We will surely not see another championship finale like we saw yesterday for a long time.
Around the world, television commentators struggled to keep up with the action unfolding before their eyes. Britain celebrated, Brazil mourned, and the Spanish commentators missed Hamilton passing Glock…
In Britain, ITV were broadcasting their final Grand Prix. They put the experience accumulated in the preceding 205 F1 races to call the end of the race perfectly.
Spanish F1 fans not being so keen on Hamilton, their commentators thought they were cheering Massa home to become champion. When Hamilton crossed the line in fifth and the truth dawned they began asking ?óÔé¼?ôWhere’s Glock??óÔé¼?Ø McLaren fans will enjoy the schadenfraude:
The poor Brazilian commentator Galvao Bueno did not miss the significance of Hamilton passing Glock. As the McLaren headed for the line he chanted ?óÔé¼?ôNa ultimate curva?óÔé¼?Ø (‘the last corner’) over and over, then counted the drivers across the line…
The German commentators called it spot-on too (“Achtung Glock”):
Thanks to David Watkins for some of the video links and translations. Please post any others you find below.
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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...Read more about Keith Collantine, find all their articles and get in touch with them
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51 comments on ““Achtung Glock!” “Na ?â??ltima curva!” – How the world saw F1 title shock (video)”
Comments are closed.
Sumedh
3rd November 2008, 13:43
Keith,
Is this just to rub in salt to wounds of Ferrari / Massa fans?
sam
3rd November 2008, 14:22
i know there are many people who could watch these vids over and over again, whatever language they may be in…and i’m one of them!
i really do feel for massa tho.
Filipe
3rd November 2008, 14:30
I was actually surprised by how well Galvão act troughout the end, he was very subdued by his own standards. We are talking about a guy who early this year got into a fight with Luciano Burti because Burti was feeling bad for poor Sutil in Monaco (“What matters is that Barrichello just got two positions!”).
David Watkins
3rd November 2008, 14:32
Keith
can you change ‘ultimate’ to ‘ultima’?
Sumedh
I think this situation sorted out the good commentators from the poor ones.
This was Telecinco’s last race and they made a complete pig’s ear of it.
After their unconfined joy at Lewis’ Shanghai 2007 disaster I can’t resist feeling a little satisfaction at their demise.
Lustigson
3rd November 2008, 14:44
Dutch commentator Olav Moll didn’t see it, and was very surprised to see VET and HAM appear on screen in 4th and 5th respectively.
Chaz
3rd November 2008, 14:49
If only we could see it from Glock’s car…
yorricksfriend
3rd November 2008, 14:50
Brundle going “YES!” will be the moment of commentary I’ll remember most – it was so unexpected and heartfelt and in the moment
schumi the greatest
3rd November 2008, 15:01
brundle: YES!!!! LOL
diseased rat
3rd November 2008, 15:08
Excellent collection of videos, I love seeing the other countries press and TV. It always just highlights how much our version is just that – our version. These things can be seen through so many different prisms.
PS Sumedh clearly it’s not just to rub salt into the wounds, you might want to change your prism.
Jonatas
3rd November 2008, 15:19
I still cannot believe what my eyes saw yesterday afternoon. This is something I will never forget and this is why I’m an F1 racing fanatic. This is the type of stuff that will make everyone forget everything that Bernie and the FIA have done to try and undermine the sport we love, and it will keep us coming back wanting more.
As a Brazilian, at first I was skeptical about Felipe Massa. I didn’t know wether he had it in him. But the past two seasons have made me a believer in him. I think he deserves infinite credit for how he persevered under immense pressure over and over again and how he has silenced his critics. I firmly believe that the best of Massa has yet to come!
Like Massa, I will not be a sore loser. Hamilton is a worthy champion and deserves all the credit for what he has done this season, as well as the last. He made mistakes, just as Massa did. But what I think made the difference in the end, is that McLaren did not fail him at any point in the season. They certainly tried on one or two races, but Hamilton made up for it with talent and some luck. The same sadly cannot be said for Felipe Massa’s Ferrari team.
Hamilton won as a team. Felipe Massa lost as a team.
Even though my boy Felipe Massa lost, we Brazilians are extremely proud that we once again have someone to root for.
Onto next year!
Filipe
3rd November 2008, 15:25
“I think this situation sorted out the good commentators from the poor ones.”
I’d also say that this show how useful a former driver with good knowledge is. Both James Allen and Galvão Bueno were ready to dismiss Glock as another backmarker when Brundle and Burti pointed out what was actually happening. I imagine both were paying attention to the possibilty of Hamilton and Vettel getting to Glock.
