All language subtitles for 2 - RACE TO PERFECTION - Documentary Formula 1 (2020) -Hr

(tense music)

- [Narrator] 70 years ago,
something special started.

(car engine roars)

Formula One

Man and machine in perfect unison.

(car engine roaring)

Pushing each other to their limits.

Supported by teams.

Aiming for that top step.

- Well, the name of the game is winning.

- [Narrator] Seeking perfection.

(car engines roaring)

The road hasn't always been smooth.

(tires screeching)

We've marveled at great moments.

(car engine squeals)

Had smiles brought to our faces.

(James chuckles)

Cry with our heroes.

(car engines squealing)

Witnessed incredible bravery.

(suspenseful music)

And terrible settings.

(car engines roaring)

Moments never too be forgotten.

For 70 years this has been their Everest.

(car engines roaring)

(suspenseful music continues)

This is what makes them special.

This is the story of Formula One.

(tense music)

- [Narrator] The new
racetrack at Mount Fuji,

scene of the last Formula One Grand Prix

of 1976, and the one which was to decide

the world championship.

The promoters had billed it
as a battle of the giants

between Austria's Niki Lauda

and 29 year old James Hunt of Britain.

- I was the master of the drivers,

fighting for safety all the time.

And we discussed the Nurburgring race,

in that season, in Long Beach before.

And I said to my colleagues,

"Guys, the cars are so
quick that I don't think we

can afford to go to Nurburgring anymore,

with the safety aspects,
because every year

we kill one or two guys,
we have to make sure

that this doesn't happen anymore."

And then the majority of the five drivers

said, "Yes, we should
go.", because they invested

so much money, what we
have asked them to do.

And then I agreed, yeah,
100%, if the majority goes,

I go with them, no other discussions.

(car engine roaring)

(tense music)

(tense continues)

- If you tried to
condense the championship,

you'd think, Niki, good in the first half,

then virtually dying at
the German Grand Prix,

heroic, miraculous recovery.

And, James Hunt, then having
lost the British Grand Prix,

winning these races leading up to Japan,

and having the momentum
going into that race.

- And in Fuji it was a similar thing,

we were sitting there for hours,

because the circuit was flooded,

nobody thought that this race
will happen, or can happen.

- James and Niki were both
on the safety committee

of the The Grand Prix
Drivers' Association.

These two were in the tower all morning,

arguing there should
be no race, vehemently,

James and Niki.

- Well I don't think the
drivers should run the thing,

and I don't think they should
make the ultimate decision,

but I also think that if the drivers say

that the conditions are dangerous

and that they don't wanna drive,

then that should be respected,

and they definitely
shouldn't be made to drive,

and they shouldn't open
the track to have a race.

- I said, "James, this is madness,

we can't have the race you
can't win the champion."

"Oh no, I told John, no, no, no, no,

can't possibly race, it's far too wet."

- James didn't wanna drive
in the race in Japan.

And it was Alastair
Caldwell who said to him,

"You sit down, in the car,

you be quiet and you drive, that's it."

(suspenseful music)

- Bernie was there trying to
get the race run for the TV,

and I was trying to get the race to run

for the obvious reason, we
couldn't win the championship

unless we had the race.

(suspenseful music continues)

- And then suddenly, at
four in the afternoon,

the race director came and said
we're gonna start the race,

but nothing has changed.

Television.

(suspenseful music continues)

- Nothing to do with the race,

we had a television contract.

Simple, we said the race is
gonna start at this time,

and that's what time it started.

It happened two or three times, I think,

before and since then.

When people had said we shouldn't race

and we shouldn't do this
and we shouldn't do that.

And I said, "Well, this is
what we've agreed to do,

we're gonna do it."

So we started the race.

- It's hard to imagine now, but in 1976

the promoters paid the broadcasters

to actually come along and shoot the race.

And it was becoming evidently
more and more exciting,

and particularly getting
to the end of the year

when there was one point in it.

All of a sudden the broadcasters
looked around and said,

"Oh, we actually haven't got a race."

And a certain man jumped up and said,

"You're right, you
haven't got it." (laughs)

"But I'll let you have it,

providing you broadcast
every race next year."

And that was the deal.

And that's what got Formula One on the TV.

- In today's world it would
not have been countenance

to start that race, it would
never have even been considered

the conditions were so bad.

So Lauda, in his way, I
think, was being very brave.

- The first time worldwide television,

Bernie for sure told him to make sure

the race has to start
because it was a big event

on television, and the pressure came on.

And then they said, "We start at four."

Then I said, "Are you're nuts,

the circuit is still flooded."

Because of my responsibility for safety,

it was unacceptable to start
the under these conditions.

- [Narrator] The Grand Prix was on.

(car engines roar)

(suspenseful music)

As well as the thousands of Japanese fans,

other spectators with a personal
interest watch the start.

