BEIJING, Nov. 4 -- Lewis Hamilton waited until the last corner of the last lap of the last race of the season to become the youngest Formula One champion in history.

McLaren's Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain and Ferrari's Felipe Massa (background L) of Brazil wave to the crowd before the Brazilian F1 Grand Prix in Sao Paulo Nov. 2, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    The British driver made a pass on the final turn to take fifth place at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo on Sunday and beat race-winner Felipe Massa by a single point in the season standings.

    Hamilton didn't know if he had won the championship when he crossed the finish line. "I was shouting, 'Did I win? Did I win?"' Hamilton said. "Then they told me when I was on the corner and I was ecstatic. It's a dream."

    He needed to finish fifth or better at Interlagos to ensure the title, something he failed to do last season with a similar lead going into the last race.

Ferrari Formula One driver Felipe Massa (L) of Brazil shakes hands with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton of Britain before the Brazilian F1 Grand Prix in Sao Paulo Nov. 2, 2008.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Ferrari's Massa won Sunday's race in front of his home crowd, but it wasn't enough to erase the seven-point lead held by Hamilton. He needed to win and keep Hamilton out of the top five or place second and hope Hamilton finished outside of the points to become the first Brazilian season champion since the late Ayrton Senna in 1991.

    "I think it was the most incredible race I ever saw in my life," Massa said. "So many things happened. It was a crazy race. Unfortunately we missed by one point, but that's racing. We need to be proud. The race was just perfect, we did everything just fantastically."

    Massa won in 1 hour, 34 minutes, 11.435 seconds at the 4.3-km circuit.

    At 23 years and 301 days old, Hamilton broke the record set by former McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard who won the first of his two titles with Renault in Brazil at the age of 24, one month and 27 days.

    Alonso finished second on Sunday. Last year's champion Kimi Raikkonen was third and Sebastien Vettel fourth.

    Another season-ending meltdown was looming when Hamilton fell to sixth place on Sunday after being overtaken with two laps to go by Toro Rosso's Vettel, who also passed Timo Glock of Toyota.

    Glock held onto fifth place until the last turn when he was forced to slow in the pouring rain because he was still on dry tires. Hamilton took his chance, moved into fifth place and finished the season with 98 points.

    He became the first British F1 champion since Damon Hill in 1996.

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

    Massa, who started from the pole position, wept profusely on the podium.

    Massa, the first driver since Senna in 1989 to miss out on the title after winning more races than anyone else, led from pole after a start delayed for 10 minutes by a sudden downpour while the cars were waiting on the grid.

    The safety car was then deployed for two laps after a collision that sent David Coulthard crashing into retirement after 15 seasons in Formula One. The Scot's Red Bull tangled with the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima and Renault's Nelson Piquet, who was also eliminated from the race.

(Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies)