SAO PAULO - Team chief Ron Dennis admitted Sunday that McLaren were caught out by Timo Glock's decision to stay on dry tyres at the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix - a move that almost cost Lewis Hamilton his drivers' world title.

Dennis, whose team celebrated their first drivers' championship since 1999 thanks to Hamilton's nail-biting last-gasp fifth place finish, said McLaren had not expected German Glock to carry on as he did.

"That was a really difficult race," said Dennis.

"Who would have thought Glock would stay out on dry tyres? We were just looking at it in the last two laps thinking: 'Do we fight for the position with Vettel, or do we let him go?

"And how's it going to happen?' Boy I tell you that was one hell of a call and we're pleased for the team- but delighted for Lewis."

McLaren's decision to call in Hamilton for wet-weather tyres for the closing laps meant that he rejoined in sixth place, not fifth, when he had to finish in the top five to take the world title.

Glock stayed out, but his decision finally caught up with him when his tyres deteriorated on the final lap and Hamilton passed him to take fifth and the championship at the final set of corners.

Dennis added: "It's great. It was a really difficult race. We saw the Ferraris and Alonso go away earlier on and we just couldn't race after them. We knew, you know, that we didn't want to race with them.

"So we had fourth and fifth to play with. But it was not easy at all." Dennis said Hamilton was a deserving champion for his team and for Britain.

He said: "We've got a couple of youngsters out there we are looking after, but he is very special you know. He has not just won a world championship, he is the youngest ever world champion.

"And he has done it so well. Every statistic over the last two years, he has beaten. He has still finished this season with more points than any other driver over the last two years. So he deserved to win the world championship."

Hamilton became McLaren's first drivers champion since Finn Mika Hakkinen in 1999, joining a very special club that included Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi (1974), Briton James Hunt (1976), Austrian Niki Lauda (1984), Frenchman Alain Prost (1985, 1986 and 1989), Brazilian Ayrton Senna (1988, 1990 and 1991) and Hakkinen (1998 and 1999).