James Hunt's parents and
girlfriend, Jane Birbeck,

watched the race transmitted via satellite

in a London TV studio.

(car engines roar)

- At the end of that long-pitch straight,

and I think James was first into turn one

and I was behind him,

then coming down at the end
of the first flying lap,

going into the second
lap, I hit this Lake.

I mean, I could have taken a fishing rod

and caught a trout in it, it was that big.

And the car just spun, it went aquaplane,

or spun or whatever.

So we gathered it all up and continued on.

But the conditions, the
visibility in the early phase

of the race, I doubt a
race would be started

in those type of conditions today.

(car engine roars)

(suspenseful music)

- I think, with me, two
or three other stopped,

Fittipaldi stopped, Boucher stopped,

so it was not only me.

But in the condition of the decision,

it was a disaster to start to race,

therefore I pulled out.

- So Forghieri went to him, "Listen, Niki,

we can say that you have
a problem with the car,

you have done so much for us,
we can say, unfortunately."

"No, no, no," he say, Niki, "No, no, no,

don't tell lies, tell
that I decided to stop

because in this condition is absurd

to race in Formula One."

So he was very honest,
very straight as Niki.

- When in fact, what he
said after the race was,

"I'm sorry, my life's worth more

than the world championship.

- I gain so much more respect
for Niki for doing that,

because it showed that his
life was more important

than the championship.

Looking at facial burns that he had,

he said that he was tearing
so bad because of that,

that visibility, at best,
was maybe down to 20%.

And with what he was dealing with,

was probably down to 5%.

- If someone would spin in straight line

you just hit the guy, so much water,

no visibility, proper planning,
they should delay the start.

But unfortunate things
like that never happened.

And now they have the
pace car, they take care.

Things could now things happen properly.

For the drivers it was
unreal to start that race.

(suspenseful music)

- We had a permanent sign
that said, "Cool tires."

And James steadfastly
refused to go in the puddles.

He didn't react.

So now we have all the rest of the field,

Andretti, Mass, driving the
puddles up the straight,

and James steadfastly
driving on the dry racetrack.

He was never far ahead of
Andretti or Mass or others.

There was no way, just
had to bring him in,

change the tires and win
the world championship.

So we had to hope the
tires would last the race.

Eventually, he drove the
left-hand side of the car

through to the air on both front and rear.

So he came in with two punchers.

He flew along, way quicker now,

because he had fresh tires on,

and classically, he comes up to Regazzoni,

who should've blocked
the road and doesn't.

Rega pulls out of the road and goes,

"Go boy, go!", 'cause he'd
been sacked by Ferrari.

And so he flew past
Rega and finished third.

(suspenseful music)

(car engine roars)

When he first went out, he was 8th,

so we put on the board P8.

Next time, he was 5th, we put P5.

And the next lap he was 3rd, we put P3.

And when he finished on
the last lap, we put P1,

'cause he was world champion.

He paid not the slightest bit of attention

to any of this information.

- The one thing that springs to mind

that's most in my memory,
is James not knowing

whether he'd won the
world championship or not

after the race, until he came in the pits

and they told him he was the champion.

- Gimme a drink, gimme
a drink, gimme a drink.

- [Man] Congratulations, James, fantastic.

- [James] Thank you, did we really win?

- It was Frank Williams that told James,

in the pit lane, calm
down, James, calm down,

you've just become world champion.

And James is drinking Coke at the time,

(laughs) it had all came back out again.

(crowd cheering)

- He fought his way through,
he had a very difficult race

because he nearly did not win,

finishing at the right position,

but he made it and that's
it, so for me it was okay.

Because, I have to honestly say,

if you are objective,
I didn't lose the race

like everybody thinks in Japan,

I lost the race because
I had a huge accident

and didn't race for three or four races,

this is the main reason.

But nevertheless, I was
happy that he won it.

- I was sad for Lauda,
but actually I don't

think Lauda himself is
terribly sad about it,

I think Lauda was perfectly
happy with his own decision,

and because he and James
was so fond of each other,

he said immediately, "If anybody else

was gonna win it I would
have wanted it to be James."

- We partied hard, yeah,
there was plenty of alcohol

and lots of misbehaving going on.

We had some other race teams in the hotel

who we got on well with,
Tyrrells and Lotus and Brabhams

and so on, we all got on
well, so we had a big party.

And James, I think, it took
James a long time to recover.

- [Narrator] It was an elated James Hunt

who flew into London airport,

where he showed one of
his prizes to reporters.

(cymbals clanging)

- [Reporter] And that's your prize?

- Yeah, that's what you get for winning

the world championship. (chuckles)

(gentle music)

- I needed to choose
someone who could bring more

than just being a driver to Formula One.

To be a leader, to have an iconic role,

not just being a good racing driver.

I considered Niki, and I
phoned him out of the blue

and said, "You know, Niki,

why don't you come back?"

