Hamilton’s just champion!

The final race of the F1 season promised intrigue and drama and duly delivered, although not in the manner many expected.

Instead of wheel-to-wheel action and the possibility of the Williams cars spoiling the party, it was the questionable reliability of the Mercedes car that kept fans on the edge of their seats.

While Rosberg will likely regret his loss of power as a result of a failed ERS, by the stage he slowed he was already reliant on the demise of Hamilton’s car to win the championship having relinquished the lead on the very first bend of the race and then lost valuable seconds as he locked his tyres in desperate pursuit.
 
As he went backwards through the field he frequently radioed his garage to check whether he could still finish fifth, the minimum required should Hamilton retire.
 
In the end he was lapped although at least, when offered the chance to come into the pits, the title challenger chose to continue to the end and then was warm in his praise of the winner, regaining the honour he lost while racing at Spa.
But this is not how it was meant to finish.

Hamilton and Rosberg, childhood friends and karting prodigies, had often dreamt of this moment, fighting side-by-side for the world championship.
 
The showdown at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, the fascination heightened by the double points on offer, assured a thrilling finale thanks to the Mercedes pledge to allow their drivers to fight each other to the end, first witnessed this season in an electrifying duel in Bahrain which Hamilton clinched.  Indeed it was Sakhir that set the scene for the F1 competition that was more similar to their karting duels as teenagers.

This winner-takes-all climax had fans reminiscing back to 1964 when John Surtees made history against all odds to become the first man to win on four wheels having won four world motorcycling titles. More recent final-day thrillers have been Vettel’s first victory in 2010 when he came from third in the championship to clinch the title or the two controversy-fuelled endings in ’94 and ‘97, both involving Michael Schumacher crashing with his nearest challenger.

In the end the race evoked memories of, ironically given his role with Mercedes, Nicky Lauda’s 1984 second place in Portugal to secure the title, although Hamilton went one better.

Hamilton’s 11th victory sees him equal Schumacher and Vettel for most race wins in a season and his 33rd career victory means he overtakes Alonso in the all-time list while it also clinched Mercedes the accolade for most wins in a single season, passing both McLaren and Ferrari. This is also the first title for Mercedes since the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio took the honours way back in 1955.

Almost lost in the celebrations was Felipe Massa’s second place, his best result for over two years. With Valtteri Bottas completing the podium, Williams had two drivers sprayed with bubbly for the first time since Monaco in 2005 and overhauled Ferrari in the constructors’ championship.

In an attempt to flex their muscles to regain competitiveness, Red Bull fell foul of the sport’s governing body FIA in Abu Dhabi when their front wing was found to contain an illegal spring that allowed the wing to bend, thereby enabling an aerodynamic advantage. Their resulting relegation to the back of the grid had the team metaphorically throwing their toys out of the pit garage as they complained they were being unfairly singled out, although it did not prevent Ricciardo finishing an excellent debut season in fourth.

Yas Island also witnessed the end of several eras. Sebastian Vettel leaves Red Bull having joined in 2007 after delivering four world titles and 39 race victories. He will be joining Ferrari as a replacement for Fernando Alonso who ignominiously departs as the first to leave without a title since Berger and Alesi in 1995, although he did finish runner-up on three occasions.

In the F1 merry-go-round it is rumoured that he will be joining McLaren, who will welcome Honda as their engine supplier, a replacement for Mercedes. If Jenson Button’s skidding doughnuts on the track after racing were a sign-off, Alonso will partner Kevin Magnussen, despite him securing less than half the number of points of the 2009 champion.

In my personal opinion it is Lewis Hamilton that is most deserving of the title. I appreciate that there is an argument that Rosberg is the more conservative driver and therefore deserves the championship on that basis.

I do not believe that he would be as close to Hamilton had the opposition been more closely packed. On the occasions that he has had to fight his way through the field his passage has been relatively straightforward. Hamilton is much more capable of fighting his way to the front and also racing in the wet, Hungary and Japan being classic examples.

Rosberg was also fortunate not to be penalised in Canada when he cut the corner, increasing his lead over Hamilton at a time when the Brit looked set for victory, although ultimately had to retire having over-cooked his brakes.

Rosberg has won 11 poles this season, arguable demonstrating his superior single-lap pace. However, in winning 11 races, it is Hamilton who has delivered when it matters, constantly passing his teammate.

Away from the track F1 would not be what it is without a controversy or two brewing. The two hot topics currently surround the engines and the distribution of income to the teams from the FIA.

The dominance of Mercedes and overall competitiveness of their engines, leading to the relative success of teams such as Williams, has led to other teams attempting to find ways around the freeze on engine development.

Several proposals to change the engine specifications have been put forward by both Ferrari and Red Bull (Renault). One argument has been to create an improvement in noise levels (to appeal to those would prefer to revert to the noisier engines of the past) while another has been to reduce the costs.

Indeed it is the cost of the engines that represents one of the highest overheads for teams who are estimated to be paying between $20-30m.

Any amendment to the engine freeze would require the unanimous support of all teams, an unlikely scenario given Mercedes’ advantage over its rivals. The one recipient of their engines to have struggled this season is McLaren, although it is quite possible that they have been working hard behind the scenes with their new partner, Honda, the motor powerhouse that will make a welcome return to F1 next season.

The arguments from Ferrari and Red Bull appear to be nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt to regain competitiveness.  If they were truly concerned about the plight of the poorer teams then surely they would support the redistribution of wealth (including that due to the now-defunct Marussia) that has been proposed by Lotus, Force India and Sauber. However, they chose to use their right to veto the proposal.

This mini-crisis shows no signs of abating with all three of the struggling teams being summoned to a press conference ahead of the Abu Dhabi GP with the first two sending junior representatives while Sauber boycotted it altogether.

No doubt F1 will do its best to remain in the headlines in the 66 days until the first pre-season test begins, when Nico Rosberg will again attempt to emulate the father-son combination of Graham and Damon Hill. Hopefully, the next season will also see Jules Bianchi recover sufficiently to play some part and Michael Schumacher well enough to enjoy the action from the stands.