Lewis Hamilton’s Maiden F1 Title Win is Riddled With Conspiracies & Death Threats to Timo Glock – Here’s Why

It has been over a decade, and Timo Glock is still not over the memories surrounding the 2008 title showdown at Interlagos. He was never in the championship fight, but coincidentally ended up in the middle of the rumble and is still feeling the effects of it.

To the ones wondering about what happened, here it is. It was the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix on a gloomy Sunday afternoon that landed as the deciding factor in the intense Formula 1 world championship battle. Two drivers were right at the top of the charts; Lewis Hamilton and the home hero, Felipe Massa.

The story behind Lewis Hamilton-Felipe Massa Title Showdown

Massa was all set to win the Brazilian GP itself while his rival was crucially lingering in the mid-field after gambling with the tires amidst tricky weather. The Brazilian crossed the line in P1, provisionally taking home his first-ever world title.

It was utter chaos at Ferrari’s garage, engineers and Massa’s family jumping in absolute joy while, at McLaren, there was utter silence, as they see the time charts showing Hamilton in P6. The entire garage swarmed to the other side of the pit lane, gazing at the track.

35 seconds later, a car emerges in the distance. And while many anticipated it to be Timo Glock, who was then running ahead of Hamilton, it wasn’t! It was a McLaren instead. The Briton snatched P5 from the Toyota driver right around the final corner of the track, hardly meters away from the finish line.

What followed was an absolute turmoil of emotions, as this time, McLaren were full into celebrations while Ferrari stood there in tears. Interestingly, while the limelight was right on Ferrari and McLaren, Glock stood in the darkness taking a massive beating from the Italian and Brazilian media.

Glock reveals enduring death threats from F1 fans

It was indeed a day to forget not only for Massa but also for Glock. Only in the latter’s case, it wasn’t in his hands and rather the Ferrari fans’.

“There were a couple of journalists who were very aggressive, especially from the Italian side, pointing fingers at me and saying I had done this on purpose and it must have been planned before the race, ‘how much did Mercedes and Lewis pay you’,” he said according to ESPN.

Felipe Massa, Grand Prix of Great Britain, Silverstone Circuit. (Photo by Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images)

“We even had letters come in to my family, to my dad and mom’s house about how I had done this and how people should shoot me, I shouldn’t be in the sport anymore. I could not believe how bad people could be. It was pretty extreme.”

Of course, the Tifosi had to vent out at someone, and Glock ended up right in their burrow. But, was he really to blame? Did he intentionally pave way for Hamilton? Such theories don’t make sense whatsoever. If anything, it was the rain to blame, and never Glock.

It was the damp track that triggered the mix-up and poor Glock was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

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