Lewis Hamilton of McLaren became Formula One’s youngest champion yesterday after overtaking on the final turn to finish fifth in the Brazilian Grand Prix and capture the title by one point.

Felipe Massa of Ferrari won in front of his home crowd, but it wasn’t enough to erase the seven-point lead Hamilton held entering the season-ending race.

Hamilton needed to finish fifth or better to win the title at age 23. He did just that after overtaking Toyota’s Timo Glock on the last lap to finish the season with 98 points, one more than Massa. Fernando Alonso won the 2005 title for Renault at age 24.

Hamilton fell to sixth place until the final turn after being overtaken with two laps to go by Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel, who also went past Glock.

Glock’s car was still on dry tires, forcing him to slow in the pouring rain and allowing Hamilton to make his move to become the first British F1 champion since Damon Hill in 1996.

Massa won the race in 1 hour, 34 minutes, 11.435 seconds at the 4.3-kilometre Interlagos track. Alonso was 13.298 seconds behind for Renault. Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari took third, 2.937 back from Alonso.

“Unfortunately we missed by one point, but that’s racing,” Massa said. “We need to be proud. The race was just perfect, we did everything just fantastically.”

For a few moments, it wasn’t clear whether Hamilton or Massa had won the championship with both pit teams celebrating.

Hamilton had a long embrace with his father Anthony, both apparently crying. He then kissed girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger, a singer with The Pussycat Dolls pop band.

Massa, who started from the pole position and was trying to become the first Brazilian champion to win the F1 title since Ayrton Senna in 1991, wept profusely on the podium. He said he didn’t know the final result until told on the team radio on the backstretch.

“They kept saying, ‘Wait a second,”’ Massa said. “When I was getting to Turn Three, they said Hamilton passed Glock.”

Cautious from the start, Hamilton avoided the problems that cost him the title in Brazil last year, putting together a consistent run that kept him in the top five during most of the race.

However, he fell to seventh at one point but quickly recovered, at least until the rain began to fall with five laps to go, forcing most of the leading cars to change into wet tires.

Hamilton’s pace slowed considerably, as other drivers were able to keep pushing.

The Briton won the title despite using the same engine for the second consecutive race, while Massa had a new one. Drivers are required to use the same engine in two consecutive races.

For the second year in a row, Hamilton arrived at the decisive Brazilian GP with a commanding lead in the drivers’ standings. In 2007, he had a four-point lead over Alonso and a seven-point advantage over eventual champion Raikkonen, but he missed a chance to become F1’s first rookie champion after a mistake trying to pass in the first lap and a gear box problem to finish seventh in the race and second in the standings, also by one point.

It began pouring yesterday in South America’s biggest city less than five minutes before the race was to start, forcing F1’s governing body to delay the start by 10 minutes. The rain soon stopped, but the track was wet and most teams changed into wet tires. All the front-runners made it through the first corner without a problem, with Massa leading and Hamilton in fourth. But a first-turn crash involving Red Bull driver David Coulthard, who is retiring, forced the safety car to come out.

Massa still led when the safety car left the track in the fourth lap. He had a comfortable lead over Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Raikkonen when the front-runners came into the pits for dry tires in the 10th lap.

Hamilton was slowed by Trulli coming out of the pits, falling to seventh place. He quickly moved up to sixth after Trulli spun in front of him, and then passed Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella on lap 17 to get back to fifth.

The Briton maintained his position after the second round of pit stops. With Vettel out of sequence after choosing to put on dry tires earlier than other drivers, Hamilton moved up to fourth again and was in a safe position until the downpour.

It started raining lightly with 12 laps to go, and more strongly with seven left. Hamilton came into the pits with five laps remaining, and Massa a lap later.

Hamilton tried to stay close to Vettel after being overtaken with two laps to go but was unable to make a move. Glock was struggling to stay on the track and had to slow down considerably to finish sixth.

No McLaren driver had won the title since Mika Hakkinen in 1999. The team still remains without a win at Interlagos since Juan Pablo Montoya’s victory in 2005.

Despite the drivers’ title, McLaren finished second to Ferrari in the constructors’ championship. The British team hasn’t won the constructors’ title since 1998.

McLaren trailed Ferrari by 11 points coming into the race. Ferrari secured its second consecutive championship – and eighth in the past 10 years. Renault won consecutive titles in 2005 and ‘06.

About 70,000 Brazilian fans packed the Interlagos track, most of them dressed in the red colours of Ferrari. Many carried banners wishing bad luck to Hamilton. There was a football-like atmosphere, with fans chanting “Ole, Ole, Ole ... Massa, Massa!”