Glock: no last-lap Hamilton favour

TIMO GLOCK insists he did not allow Lewis Hamilton to overtake him on the final lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday to win the Formula One world championship.

British hearts sunk with two laps of the season-ending grand prix remaining when title hopeful Hamilton slipped to sixth after being passed by Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel then surged past Glock into fourth to leave Hamilton to battle it out with the German for fifth position the Briton required to clinch the title.

In one of the most tense moments in the history of the sport, Hamilton then overtook Glock on the penultimate corner of the race to win the title.

To anyone watching yesterday’s season finale, it might have seemed that Glock gifted the championship to Hamilton, but the German denied he had let Hamilton intentionally pass.

“I was pushing really hard to keep fourth place and if you look at the lap times I was actually faster than Jarno (Trulli) on the final lap and he was the only other car on dry tyres at that stage,” said Glock.

“I didn’t even know that Lewis was directly behind me. I was concentrating so hard on keeping the car on the track,” said Glock.

“The final lap was one of the hardest laps I have done in Formula 1 because there was no grip at all and on dry tyres it was almost impossible to keep the car on track.

“It was not so bad until the final lap when the rain really began to come down very heavily and it was just impossible,” he added.

Meanwhile, Hamilton yesterday woke up to the realisation he is Formula One world champion and insisted it will be his passion rather than fame and fortune which drives him to future glory.

But despite being elevated to such stratospheric status on the back of one of the most dramatic conclusions to any sporting event, not just in motor racing, Hamilton is determined to remain grounded.

Hamilton is not even considering buying something to reward himself for becoming Britain’s ninth world champion.

“I’m comfortable in life,” said Hamilton, as he addressed the topic of potentially becoming sport’s first billionaire.

“It’s an amazing feeling to know you have some money considering I never had £100 to go and buy a pair of trainers when I was younger.

“So to think I can do that now is great, but money doesn’t really appeal to me. As a young kid, to be given an opportunity in Formula One I would have done it for free.

“It just so happens I get paid to do my hobby, everything I love, and it’s nice to be able to take care of my family. That’s all that really matters.