With that he offered James Hunt, the only remaining competitor, the chance to close the gap of three points. The Briton was well on his way to get the job done, but after the rain had stopped and the tarmac dried quickly, problems with his wet-weather tires loomed. Five laps before the end it did indeed go wrong at the front left.
The pit stop that had become necessary threw Hunt back from second to fifth, not enough to raise the flag. A literal catch-up ensued and after taking out Alan Jones and Clay Regazzoni, Hunt crossed the line in third, passing Lauda and pointing to second in the final standings.
2007: Hamilton refined
Lewis Hamilton also has extensive experience with exciting denouements. He had failed to finish in China in 2007, but had nevertheless made it to Brazil four points ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso and seven over Kimi Räikkönen.
The general classification leader had gearbox problems early in the race at Interlagos and was unable to play any meaningful role. He only finished seventh. Alonso might have saved the furniture for McLaren Mercedes, but the Spaniard was stuck in third place.
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