And there was a sort of 15 minute,

half an hour banter phone call.

I said, "Well, why don't
you think about it?"

And then, of course, I pestered,
I pestered, I pestered.

- Ron called me all the time,

"What are you doing, how is
life, is it the right moment?"

And then he called me once again,

and then I said, "Yeah,
maybe, lets do a test."

(car engine roaring)

Then I went to TAG and
then did another test,

after I cleared my negative
feelings towards Formula One.

Then when I got in, back into the car,

it started again.

And then I came back in '82.

I felt that my heart,
after I've given more time

to other things, it's
still working very hard,

or beating very hard for motor racing.

And as I have not driven for two years,

my personal challenge is to see where

I would end up coming
back into motor racing,

and that's what I'm going to do.

(car engine roars)

- Niki was an incredible driver,

and I was a little bit
worried when he came to us,

thinking that he's really
gonna give us a rough time,

turn us every which way
but loose, so to speak.

But actually he never placed
any outlandish demands

on the team.

I attribute that to the fact
that it was a great team.

We had fantastic resources,
down to Ron Dennis really,

and we never wanted for anything,

and so Niki always had
the best of everything,

there was nothing really
to complain about.

- Then Ron took the
opportunity to get Prost,

because Prost was the
best guy at the time.

And then suddenly I had Prost in my car

which I developed.

The year before, I developed

this fantastic turbocharged TAG McLaren.

- He was just worried that
Prost was the new boy,

he was the future, and
Ron's blue-eyed boy,

and he was gonna get all the attention

and blah, blah, blah.

Nikki, I was a big fan
because I saw him driving,

and then he was one of my
idol when I was younger,

so it started well.

- And then I thought, in
the beginning, finally,

if Prost comes, little Frenchman,

well, I'll blow him off,
that's the normal attitude.

- So I used to say to Niki, "Look, look,

you've got me and I'm
gonna look out for you

and I'm never gonna let
you have anything less

than the very best that
McLaren can provide.

You've got me, you've
got your three mechanics,

and you don't need anything else.

Don't worry about anything else,

we're gonna make sure your car is perfect,

and we're gonna make
sure you have absolutely

the best that McLaren can provide,

and you're gonna have
exactly the same as Prost.

So just don't even worry about that,

just concentrate on the
driving, leave the rest to us."

(concerned music)

- When I went to McLaren in '84,

I signed a number two contract,

I was number two with Niki.

And my salary was also
quite low compared to him,

but I had bonuses for the wins and points.

- Prost was always out qualifying me.

The beginning, 5/10, then 2/10,

but he was always quicker.

Then I changed my strategy and said,

"Fine, I will not get him on qualifying,

let's work on the race set up."

- He was one of the driver,

maybe the driver, where we could have run,

more or less, exactly the same car.

Even with Ayrton it was close
but we had some differences.

And the only thing I had to do is

going to be quicker than him.

- He used to say, "This little
Frenchman, he is so quick.

He can benefit from my
experience, setting up the car

and all of that, but
there's no way I can benefit

from his quickness."

(concerned music)

So we were going through that year,

and I remember we arrived at Dijon,

and by now you know you're almost halfway

through the season.

French Grand Prix, Prost was leading

by something like 17 points.

And Niki said to me, "Come on,

ride out to the circuit with me."

So on the way out he said, "You know,

I'm trying as hard as I can,
I'm doing everything possible

to beat this little Frenchman,
but he is just so good

and he's just so quick."

And he said, "But I am
not going to give up,

I'm gonna try even harder."

He said, "I'm going to win this race,

and I'm gonna win the world championship."

And I thought, Christ,
that's a tall order,

you're gonna win this race
and the world championship.

Well, he did win that race,

fortuitously, because Prost had
a little mechanical problem.

(car engine roars)

Just the iron will determination
was absolutely incredible.

(crowd cheering)

- I was trying very hard
because I wanted to win

that race because I was short of points,

so it seems that our car,
especially at the beginning

of the race, going very well,

and I could charge along
and then finally win.

(suspenseful music)

- Portuguese Grand Prix, 1984,

was memorable to say the least.

We went to the Grand Prix
knowing that we'd won

both the Drivers and
Constructors' Championship,

but what hadn't been decided, of which

of our their drivers was gonna win

the Drivers Championship.

- That race, it was just so intense,

and everybody was so on edge

trying to do everything perfectly.

- It's bad for most of the days,

good for me, not so good for Niki,

because he start very far away from me

and it's very difficult to try to pass,

so it would be very hard work for him,

but I need to be a bit more lucky.

- Are you gonna go for
the points or the victory?

- I'm going to go for the championship,

and I will see what's going to happen,

but if I can win the
race I will try to do it,

it would be fantastic.