Alex-Ctba
3rd November 2008, 15:38
Apart from FIA excessive stricteness this year, it was an amazing season, maybe one of the best after the Schumacher era, hopefully paving the way to many more exciting seasons to come. And Lewis Hamilton definately deserved the WDC. Warm regards to all the true fans and fanatics for F1.
Oliver
3rd November 2008, 15:52
YES!!!! from Brundle, but Brundle has always been quick to suggest things that are not really there. He was suggesting Glock was asked to slow down. Its this kinds of confusion and Commentators leading the viewers on that lend to the air of suspicion and other contrary views we get from a Grand Prix weekend. When commenting its often best to report what you see and not speculate too far.
lena
3rd November 2008, 16:04
The last video is from Swiss TV and not German (just for the sake of accuracy)
MassaSuck
3rd November 2008, 16:36
MASSA IS A SPORTING LOSER MY ASS! He was implying all week before the race how he would be a worthy champion – that this title was clean if he had clinched it.
Wat the hell is he thinking? Did he forget how his points tally got a few automatic top-ups from FIA and Mosley thru zero efforts of his own? Crying at the end of the race was his acknowledgment that even with FIA’s help, he couldnt win the title.
That said, i hope the stewards get their retribution for being corrupt Ferrari boot-lickers. And Mosley for his well, Hitler impersonations on tape.
jay
3rd November 2008, 16:45
on BBC 5 live they also missed the pass on glock and called massa the winner.
when lewis crossed the line.
Derek
3rd November 2008, 17:17
Jonatas: That’s very humble of you to praise Hamilton. I’m a Hamilton fan, but I think Massa is a great driver and he is always happy to talk to the media on the start grid before a Grand Prix. He and Hamilton seem very similar, family men polite and well spoken. I don’t think I have ever heard him say anything bad about the other drivers. And for Brazil, you have a great F1 driver again!! Look forward to 2009, remember Hamilton missed out by 1 point last year.
Antifia
3rd November 2008, 17:17
The Dutch TV missed that too…I was already celebrating (somewhat in shock) when I saw the Mclaren fellows jumping up and down – I even had time to think: These guys must be the best losers in the world…that is when the coin fell.
What can I say. It was the most painfull F1 moment I can recall. I had watched the whole race hoping for Massa to win the race – that is all. Bravados apart, I never thought it likely that LH would throw it away again being 7 points ahead. And I was confortable with it..and then you have those last laps. I won’t be buying the season review, I can tell you that.
Alex-Ctba
3rd November 2008, 17:22
Realistically, I think Hamilton is better than Massa ( I still think Alonso better than both ). Both are fast and consistent throughout each race and both can get the most our of their cars, buth what I believe makes Hamilton better than Massa is exactly what he is greatly criticised for: his aggression. How surefooted he goes right on the adversary’s car when overtaking. That reminds us of our unforgettable hero Ayrton Senna. Don’t get me wrong, Massa is also aggressive and daring, but the pressure of driving a Ferrari, with millions of Tifosi’s eyes on him, ready to criticise him at the slightest mistake, made him a little more careful which is not an entirely bad thing because it gave him a more pragmatic style, with the aim of obtaining tittles (2009). He could have been a in a very cosy position to win the champiohship right here, in front of his supporters, if it wasn’t for Ferrari’s mistakes. Anyway, apart from FIA excessive stricteness this year, it was an amazing season, maybe one of the best after the Schumacher ( boring ) era, hopefully paving the way to many more exciting seasons to come. I desperately wanted Felipe win the WDC but…Congratulations to Lewis, he is a worthy WDC. Thanks to Keith for a great blog. Warm regards to all the true fans and fanatics for F1.
Ricardo Rocha
3rd November 2008, 17:47
there is a french version of the “gran finale” here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hal0akEUiKk
the narrator missed Hamilton passing Glock.
Ricardo Rocha
3rd November 2008, 17:53
I guess the video is from Belgium, not France.
Ferrari fan
3rd November 2008, 17:59
Yes, congratulations Glock, a big pay day for you, maybe even a mclaren seat to replace Kovy. I still don’t believe it 24 hours later and I am still sulking for sure. Glock, every Ferrari fans new worst enemy, I have never seen anything so obvious and unsporting ever, he does not deserve a seat in formula 1. Well maybe with mclaren, they’re used to cheating.
