Lewis Hamilton - 2008 Formula One World Champion

I made this blog post ready last week but was still refining the content and was hopeful to post at-least this week. After looking at the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix 2012 qualifying results where Lewis Hamilton qualified for P1 with Jenson button by side with P2 , I was dreaming this post will be a tribute to him ( at-least from my side ) if Lewis Hamilton wins the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix at the Sepang Circuit. Well , sometimes things don't go the way we anticipate. It was a stunning race , Fernando Alonso crossed the chequered flag first winning the 2012 Malaysian F1 Grand Prix ( finished 9th in the qualifying ) with Lewis Hamilton finishing second. Not a bad race though for Lewis Hamilton but still a win would have made a huge difference.

In 2008 Austria post issued a stamp on Lewis Hamilton honoring his 2008 F1 World Championship as part of the Formula One Legends Series. Lewis Hamilton's 2008 Formula One Championship ended a 8 year domination by Ferrari/Renault. The 2008 championship went down to the wire to the extent the drivers title was decided in the last lap of the last race.  Lewis Hamilton won the title by a point and became the youngest driver to win the drivers championship. Sebastian Vettel replaced Lewis Hamilton as the youngest driver to win the driver championship when he won the 2010 title.

Felise Massa crossed the chequered flag winning the last race of the 2008 season and he was the 2008 champion for a brief moment , but it didn't last longer when Lewis Hamilton overtake Timo Glock securing Hamilton the one point lead over Felipe Massa. I still remember this race , I was watching live on a very early monday morning and jumping around celebrating Ferrari's Felipe Massa victory. But within seconds everything changed and Lewis Hamilton became the 2008 Formula One Champion.

Mario Andretti

I did enough of google but still it doesn't look like another Formula 1 related stamp will be released anytime soon. It's already March and Formula 1 2012 season is on the way. Last year we had the first Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix , guess who is the newcomer this season ? Yes , Formula One returns to United States and this time it is in Austin, Texas. Circuit of the Americas, a brand new racing track will host the 19^th race of the 2012 season.

Let's look at one of the greatest drivers US has ever produced - Mario Andretti. He owns the rare feat of winning all the major racing championships such as Formula One World Championship ( 1978 ) , Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967). He is also the last American to win a Formula One race , 1978 Dutch Grand Prix.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines issued a commemorative stamp to honor this greatest driver in the auto racing history. This stamp has the caption “Greatest Sportsmen of the 20th Century” , well who can deny it.