ROME (AP) - Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo hailed Kimi Raikkonen's Formula One title as a product of team spirit.

"The difference between us and (McLaren) is that we're a team, and in the last race our drivers helped each other. And in the toughest times we were even more united," Montezemolo said Monday on Italian state radio.

Raikkonen sealed the title by winning the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday. McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were 1-2 in the standings entering the race, but Hamilton ran into trouble when he tried to pass Alonso on the opening lap.

Alonso finished third in the race and Hamilton was seventh.

Raikkonen finished the season with 110 points, while Hamilton and Alonso were next with 109 each.

"After Hamilton's start and that needless attack on Alonso, I knew we could do it," Montezemolo said.

Ferrari's other driver, Felipe Massa, started on pole position and Raikkonen took the lead by passing his teammate on the final pit stop.

The season was marred by a spying scandal that led to a record US$100 million (euro70 million) fine for McLaren, which was found guilty of using leaked data from Ferrari. The British team was kicked out of the constructors' championship, which was easily won by Ferrari.

"It would have been paradoxical if a driver had won with a car that was judged irregular and suspended," Montezemolo said.

"Yesterday was a triumph of sport in the face of a lot of controversy and disloyalty. In the end, sports justice prevailed."

Raikkonen is the third Ferrari driver to win in his rookie season with the team, after Juan Manuel Fangio (1956) and Jody Scheckter (1979).

"In eight years we've won six drivers' titles and seven constructors' championships, and we've done it against the best auto manufacturers in the world," Montezemolo said.