(tense music)

I think Niki was never ahead of me

in race condition when we were fighting

in the normal condition,

but I stop, I had mechanical
failure a little bit more,

I was fighting much more
against Nelson and these guys

than anyone in the race.

- Prost out qualified
Lauda, and Lauda didn't

have a brilliant start, dropped
down the field quite a bit.

I was feeling a bit desperate.

(suspenseful music)

- The left two, which either
got broken with a stone,

so I saw the boost, but no power,

I could not pass anybody on the straight,

which normally would
have been easy to go by,

and there I was frustrated
like you did not believe

that I cannot get by.

And there were cars holding me up forever,

because I didn't have the power I needed.

(car engines roaring)

- I was in that race,

Niki, he wasn't the fastest driver,

he was a percentage player,
it was extraordinary.

I'll never forget a race one day in Monza,

and I drilled him into the
first chicane in my Tyrrell,

and I was so pleased with myself.

We were probably fighting over 10th place,

he had a difficult qualifying session.

And then he came past me,
out of the Parabolica,

and he looked over to me,

we're doing about 200 miles an hour,

and he just did this with his hand,

like, "What are you
doing?", you know, brackets.

We've got a long way to go,
we gotta look after the tires,

look after the brakes, look after the car.

And I, "Nah, whatever",

I'll try and pass you again in a minute.

And my car broke down halfway through,

got back to the pits,
looked at the screen,

who was leading the race?

Niki Lauda.

Because he was playing the long game,

and you had to with the cars back then.

(car engines roaring)

- [Steve] Niki stayed out of trouble,

picked off people one at a time,

gradually worked his way
back up towards the front.

- [Martin] He had so much
guile and so much experience

and maturity to go with it.

- But I think he got up to third place,

which wasn't gonna be good enough.

And then, I think it was Nigel Mansell,

dropped out in the last lap,

which elevated him to second.

(car engine roaring)

- [Niki] And then in the end I was third,

and then Mansell stopped
with his brake problem,

and thank God I finished second.

- Niki just sneaked in for
his 3rd world championship

by half a point in Estoril that day.

- He need a good season, more persistent.

He was able to win,
but also because we had

such good relation and was
good ambience inside the team,

and never had any little problem in 1984.

(regal music)

- [Reporter] What do you have
to say to say to Alain Prost

at this moment, your teammate
and compatriot all year long?

- He was the toughest guy to beat

as far as I know, the toughest guy.

So therefore this championship

is the most important one for me.

- [Reporter] What are you gonna do

to celebrate tonight, Niki?

- [Niki] First I need a rest.

- [Reporter] Congratulations.

(gentle music)

- I lost the championship
for half a point,

but after all the
interviews and everything

we are going to drink together with Niki,

and we are going to think about next year,

that the best thing.

I lost championship this year,

but I did have a fantastic
season, I won seven races.

Not very lucky, but I am more happy than

most of the drivers in
Formula One at the moment,

except Niki today.

(crowd cheering)

- Prost was unbelievably
positive in defeat.

We had one unbelievable
party that evening.

And, of course, both drivers
were definitely jolly.

- I always felt a little bit disappointed

for Alan Jenkins, who was
Prost's race engineer.

Everybody was just elated,

but, inevitably, Alan
Jenkins and Alain Prost

and his three mechanics
were the only people

in the team that were a
little bit disappointed.

- I remember when I came back and notice,

am I going to win one
championship one day? (chuckles)

Because it was three consecutively miss

for different reason, very, very close.

- Oh, Alain was brilliant,

he was no animosity whatsoever,

"This is how it goes,
I did what I had to do

in the last race, I have to win the race."

- We went to Estoril,
went in the nightclub,

we had a huge (chuckles)
party, I was completely drunk.

That that is good, because that is part

of the human side of history.

We had fun as you cannot
believe, a lot of fun.

(tense music)

(suspenseful music)

- By the time he got to Adelaide, in '86,

I think we were all ready
for a five-year holiday,

because it had been so political,

so difficult, such a tough year,

Obviously Frank's accident, in March,

a very, very serious accident
from which he emerged,

but there was a time when we thought

we might lose him as well.

Nigel, reasonably comfortable on points,

lead with Nelson a few points away,

and then Prost right behind Nelson.

And when you think of the
standard that Nelson was,

that shows how good Nigel was too.

- In any one race there
was six or seven drivers

that could still win, but I knew I was one

of the six or seven, that's all we can ask

for when you competing, if you can be one

of the six or seven in
a competitive package,

that you have a chance
assigned to you on the day.

And I think that's what was so exciting

about that era in Formula One.

(suspenseful music continues)

- '96 was my best season,

that is the one I always
take as a reference.

- It all started badly when
Nelson did an interview

with Playboy Brazil, in which he was asked

about the differences
between him and Nigel.

And he said, "Well the difference

is I've got beautiful girlfriends,
he's got an ugly wife.

And of course that was quickly
translated back to Nigel,

and you can imagine what
happened after that.

