Formula One: Cutting Corners

MAURICIO LIMA / AFP / GETTY

WHIZ KID: A big budget helped power McLaren's Hamilton to victory in Brazil

To get an idea of the gap between a winner and an also-ran in motor racing's toughest series, consider the contrasting fortunes of two drivers in the Nov. 2 Brazilian Grand Prix, the final race of the year. In just his second season in Formula One, 23-year-old Briton Lewis Hamilton became its youngest ever world champion, sensationally grabbing fifth place on the last corner of the Interlagos track in São Paulo to claim motor sport's premier prize by a single point from hometown hero and Ferrari star Felipe Massa. Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was less fortunate. Fisichella, 35, and in his thirteenth...

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