As the year is coming to an end, some of the sports competitions
will also reach their conclusion. Champions will be crowned while losers will
suffer the ignominy of defeat. A whole of the others will ponder to themselves
during their off season, “what if we had done this and gotten the results…”.
What a year it has been for Formula 1 this year. While Mercedes has
definitely dominated the field with their deep understanding in producing the
new power units required for this season, they had left the field with a lot of
catching up to do. In fact, they are so far ahead in the competition where
usually Mercedes GP usually wins the races. Not only that, with them being the
engine supplier for Williams, they too managed to get into the front-runners
consistently. Even though Mercedes GP has already secured the constructors
titles, the real fight has only just begun with their 2 drivers.
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg has been going at each other
throughout the season. While Hamilton had won the title before, this year seems
to be Rosberg’s breakout year, with a string of good results and wins. Both
drivers were also dogged by reliability issues where they did not finish in a
couple of races.
The 2 of them were actually team mates during their karting days and
forged a good friendship throughout the years. Since Hamilton joined Mercedes
last year, I had actually thought that the 2 of them could actually work well
together to put up a good show for the team. Last year was not that bad as
Mercedes did not have a particularly good car and there was not much pressure
on anyone of them. This year was actually a whole new story. With Rosberg being
more consistent in his car and Hamilton having reliability issues in the first
half of the season, Rosberg led the standings throughout. Even when Hamilton
was racing, both of them were so far ahead and the team principal actually
allowed them to race each other. They provided a lot of close wheel to wheel
actions throughout the season. They seemed to enjoy every moment of that and it
seemed like 2 close friends having friendly competitions between them.
As Rosberg continued to lead, Hamilton was fast gaining onto
Rosberg’s lead. The pressure to win and become champion proved too much for the
2 drivers. Slowly their friendship would be severely tested until the point
that during media interviews that only address each other as team mates. Testy
relationships are pretty common when you have 2 ace drivers in the rank. Just
think back towards the last few seasons with Redbull Racing. Sebastien Vettel
and Mark Webber clashed constantly, but their objectives are to win and they
helped Redbull brought home 4 consecutive constructors’ title. Going a bit
further back when Fernando Alonso joined Mclaren Mercedes, he was welcomed by
then rookie, Hamilton. Although Hamilton was a rookie, he showed his talent and
pushed Alonso all the way. In the end Alonso left Mclaren Mercedes after just
one season.
The pressure could have gotten into Rosberg this year because he
really felt that he can be a world champion. He might not even have the luck or
opportunity after this season, but he is coming up against his team mate.
Rosberg had shown that he has the hunger to win every races and he want’s to be
a world champion. Hamilton seemed more matured in his drives this year and
looked just a little bit faster and more consistent when it mattered.
Provided the 2 of them finishes the next 2 races in United States
and Brazil, the championship will definitely come down to the final race at Abu
Dhabi. With double points on offer at the last race, the pressure for each of
them will be so huge that one can only anticipate a good fight till the end.
Although as much as I prefer Rosberg, I believe Hamilton will prevail comes Abu
Dhabi. His experience and guts and precision during overtaking will push him
through to win his second world driver’s title this year.