- [Reporter] Have you
thought about your tactics

on the start?

- Make sure I get first gear. (chuckles)

(reporter laughs)

You couldn't have someone
better next to you

than your teammate, and
he's got to win the race,

so the last thing he'll
be doing is sort of dicing

at the first corner.

- Nigel is a very tough,
solid racing driver,

that was very difficult
for Nelson Piquet to beat.

- They'll try to push Mansell
out and try to win the race.

- [Reporter] What do
you do about Prost then,

how are you gonna push him out as well?

- No, I don't need to push it
out, he will finish behind me.

(reporter laughs)

(suspenseful music)

(car engine roaring)

(car engines revving)

- [Commentator] Nelson,
Piquet and Mansell together.

And it's go, and a superb
start from Nigel Mansell.

Senna goes through to second
place, overtake Piquet.

- The Williams Honda was dominating,

was clearly much quicker than us.

I don't know why I always
trust that I could be champion,

I could make it.

Also because they were fighting,

and we were very, very good.

- The early phase of that race was all

about Nigel driving within himself.

He'd got the pole, so we
knew how quick he was,

he knew how quick he
could be, but it was all

about, I'm gonna finish 3rd.

Think about this, Nigel's not
very good at finishing 3rd,

he hadn't driven many races
like that in his life,

every race he'd ever driven was to win.

So it's not an easy thing actually,

but he did it really well.

And whenever there was
pressure behind him,

he just let the guy go.

Whether it be Nelson, and Keke Rosberg

was really quick at the
start and he didn't finish.

- [Commentator] Rosburg, out.

Keke Rosberg is out.

- We knew that we are going
to have some tires problem,

and I was a little bit
lucky for one reason,

we have done a fantastic practice

on Friday and Saturday.

We knew that we couldn't do
the whole race with the tires,

and we plan a stop.

Nobody knew except the team and

the Goodyear people at the time.

- There was a question
mark as to whether we

should bring them in for tires or not.

And I remember the
Goodyear engineer coming up

to Patrick, and I was standing
right next to Patrick,

and said, "We've just seen
the tires of the Arrows,

they're perfect, don't bring
Nigel in, he can do the race."

'Cause a pit stop was always a risk.

- I had the cushion to make a stop,

did radio in I'm coming for tires,

and they said, "No, stay out."

I was really comfortable with the pace,

they assured me the tires were okay.

I didn't have any vibration
on the tires either,

because if I had any vibration

I would have come straight in.

I think it was about 17 or 18 laps to go.

I remember going down the main straight

and knowing I'm not too far behind.

I went past them, just pulled out,

and I think we were at 220 miles an hour

and then the explosion
happened at the back

of the car with the tire letting go.

- [Commentator] And look at that!

And colossally that's Mansell.

That is Nigel Mansell.

- [Nigel] It gave no warning,
it just end, just let go.

- [Commentator] Mansell
is out of the race,

now this could change and will change

the world championship.

- It ripped the suspension and it ripped

the brake line off, and
obviously we then took

all the might to actually
keep the car facing

the right direction so I didn't
go straight into the wall.

And obviously that was that.

It was that championship done,

lost the championship by one point,

so yeah, that's pretty tough day.

(tense music)

- What can you say?

I think Nigel drove exactly
as he should have driven.

He couldn't have driven any slower,

couldn't have given the car more space.

And we followed all the advice

that we were given in terms of the tire.

- It wasn't bad luck,
it was a bad decision.

They didn't stop for tires,

and the tire failure was not the result

of a puncture, it was worn out

and they just took the wrong decision.

- We had tire burst on Nigel's
car, Nelson was leading.

His tires, by the end of the race,

would have been older than
Nigel's tires when they failed.

And we'd had a couple of
tire failures beforehand,

and I'd spoken to Goodyear and they said,

"No, it must be your car."

And I said, "Well, we've
probably got more power

than anybody else, so we're trading off

and using a bit more downforce.

I think all you're seeing is where

we're giving the tires the hardest time."

And they didn't really respond.

So I had to call Nelson
in and change the tires

'cause it was a fatigue
failure on the tires.

And he was closing on Alain Prost

and was, I think, within
couple of seconds of him

when the flag dropped.

And to be fair to Nelson, he knew exactly

that I'd called him in out of a position

where he was gonna be world champion.

He never gave me a hard time about it

because he knew that there
was the potential danger

of also a tire failure,

so he was very fair about it.

- Lost the race, lost the
championship, lost everything.

(car engine roaring)

- [Commentator] Alain Prost
takes the checkered flag,

he wins the Australian Grand Prix,

he wins the world championship.

- Sometimes you know that
something is going to happen.

I knew that this race is not going to be

like another race, but I
didn't know it at the time.

So tough for brake, fuel consumption,

gearbox, tires, it was very bad

and you had to be very careful.