Fabio Pellim - Brasil
3rd November 2008, 18:05
I don’t know why Jay is anger about Massa, Mosley and Ferrari, as F1 fans we should be celebrating such a thrilling season ending! Massa has all reasons to be proud, Hamilton is from another planet and he almost got it last year this championship is not a surprise, he deserves it. Massa improved a lot this year and 2009 will be great for all fans, for Brazilians even better(hahahaha)! Mosley was so cute (un)dressed like that, hope to get in my 70’s with such appetite and fantasy (hahaha). By the way, besides all sex confusion, Mosley fight for more competitiveness, maybe I’m wrong, but I like some of his points.
All England, have a pint of the nicest ale, it’s on us Brazilians today, next year you gonna pay, and hopefully on the last curve (hahaha)!!!
David Watkins
3rd November 2008, 18:09
Ferrari fan
You don’t believe it because you don’t want to believe it. Show us one piece of evidence that Glock did it deliberately.
amy
3rd November 2008, 18:18
David, the fact that mclaren KNEW that they were going to get Glock on the last lap BEFORE he started slowing down, how did they know that?? Because they TOLD him to do it.
Mr Soap
3rd November 2008, 18:26
Given quite how much problems those with wet tyres on were having in those conditions, you can’t expect anything of Glock on drys. Just not binning it is something to be proud of.
The viewpoint that Glock deliberately threw the championship is simply untenable. Unless you want to believe Trulli was in on it too, as were the Toyota team. And somehow they’d set this up pre race so that the instructions over the radio weren’t obvious to the stewards…
Top Gear
3rd November 2008, 18:26
Here’s the link to Speed Channel’s coverage, where the headline is ‘F1: Thrilling Finish Crowns Hamilton Champion at Interlagos’
http://tinyurl.com/5h9jxh
Cheers
Owen
3rd November 2008, 18:35
I find it absolutely bizarre that even 24 hours after the event people are still trying to claim that Glock deliberately let Hamilton past so he could win the title.
I’m not sure how much clearer to make it – IF HE WANTED HAMILTON TO WIN, WHY DIDN’T HE JUST PIT FOR WETS LIKE EVERYONE ELSE AND STAY BEHIND HIM?!?!?!
I apologise to all for shouting but it’s getting pretty annoying!
Filipe
3rd November 2008, 18:58
The funny thing about the Glock delusion is that if Glock just wanted to hand the position to Lewis he would just pit or maybe spin.
HAM and SPAM
3rd November 2008, 19:45
It’s incredible that Lewis is world champion. In other team or with other car his position wil be 14th or 15th.
The bests riders now in F1 are Alonso, Vettel and Kubica. And not Kimi , Massa and HAM. But his cars are very bad. In the future Alonso will say th ultimate word!!
Forza Alonso
diseased rat
3rd November 2008, 19:59
Filipe, “the Glock delusion”, that is excellent, hah hah.
Vettel has Ham for dinner
3rd November 2008, 20:49
Glock is actually a very skillful driver, and I for one, am a fan of his. He always races and brings excitement to the races (yawn the likes of Webber, Kimi, Kova, Trulli, and the whole backfield). Same by the way goes for Bourdais. Both are much better drivers than they get credit for.
Anybody thinking Glock did this deliberately is delusional. He gambled and he came in 6th, not too bad for a Toyota. Had he gotten rain tires, he would be behind Hamilton too.
However, still leaves the fact that Hamilton was not exactly having his best day. Vettel took him to the cleaners.
bruno
3rd November 2008, 20:57
the correct is ‘última’, not ultimate.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
3rd November 2008, 21:51
Bruno – definitely? Because I’ve been told both.
SoLiD
3rd November 2008, 22:21
Ppl who still believe glock did anything is ignorant!
The proof was posted on this site aswell.
Everyone in the paddock knows how hard it was raining in the end (i watched the full broadcast till all camera’s stopped, and believe me it was a washout, so bad if the race was going it would have been red flagged!!), and with slicks it was just real bad.
You do have the great example of spa. Where a bit of rain helped ppl catch drivers 40seconds ahead!!! (there are nice onboard vids of this on the net).
Massa would have deserved it since he drove a great season, he surprised me big time!!
Now he has to prove himself next year, as in my eyes one year your car could be glued to you… 2years mean your good :)
Hamilton has shown in his 2 years he is the real deal and deserves his title.
Some of the races he won were brilliant! And in the wet he is so quick.
And yes, Massa shouldn’t have been able to take the title in brasil because of spa (and bourdais incident), but that’s the fia’s fault not massa’s!
David Watkins
3rd November 2008, 22:35
‘ultima’ is correct Keith (with an accent on the u as Bruno has done)
Nice work on Sky. When he let you get a word in!
pSynrg
3rd November 2008, 22:57
I as many others I simply think Hamilton is the best F1 driver I’ve ever seen. I’ve been a fan since 76 when Hunt was champ and the matchbox JPS was the car to have.
