Hamilton’s 2007 title bid ended one point short at Interlagos

Lewis Hamilton entered the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix as championship leader, needing only fifth place to secure his first Formula 1 title. He finished seventh at Interlagos, while Kimi Räikkönen took the championship by a single point.

The trouble began on lap one. Hamilton locked up behind Fernando Alonso while trying to avoid contact, ran wide and dropped down the order. He later said he felt calm after rejoining because he believed he still had the pace to recover.

On lap eight, his MP4-22 unexpectedly selected neutral. The car coasted for around 30 to 40 seconds before the gearbox reset itself; Hamilton dropped as low as 18th. McLaren later said the fault stemmed from an internal gearbox default rather than driver error, though the exact cause was never fully resolved.

McLaren switched him to an aggressive three-stop strategy to salvage the result, but Hamilton still crossed the line seventh. Räikkönen had trailed him by seven points before the race; an overcut during Ferrari’s second round of pit stops took him past teammate Felipe Massa and delivered victory.

McLaren appealed over fuel-temperature irregularities on the Williams and BMW Sauber cars, a case that could theoretically have handed Hamilton the title. Weeks later, the FIA’s International Court of Appeal rejected it. Jean Todt described it as a final, desperate attempt to change the result on track.