"Massa Wins, Hamilton Lucky"

...so read the headlines. Massa and his Ferrari have been flawless in Brazil as of late, and this year was no exception. He did everything that he needed to do over the course of the weekend, consistently putting himself at or near the top of the timesheets in practice and qualifying, finishing with a mistake-free drive in sometimes less than ideal conditions on Sunday.

Hamilton, in contrast, did not show the brilliance he is capable of. Perhaps this was his (and more so the team's) reaction to criticism of him being too aggressive in situations where he didn't need to be, or McLaren's fear of putting themselves at risk of another FIA penalty. It's also clear that the MP4-23 in the hands of either driver could not match the pace of the Ferrari all weekend.

This aside, Toyota's decision to not bring in Timo Glock for intermediate tires in the last laps was made to be much more important than it really was. Given the situation, it was not a bad gamble because he actually gained a position relative to where he was before the rain. But dry tires are not good in the wet, and holding on to fourth place was unlikely. Consider what the headlines would have read if Hamilton was in Glock's position and he made the same gamble.

But the championship is more than just the last race, so let's think back to other factors throughout the season. Each driver had his share of mistakes, the most notable being Hamilton's pit lane blunder in Montreal and Massa's dreadful performance at Silverstone in the wet. Hamilton's poor choice of tires in Q2 at Monza, Massa's lack of car control in Australia. And misfortune? Hamilton: puncture in Hungary and the absolutely ridiculous penalty at Spa. Massa: engine failure in Valencia and the pitstop catastrophe in Singapore.

So was Lewis really lucky to win the championship? Not at all. The championship should be decided on track, and the penalties handed to him at Spa and Fuji were questionable at the very least. Hamilton showed this year more than anyone else why he deserved the crown. Had Massa won the championship, he would have been the lucky one.

Still, winning requires a bit of good fortune and some say it is better to be lucky than good. Lewis can be thankful that he is both.