And everybody thought
I stopped, obviously,

because of a puncture, which was true,

but it was planned to stop.

Very tough, very tough race.

That is my best season ever, yeah.

- That was a very close
run thing of course,

and Nigel, he had that tire problem

and that was very unlucky.

And Prost, of course, an unexpected win

due to Williams disappointment.

- Afterwards, yeah, you
feel horrendous packing up,

going home, looking down
at the McLaren garage,

all the cheering and the
drinking of champagne.

And at that moment, that's when you think,

do you really wanna do Formula One?

- It was early days,
wasn't it, for technology

and all sorts of things then.

And obviously, hindsight being 2020,

we should have made that pit
stop regardless of the risk.

And should've had a new pair of boots on

and then we probably would have gone on

and won the world championship.

But it was a very bitter pill,

obviously the closest I've ever come

to becoming a world champion.

Mentally it was really, really tough.

That winter was probably
the hardest winters,

or one of them I'll have.

(gentle music)

(crowd cheering)
(suspenseful music)

- We finally arrived, and into Lagos.

And either Lewis or Felipe could win.

What then happened, as we all know,

it was passed into motorsport folklore,

where it will remain forever.

It was one of the most
extraordinary stories.

(crowd chanting)

(suspenseful music continues)

- I was on pole, 2006, 2007, 2008,

so it was my track.

I have my people, I have my car, my place,

so when you play home, you
play better, this is clear.

(crowd cheering)

- We were in Brazil, where I was fighting

a Brazilian driver, so I was not the

most popular person there.

And so to block all that
out and stay focused

and do a good job was definitely not easy,

I think, on my young
shoulders at the time.

(crowd cheering)

This is what racing's all about,

and I come here with the approach to win,

but I know in my mind
that I don't have to,

which I guess it's just a
positive in the back of your mind.

- Whilst that race was a deciding race

for the world championship,

the world championship is
won over the whole season.

And we had difficult races and good races

through the season, and
that was just a race

where we started.

Uncharacteristically of McLaren,

we started on the basis of
let's win the world championship

and don't worry about winning the race.

Whereas everybody else
was, let's win the race.

So it's a very different thing,

it's a very cat and mouse experience.

- My approach is like always,
I have nothing to lose,

I'm second, I'm seven points behind,

in the worst case we're
gonna finish second,

but we need to try, we
need to do our best.

And have a small possibility,
but if it happens,

for sure, I have no idea how
it's gonna be my feelings.

- There's so much that
happened in the first year,

and then to get to the end of the year

and lose the championship by one point,

it was so hard for me to
forgive myself for China.

- China has this really
strange last corner,

it's a difficult last
corner, that 90 degree left.

It's actually much quicker than it looks,

if you're just driving around the circuit.

(gentle music)

And then beyond that, you've
got that pit lane entry,

it's very easy just to go flat out into

that first part of that,
and then you break hard

for the left in the pit lane.

And nobody had ever thought about,

that actually is a racing corner

and we need to be a little bit
careful of what we do there.

And of course with Lewis, tires well-worn,

not a lotta grip, and nothing you can do

if you run slightly wide.

And that's what happened with Lewis there.

(car engines roaring)

- We knew the tires were devastated,

we had such a commanding lead.

We failed to really advise Lewis,

and you could argue we didn't
have enough experience,

but we really failed to advise him

how destroyed the tires were

and how little grip he would have

in the event of hitting any wet surface.

And, of course, then he
came into the pit lane,

clearly a bit too quick.

We took the pain, we learned from it,

and we went on to fight another day.

But disappointing is how I would put it.

(tense music)

- You could say it's a rookie mistake,

obviously first time at Shanghai,

but it cost him the championship,
in effect, that race.

And so then, it all went down to Brazil.

(man shouting in foreign language)

(suspenseful music)

(whistle whistling)

- Lewis was ahead, but
it was pretty close.

There was Fernando who had had a

very good second half of the year.

And when he won at Monza, it
kind of taken Fernando back

to where he thought, in
his mind, he should be.

He was keenly just doing
a consistently good job

for Ferrari, driving well,
getting the best from the car.

And then there was Lewis,
this amazing rookie

coming in and upstaging Fernando

and getting to Brazil with a lead,

which, in theory, was gonna give him

the world championship.

- The feeling in your gut
of dropping to rock bottom.

Your heart sink to rock bottom,

it was horrible that year.

I felt horrible, I didn't
sleep through the weekend.

Brazil is just always tricky

because the weather is up and down,

sometimes it's roasting, and the Ferrari's

are always the quickest
in the hot conditions.

And if it's raining, it's mixed.

Sometimes it's intermediate,
sometimes it's extremes.

So it's very hard to judge.

(upbeat music)

(car engine roaring)

- We had, what we subsequently determined,

was a hydraulic problem
with the gearshift.

