2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton

Minichamps 1:18 2008 McLaren MP4-23 Brazil GP Lewis Hamilton

My first F1 diecast model is Lewis Hamilton's World Championship car MP4-23. On November 2, 2008, Lewis won the driver's championship by beating Massa by 1 point (ouch!). 

Coming in to the race, Lewis only needed to secure the fifth position if Felipe is to win the Brazil GP. As expected, Felipe showed faultless driving starting from pole and winning the race. Up to the start of lap 71, it seemed Massa will be crowned F1 champion. At this point, Lewis is still in 6th position behind Timo Glock which is not enough to win. After Massa crossed the finish line, Ferrari seems to be the winner and is just waiting for Lewis to finish the last lap. But in the final lap, Lewis was able to pass Glock because of a degrading tyre in Timo's car. And that is enough to give Lewis Hamilton his first F1 World Championship edging Felipe Massa by a solitary point.

Below are some other stats for Lewis 2008 campaign:
5 Wins - 7 Poles - 10 Podiums - 98 Points - 1st Place driver's championship

Here are the pictures of the first diecast model I bought. It's a Minichamps 1:18 MP4-23 Lewis Hamilton (2008). 

Disclaimer: I am not a photographer and is also not pretending to be one! I just like to take pictures of my collection :)

Some other views of the model: