Champion Hamilton short for words

"It's pretty much impossible to put into words, I am still speechless," Hamilton said after the race.

"My whole family is here, my dad's here.

"It has been such a long journey and with a lot of support from people back home. My team did a fantastic job all year and all the sacrifices we made, I'm so thrilled to be able to do this for everyone."

Hamilton secured the title after a heart-stopping final lap, in which he had to overtake Toyota's Timo Glock with just a couple of corners to go to move into fifth after the rain hit the track near the end of the race.

The McLaren driver lost fifth place to Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel going into the final lap, but Glock was on dry weather tyres and could not keep Hamilton at bay in the end.

Hamilton admitted it had been one of the toughest races of his life.

"Before it started to rain I was quite comfortable. My tyres were a little bit shot so I was struggling to keep the pace up, but I was able to stay ahead of them and that's all," he said.

"Then it started to drizzle and I didn't want to take any risks. Then he (Vettel) got past me and I was told that I had to get in front of him, and I couldn't believe it. Then at the last corner I managed to get past Glock and I'm telling you it was just amazing. I can only thank God.

"Just before I got to him they said you have to get past Glock, so I was trying my hardest to get to Vettel but he was just as quick as me, if not a little bit quicker. It was one of the toughest races of my life, if not the toughest."

The Briton, who finished one point ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa, admitted he did not know if he had won the title when he crossed the finish line.

"I was shouting: "Do I have it, do I have it?" and then they came on when I was at Turn One and they told me and I was ecstatic.

"It's been a dream."