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Last race to decide the winner
With one race to go and 17 points behind Lewis Hamilton, it seems all but over for Nico Rosberg as far as his championship dreams are concerned. Lewis has been on a roll, winning five of the last six races and looked quicker of the two drivers in Brazil as well. Hamilton has an edge over his teammate heading into Abu Dhabi and looks like the firm favorite to win his second World Championship. But, in case he doesn’t and Rosberg takes the title then tongues might start wagging asking if the German is a worthy champion or not? (Something Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel had to go through as well when they won their first titles).
Hamilton won more races
Rosberg deserves the credit for a good season. He has done what no one expected him to do this year, he has outqualified the driver who is considered by many as the fastest driver in a single lap on the grid and that shows how good he has been this year. It also is a testimony of how much work Rosberg has put in to squeeze out those extra tenths when it mattered in qualifying. Sadly for Rosberg the story ends there, as another glaring stat that tilts it all in Hamilton’s favor has been the number of wins this year.
With the Brit winning almost twice as many races as Rosberg this year and not losing to Rosberg in a wheel to wheel combat (Rosberg is yet to pull a decisive overtaking move on Hamilton all year) there‘s hardly been a doubt about who has been the better driver this year.
Rule Change playing a part in the finale
Having said that, Rosberg is still within striking distance of winning his first ever title and it’s not his fault that the last race awards you double the points. So if he does end up overhauling that 17 point deficit and winning the title, he will definitely deserve every bit of it. Will it mean he was the better driver all year? Many would say no. Will it put him up in the league of Fernando Alonso,Kimi Raikkonen, Vettel and Hamilton? Certainly not. But it will make him a World Champion and a worthy one at that because he would’ve stuck it out and when it mattered, he delivered.
The worthy/unworthy champion debate is what is going to make the last Grand Prix of the year an enticing one. It would be interesting to see how the paddock takes in a champion who wins because of a single rule change brought in at the start of the year. How critical would the British media be of such a development and how would the current championship leader react to it. At the end of the day though, these are the rules for this year and whoever finishes with more points at the end of the year will deserve to be the champ.
