During this week’s F1 test in Barcelona we got the first look at how the cars will look with the new 2009 aerodynamic package.

Changes include a low mounted wide front wing (with moveable flaps that the drivers can adjust a maximum of twice per lap), and narrow taller rear wings. All add-on devices such as flick-ups etc are now banned. The cars are also back running  on slick tires. The result….

Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson on winning the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup and collecting his thrid consecutive championship.

I called this one back in  September at the start of The Chase – but to be honest, it wasn’t exactly a difficult result to forecast.

I’ll start this post with a full disclosure. I’m a Lewis Hamilton fan. I’ve been aware of Lewis for years, watching his rise through the ranks via the pages of the specialist racing media, and watching him race on TV whenever I got the chance. He reminded me of the days I spent watching the young Ayrton Senna move from FF1600 to F1 legend. I believe that Lewis has the natural skill, talent and that quintessential something that makes certain people into champions. In fact I believe that he will undoubtedly end up a multiple world champion, and could be the Senna of his era.

So given all that, you’d think I would have been delighted by the outcome of last Sunday’s climax to the F1 season. Watching Lewis Hamilton snatch the World Championship on the last corner of the last lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

But in the week since the checkered flag fell I’ve begun to question if the right guy came away with the title. Just to clarify – for most of the year I have been torn between my belief in Hamilton’s future, and my admiration of Felipe Massa’s determination.

I’m not a great admirer of the Ferrari team, never have been, not even when my favorite drivers drove for them. While I didn’t want Ferrari to win, I wouldn’t have minded if Massa did. While Hamilton reminded me of Senna, in some ways Massa reminded me of James Hunt. Like Hunt, Massa had a reputation for crashing in his early days, he came up through the ranks and came into F1 with a smaller team. Also like Hunt he seems a genuinely nice guy, well from what we see on TV. I also believe that this year was perhaps Massa’s one and only shot at the title. (I admit I may be doing him a disservice with that observation.) As I said I was torn.

Looking back on the season we can see that both drivers lost points due to mistakes, but Hamilton’s looses were mainly due to driver mistakes, while Massa’s were mainly due to mistakes in the team.

Which brings us to Brazil. Knowing what he had to do, Massa drove with flair, speed, skill and above all passion. He did everything he possibly could. And, for a few brief seconds was a worthy champion.

 Lewis Hamilton driving around for the fifth place finish he needed may have been the mature and sensible thing to do. But it wasn’t the Lewis I knew – it was more Prost than Senna. When the stunning Sebastian Vettel passed Lewis demoting him to sixth place and out of the title I was stunned. Partly by Vettel’s audacious move, but mainly by Hamilton’s lack of response. Where was the passion, the skill and the bravery? At that point as far as he knew the championship was lost – so why not try and regain it by going all out?

When the Toyota of Timo Glock pulled over in his attempt to stay on the increasingly wet pavement, the championship was gifted back to Hamilton. And I think that’s where my issues started. If Hamilton had gone all out and raced his way back into fifth place with a daring move on the last corner I would have been ecstatic. But that didn’t happen.

So Felipe Massa, the man who drove his heart out (almost literally), who won most Grands Prix in the season, lost what may be his only chance to have been crowned World Champion in the most spectacular fashion possible, by winning in front of his home crowd.

So did the right guy win?

Mathematically and by the rules of the sport – Yes.

Emotionally – No.