It was actually a small
piece of metallic debris

that had got into one
of the control valves

where they have very, very fine ports,

and had disrupted the
behavior of this valve

so the car would no longer change gear.

After 25 seconds, this bit of debris

presumably washed its
way through the valve

and the valve cleared and
started working normally.

Lewis only missed the championship in 2007

because it was 25 seconds,

if it had been 20 he would have been okay,

he would have made up the places.

(upbeat music)

(car engines roaring)

- [Race engineer] Okay, it's all over.

It's all over, Hamilton 7th.

We win the championship by one point.

(car engine roaring)

(crowd cheering)

- [Lewis] When you really
feel that the current

is going against you,
it's really important

just to stand tall, keep
your chest up, keep pushing,

try and utilize the people around,

try to stay positive if you can.

And I was really lucky I had my dad,

I had my family around
me who helped me do that.

(crowd cheering)

- Lewis had that disappointment in 'O7,

and that Monday morning
waking up having lost

the championship in his rookie year,

which would have been amazing
had he won it, of course.

And then coming back in '08,

and it was kind of deja vu.

- All I had to do is finish 5th,

and I really believe from the experience

from before I could recover from that

and do a better weekend.

But then all these
different things happened,

and I was racing against a Brazilian,

so there was a lot of animosity,

a lot of hype around Felipe,

and I was obviously the
dark horse coming in.

(crowd cheering)

- Lewis was leading the championship,

but Felipe Massa of
course had nothing to lose

in front of his home crowd.

- Massa, you ready to make
history today for your country?

- I'm ready to do my best
and trying to do a good race.

- Good luck.
- Thank you.

- There was a feeling
of potential redemption

for us against the old enemy, Ferrari.

(tense music)

(man chanting)

(alarm wailing)

(suspenseful music)

- All through the race
we were pacing ourselves

and trying to ensure that we
would finish ahead in points.

And of course that was
different mathematics,

according to who was
where on the circuit etc.

- So you are in front,
you are winning the race,

you are leading by a good margin,

but you don't know what's happened behind.

And at the end you
always expect that maybe

something's gonna happen.

Already the chance that
Lewis is not arrive

in the top five, it was quite tricky

because he had a great car on that year.

- If you look at the history of Brazil,

when it rains it normally
rains really hard

towards the end of the race.

More likely than not,
if there's a rain around

it's gonna get more intense.

- Then the rain came down,
three or four laps from the end,

and it was one of those terrible decisions

where there is a right
answer but it's close

and there's a gamble to be taken.

- I think, with a championship decider,

about the worst thing that can happen,

if it hasn't been decided,

is if the weather conditions
change and it rains.

- And the right answer was
to put the wet tires on,

which we did, and which
leading players did,

but the gamble was to stay on the slicks,

which is what the two Toyota cars did.

(suspenseful music)

(car engines roaring)

- They said, "Whatever you
did, you're doing a great job,

you're doing it fantastic,
you keep like that

maybe you have a chance.

Lewis is 5th, or maybe
something can happen with him

so concentrate and don't think about back,

think to the front,
forward, and not back."

- Lewis was 6th, he was just
behind Vettel and Toro Rosso.

- And only had to finish 5th
to win this championship,

and I was in 6th for so long.

I could see my championship
fading and fading and fading.

- I was actually down, opposite Ferrari

at this moment when it
all started to unravel,

and I was glued to the TV, glued to Lewis

trying to recover the necessary positions,

and it was desperate
because it wasn't happening.

- [Nigel Roebuck] And
it became clear to us

that probably Lewis wasn't
going to be able to pass Vettel,

and therefore that he wasn't
going to be able to be 5th.

And that therefore,
Ferrari and Felipe Massa

were going to be champions.

(car engine roaring)

- At that moment I wanted
to stop Formula One,

I was gonna give up Formula One

because this was gonna
be a second year in a row

missing a championship by a fraction.

The sheer effort of a season,

and what you have to put on
to compete is indescribable.

But imagine that mountain of effort,

when you lose a championship,

you just know you have to go
and do that all over again.

It's very, very difficult
moment, I would say.

And here we were facing another one.

So I was gonna give up, that was it,

I can't do this anymore.

(suspenseful music)

(crowd cheering)

(car engine roaring)

(crowd cheering)

- I'll never forget it as long as I live.

Then, suddenly, almost
at exactly the same time

we all realized, looking
at the timing screens

and the TV monitors,
that there was a tow tow,

not only going slowly,

but going extremely
slowly ahead, Timo Glock.

Timo Glock, who's inherited track position

because he hasn't stopped
and he's on slicks

and he's bit scurry and
he's all over the place.

And there's a reasonable chance

that by the last lap, or
maybe the second last lap,

or maybe the lap after the checkered flag,

Lewis is gonna be on Timo Glock.

- And suddenly we realized
that not only Vettel,

but Vettel and Lewis
were both going to pass.

