I Was Fighting As Hard As I Could, Says Glock

Many people will be praised for helping Lewis Hamilton become formula one champion but prior to yesterday, few would have imagined Timo Glock being among that group. The Toyota driver, however, has probably become the second most popular racing driver in Britain following his slip on the final corner of the final lap at Interlagos which allowed Hamilton to overtake him and, in turn, take the title.

In the Sao Paulo downpour, Glock and his team made the mistake of sticking with dry-weather tyres and as the German looked set to secure fifth place in the last race of his debut F1 season, his car slipped out of position, allowing Hamilton to pass.

"It was raining quite badly and it was just impossible on the last lap," said Glock. "I was fighting as hard as I could but it was so difficult to just keep the car on the track and I lost positions right at the end of the lap.

"But finishing in the top six is a decent result for me because I'd been struggling with the car earlier in the weekend. But we were very close to fourth place so I am a bit disappointed."

The 26-year-old should, however, be satisfied with his year's work. He finished with 25 points having secured a second-place finish in Hungary alongside fourth-place finishes in Canada and Singapore.

Such an accolade appeared unlikely after he crashed out of the campaign's first race in Australia and then spun out of contention in Malaysia a week later. But he continued to improve and finally showed his potential in Montreal.

To those within F1, Glock's rise is not a surprise. After success at F3 level, he was employed by Jordan in 2004 as a third driver and following a contract dispute between the regular driver Giorgio Pantano and team manager, Eddie Jordan, was put into a race car for that year's Canadian grand prix, where he finished seventh. It was then that Jordan affectionately christened him Tim O'Glock.

Pantano eventually returned but that did not spell the end for the German who became a test driver for BMW Sauber in 2007 before being taken on by Toyota.

As Glock's career takes off, David Coulthard's comes to an end. The Scot raced for the final time yesterday to end a career that spanned 15 seasons, 246 races, 61 podium finishes and 13 victories.

It was an anticlimactic finale for the 37-year-old, however, after he crashed at the first corner. "I'm pretty gutted, it's not how I wanted to end my career," said Coulthard, who will continue to work with his current team, Red Bull, as an adviser. "I was going to do some dough nuts for the crowd but it didn't work out."