Hamilton wins F1 title at 23

Lewis Hamilton of McLaren became Formula One’s youngest champion on Sunday, making a pass on the final turn of the last lap to finish fifth in the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo and win the title by one point over Felipe Massa.

Ferrari’s Massa won the race in front of his home crowd, but it wasn’t enough to erase the seven-point lead Hamilton held entering the season-ending race.

Just one year after Hamilton lost the title by one point after entering the final race with a seven-point lead, the 23-year-old Briton passed Toyota’s Timo Glock on the last lap to win the championship. Fernando Alonso was 24 when he won the title in 2005 for Renault.

Despite the drivers’ title, McLaren finished second to Ferrari in the constructors’ championship.

NHRA

Cruz Pedregon moved into first place in the Funny Car series standings after winning the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals. Pedregon came in as the third-place holder in the series standings.

In Pro Stock, Jeg Coughlin won and remained on top of the series standings. All Coughlin needs to do in order to clinch is qualify on the first day of the final event at Pomona, Calif., on Nov. 13.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Chris Rivas won to move up in the series standings after 16 of 17 races. Season points leader Matt Smith lost valuable points in qualifying that allowed second-place Eddie Krawiec to cut the gap to 19 points and permitted Rivas to move into third place, just 39 points behind Smith.

In Top Fuel, Tony Schumacher added to his 2008 points title by winning an event crown. Schumacher became the season’s Top Fuel champion for his sixth time just by qualifying on Saturday.