I find it impossible to talk about

without getting emotional.

(crowd cheering)

(suspenseful music)

- I had decided, before the Glock moment,

that I would get back to our pit,

I didn't wanna be hanging
out with Ferrari people.

And it was all a big throng behind

their pit wall at that moment.

And I had to actually
dive through this crowd

of people to get back to the McLaren area.

And as I popped out, out
of this crowd of press,

I saw the big screen and
saw the Glock moment,

thought we did it.

- Pandemonium, we just
rushed past each other,

rushed into the pit lane
and onto the pit wall

in time to see it finish in that way.

(exalted music)

(car engines roaring)

That is the moment that
defines the world championship,

that defines racing drivers.

(guys laughing)

- [Man] We did do it.

- Felipe Massa had already
passed the finish line

and was celebrating
the world championship.

As was his father, as was his entire team,

not realizing what was happening

a few hundred yards behind him.

And when he did realize,
the disappointment

in the Ferrari camp I
can't almost conceive of.

(exalted music)

- You know the famous picture on the TV,

you couldn't catch it in
any other better example

in that sort of going
from elation to despair.

- It was a...

I don't know if I ever be
able to fully explain it,

but it was terrifying and
then exciting and emotional.

(exalted music)

(crowd cheering)

It was chaos after I got out the car.

And again, I was so drained
mentally and physically

from the year and from
the thought of losing it

and then having it, losing it,

and then, oh geez, it was horrible.

But to go back and see
my team and experience

all these people happy to
share this championship with.

And everything happened
so quick I never really

got time to sit and really enjoy it.

(crowd cheering)

- So I'm pulling up into pit lane,

the team telling me Lewis Hamilton

has won the world championship.

Came in, stopped just behind him,

got out my car, and as I went to walk away

from my car to congratulate Lewis

I turned around and the
old girl was on fire.

(chuckles) She had caught fire,

which was a great send-off
for that car, it really was.

Walked up to Lewis and just
said, "Congratulations, mate."

(exalted music)

- The tears of both feelings,

the feeling that I won the race at home

and I did a amazing job on that weekend.

So, it was my race.

And then, the feeling that
I lost the championship

in the last corner, how can this happen?

So you have both, but
definitely the feeling

of the victory helped me
a lot to behave myself

in the most professional way at the end.

Because I did my job, and for me

that was the most important thing.

I won the race, and this was
the best thing that it happens,

because I won the race and I
couldn't do better than that.

(crowd cheering)

(gentle music)

- Of course we all wept for Felipe Massa.

The swing of emotions and
everything Felipe did that day,

he did it to perfection.

Won the race from the pole, perfect win.

Perfect day at the races,
except for one thing,

Lewis also drove
perfectly, under pressure,

under amazing pressure
to win that championship.

(crowd cheering)

- On that situation, on the
last corner of the race,

of the last race of the championship,

it was something really insane.

I'm really proud to leave
here with the victory at home,

almost with the championship.

But you know, that's racing.

- People, if they believe
there was any luck

in that race, they were
completely mistaken.

It was a calculated risk.

We knew that we had to be
in a good position on tires.

At the end of the race
it nearly went wrong,

but it didn't go wrong.

- But then when I arrive in the garage,

and suddenly Rob Smedley
entering in the room

and he starts to hug
me and he starts to cry

and then I started to cry
massively, I couldn't stop crying.

It took really a long time
to stop these emotion,

but it was also good
because it was something

that time he hope, throwing away.

Like something that he was
feeling which was not so great,

but it was a good moment
that I will never forget.

- Anthony, it's the moment
you've been dreaming of

for so many years.

Anthony, just put into words
your emotions right now.

(Anthony huffing)

- What can I say, I can't say anything.

(Anthony laughs)

- Just tell us about the tension

of those final key laps, Anthony.

- I really can't find
any words. (chuckles)

(somber music)

- [Lewis] Winning that Grand Prix,

it was emotional to be around my family,

to know what we had been through.

We had nothing to start with,
and to come all that way

and be ahead of people who had a lot more

than us, particularly to start
off with, but potentials,

and maybe didn't go through
as much as we went through,

was a great feeling.

When someone put so much
faith and trust and effort

and time into you for years
and it finally pays off,

that's a beautiful feeling.

- I think if we look back at the end

of a race like Brazil,
2008, and the championship

that was defined by the end of that race,

I think these are the
moments that make us feel

this is why we love the
sport called Formula One,

this is why we love
this race to perfection.

Do we ever achieve perfection?

Perhaps not.

I don't think any racing
driver has ever driven

the perfect lap, but he certainly
achieved perfect moments.

And one of those was Brazil,
2008, for Lewis Hamilton.

♪ 'Cause we are the
champions of the world ♪

(guys laughing)

(gentle music)

(car engine roaring)

(flag flaps)