy than his father," joked Coulthard, whose sense of humour has not been dented by years in the F1 spotlight.
Coulthard recounted many times over the weekend about his memories of life in F1 ? and especially about the moments fans remember the most, like sticking the finger up to Michael Schumacher at the 2000 French Grand Prix.
"I am proud of bringing some unique moments to F1 as, if you don't win the championship, then you have to be remembered for something," he explained.
"I haven't seen many drivers do that, and it is pure adrenaline and frustration. I was just being played back some in car footage from Silverstone one year. It was a wet race and the team were saying to me on the radio, I am coming in. They said, stay out, it is going to rain for 27.5 seconds ? typical McLaren ? and then it would be clear.
"So I stayed out and I think I was second at the time. Then I go third and was losing chunks of time. So I thought, make a decision! Tell me I am coming in. And the words were, "we are considering the position!" So I come back on the radio there, and I swear: "Don't bloody consider the position when I am out here on slicks!
"I would never normally behave like that in a normal environment with the engineers but when your adrenaline is pumping and your passion is growing, you need quick decisions and you act on your instincts. That is instinctively who I am, although I am a bit more controlled out of the car. But giving Michael the finger was a fun moment."
And what about Spa 1998 - and the famous aftermath of his shunt with Schumacher.
"I didn't realise, looking at the video footage, that little Jean Todt and Stefano Domenicali followed him into the garage. Stefano has got hold of him, but you have little Jean Todt getting pulled along like a little mini man.
"And the whole thing gets turned around because Forks, who used to be the big guy at McLaren who did the fuel, he just pushed Michael out. And as Michael gets pushed out, Jean runs into it like a car crash. They are the funny moments I will remember."
Coulthard was not the only man bidding farewell to the F1 paddock in Brazil, with Toyota's long-serving team manager Richard Cregan moving on after this race to his new life preparing the Abu Dhabi track for F1 next year.
Cregan was given an official send-off on Sunday morning as the whole team got together to present him with a special pair of overalls ? and a group photo of his last event.
Toyota salute Richard Cregan"This has been a weekend of very mixed emotions because on the one hand I am excited by the future but on the other I am sad to be leaving my friends at Toyota," he said. "I have had a fantastic time with this team; we have had highs and lows but we have stuck together throughout and I am very proud of what has been achieved. Even though I will not be with Toyota after November, I will always be a team member in my heart.
"I was in Melbourne for Toyota's first grand prix, which was a very special event for us and to score a point, after so much hard work just to get there, was fantastic. The 2005 season was my most memorable because we were very successful but this year it was a good feeling to be back on the podium; that is where this team belongs.
"This is a great team of people and I believe there is no better in the pit lane. I know the results will come and I could wish for nothing better than a Toyota victory in the first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. That would be a dream come true."
Every year at the Brazilian Grand Prix it has become a tradition for local comedians to try and stage some stunts on the unsuspecting Formula One fraternity.
In the past Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello have been on the receiving end of some home tricks, but with the local driver battling it out for the world championship ? it was thought probably best to leave him alone this time.
So it was poor Lewis Hamilton who found himself the subject of some jokes. At a Johnnie Walker function in Sao Paulo on Thursday night, he was first presented with a shirt from Rio de Janeiro club Vasco da Gama - famed from always coming second. Then well-known comic Vesgo, one half of television comedy duo Vesgo and Silvio, threw a toy black cat ? a symbol of bad luck in Brazil ? on stage.
Hamilton brushed off the stunt at the time, but team boss Ron Dennis delivered his own verdict on the matter later in the weekend ? saying he felt sorry for the comedians rather than his driver.
"The reality is that we have obligations that we have with our sponsors and obviously some of these present opportunities for people who are being properly credentialled to get involved in our press conferences," explained Dennis.
"That was a press conference that by its very nature related to the dedicated driver programme that we have in this country and eight other countries throughout the world. We are monitoring how effective that is; because we can see how many lives we saved.
"That was a conference which lasted an hour, this was two practical jokers and we just have to be dismissive of it. You know, Lewis was initially a little upset because he didn't understand what it was all about and you don't expect to have two practical jokers in a media event.
"You just relax and don't let it get to you. You realise that these things happen in this world and you just look at those people and feel sorry for them if that's how they are going to try and get something."
