SAO PAULO, Brazil, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Lewis Hamilton suffered a disastrous start to the Brazilian Grand Prix where he is involved in a three-way showdown for the world drivers´ championship.

The rookie McLaren driver started on the front row alongside polesitter Felipe Massa but was beaten to the first corner by one of his title rivals, Ferrari´s Kimi Raikkonen, with the other contender, his McLaren teammate and defending world champion Fernando Alonso, passing him immediately after.

Then in his desperation to get past Alonso he slid off at the fourth corner on the first lap, dropping back to eighth, only to suffer engine trouble which saw him drop back to 18th.

By lap 10 Massa held the lead from Raikkonen with Alonso placed third.

Hamilton tops the driver´s standings on 107 points from Alonso on 103 and Raikkonen on 100.

Hamilton went into this title decider knowing that he needed to only finish second irrespective of where Alonso and Raikkonen finished to become the first rookie to claim the title and the first Briton since Damon Hill in 1996.

This is the first three-way showdown for the championship since 1986.

Success for Alonso would make him the first driver since the great Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio to win successive titles with different teams.