Motor Sport: Kimi Raikkonen sensationally grabbed Formula One world title glory as a disastrous start and a malfunctioning McLaren denied Lewis Hamilton a place in the history books.
In one of the closest finishes ever seen, Raikkonen's victory at today's Brazilian Grand Prix enabled him to finish one point ahead of both Hamilton and team-mate Fernando Alonso in the standings.
There was always likely to be one final extraordinary twist to the most astonishing of seasons in the 58 years of the sport, and so it proved at Interlagos.
Hamilton looked nervous minutes before the race started as he sat on his haunches under an umbrella held by father Anthony, with his back to a wall.
When the siren sounded to signal 10 minutes to the race start, he rose and gave his dad a huge bear hug, whispering into his ear "I love you dad."
It was a touching moment but once the five red lights disappeared to signal the start of the race, Hamilton made a crucial error early on.
Allowing Raikkonen to pass on the approach to the first corner was not a problem bearing in mind the seven-point gap to the Finn.
But as Raikkonen pressed behind Felipe Massa he braked sharply, forcing Hamilton to bunch up behind him, and that gave Alonso the opportunity he needed to pass his team-mate around the outside.
Hamilton's error came when he then tried to retake Alonso down the straight of the Reta Opasta, braking hard and running wide, allowing four cars to pass and dropping him to eighth.
Even then that was not overly disastrous because at least he had his title rivals in his sights, and soon he was up to sixth after passing the Toyota of Jarno Trulli and BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.
But then on lap eight it appeared as if Hamilton's dream would surely die as he dramatically slowed, almost to a standstill. Hamilton could be seen rocking in his McLaren, virtually willing it to get going, while all the time the field streamed by.
Whatever the problem, his car finally regained power, but the malfunction had relegated him to 18th place and 41 seconds adrift of Massa.
It forced the team into changing their strategy, pushing him into a three-stopper in the hope that fuelling him short would propel him up the field.
But in the end it was not enough as Hamilton could only come home a distraught seventh, so missing out on the chance to become the first rookie, and the youngest driver, to take the title.
Instead, it was Raikkonen the man celebrating, leaving McLaren in despair as not even Alonso could claim a third successive crown, finishing third behind a Ferrari one-two as Massa came second on home soil.
Massa comfortably led for 50 laps, but with his team aware of the title situation, there was no surprise with what unfolded.
Raikkonen, who had been within two seconds of Massa when he pitted, stayed out for three extra laps and flew around the circuit.
It was enough for Raikkonen as he just came out ahead of Massa, eventually taking the chequered flag by 1.4secs.
Hamilton had the title in his grasp just over two weeks ago going into the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai.
But how the team will rue keeping him out on severely-worn tyres that led to him ending up in a gravel trap and without a point.