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Hamilton broke Alonso's record to become F1's youngest world champion

Lewis Hamilton has won the 2008 F1 world championship after finishing fifth in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Hamilton has become the youngest ever driver to win the F1 world championship. Aged 23 years and 301 days, he has beaten Fernando Alonso’s record of 24 years 59 days which was set in 2005.

Hamilton is the ninth different British driver to win the world championship and his is the 13th title win by a British driver:

Countries’ champions

1. Britain 13 (Mike Hawthorn, Graham Hill (2), Jim Clark (2), John Surtees, Jackie Stewart (3), James Hunt, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Lewis Hamilton)
2. Brazil 8 (Emerson Fittipaldi (2), Nelson Piquet (3), Ayrton Senna (3))
3. Germany 7 (Michael Schumacher)
4. Argentina 5 (Juan Manuel Fangio)
=5. Australia 4 (Jack Brabham (3), Alan Jones)
=5. Austria 4 (Jochen Rindt, Niki Lauda (3))
=5. France 4 (Alain Prost)
=5. Finland 4 (Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen (2), Kimi Raikkonen)
9. Italy 3 (Giuseppi Farina, Alberto Ascari (2))
=10. United States 2 (Phil Hill, Mario Andretti)
=10. Spain 2 (Fernando Alonso)
=12. New Zealand 1 (Denny Hulme)
=12. South Africa 1 (Jody Scheckter)
=12. Canada 1 (Jacques Villeneuve)

McLaren’s champions

Hamilton is the seventh different driver to win a world championship for McLaren, joining Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Mika Hakkinen. The seven won 12 drivers’ titles in total for McLaren.

But Hamilton is only the second British driver to win a title for McLaren - the first being Hunt.