What a fitting über-dramatic finale to the climax of two seasons worth of shake up by the ‘kid’ from Stevenage.
I can almost delude myself into believing that Lewis orchestrated the whole thing from the start of FP1. Again guaranteeing maximum columns inches the world over.
I’ll always be rooting for Massa also – unless of course vying for position with Lewis :) I almost expect a similar battle next year but with fewer mistakes from both drivers.
Bring on 2009!
Pedro Andrade
3rd November 2008, 23:16
Keith: Being Portuguese, I confirm, it’s “Na última curva”.
Jordi
3rd November 2008, 23:20
I’m in shock. The spanish F1 comentators are the worse I have ever seen. I’m Spanish living in UK and I thought ITV was bad. I never heard the Spanish commentators before, but listening to them now makes me feel ashame, they sound like a group of drunk fanatics watching football in the pub.
David
3rd November 2008, 23:20
Keith, in Brazilian Portuguese it’s definitely última, with an accent on the ‘u’.
Amy, come on. Compare Trulli’s times. Almost identical. Glock lost traction on the uphill section leading to the start-finish straight, which meant losing a lot of time as he lost all momentum. Pure luck for Hamilton, for sure (though he was unlukcy it rained just before the start and end of the race anyhow).
Alianora La Canta
3rd November 2008, 23:42
If Glock had pitted, the numbers suggest he would have been 7th rather than 6th. The dry tyres simply weren’t the right things to have at Interlagos at that time. I’d go so far as to say it was a measure of the Toyota drivers’ skill (and Timo’s improvement over the course of the season) that they made it to the line without dumping their cars in the kitty litter.
Gman
4th November 2008, 0:04
In terms of boradcast coverage, here in the United States I was very pleased with the SPEED coverage by Bob Varsha, David Hobbs, Steve Matchett, and Peter Windsor. The group kept me on the edge of my seat and made sure not to call it all over until Hamilton had crossed the line. Regarding Glock, the description used at the finish by the SPEED boys was that he had “given up the position”- I took this to mean he had slowed down on purpose, but I doubt this was the case, and the group made no further mention of it.
Overall, a great job all season by a very good group of broadcasters. My only disappointment is that we can’t see them broadcast live from our “home” GP in 2009.
mail123456
4th November 2008, 5:47
Our Bulgarian commentators are usually “somewhere else” or “lap down” when something happens on track BUT on this final lap mr. Manchev was just in place to see Glock’s Toyota :) This time nice work :)
v8
4th November 2008, 7:48
this is the funniest thing i have ever seen.
but i guess this is exactly what i was doing when i thought hamilton was loosing. i got a kind of sadistic pleasure watching this. hahahaha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IuEonD3wu0
v8
4th November 2008, 8:01
oops sorry this is the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOGFNENPrtQ&feature=related
ukk
4th November 2008, 9:24
Actually the Spanish commentators cheered Hamilton as world champion and really enjoyed the spectacle!
What was strange to me was what Kubica did – he did not really need to unlap himself, he was long way off the points either way … but it does not matter anymore :-)
DanielPT
4th November 2008, 12:28
@Ricardo Rocha: Didn’t see your video to be able to say if its a belgium or a french video but since i saw the race live on TF1 last sunday, i can assure that the french commentators also missed Hamilton and Vettel passing glock…
Fittipaldi
4th November 2008, 13:13
Less ashame men. If you don’t know, one of the commentators from TV5 (private TV on Spain) is PEDRO DE LA ROSA. The well known Mclaren test driver. Please don’t take out of context the words. As you can see in this video at the end is de la Rosa, and also there are people working on that tv who likes Hamilton.
http://mitele.telecinco.es/informativos/formula/51684.shtml
Redslive
5th November 2008, 13:21
Crazy race with big stupid win by Hamilton. Next year show him who is he. Massa was really better in this season.
DG
5th November 2008, 15:05
Amy – on the Pit Wall all the teams have access to the same information about where the cars are on the circuit, this helps them work out when to bring the cars into the Pits and when to send them out again. ITV have talked about it – and the FOM broadcast includes a mini version of it.
Unlike in the old days, its now fairly easy for the teams to tell their drivers who is in front and by how much, and probably which tyres they have too. Not just McLaren.
Lustigson
11th November 2008, 11:11
Boy, I just watched the Spanish video — the others were offline — and again had the excitement sent shivers down my spine. What a finale that was…