Rosberg ends the season in style

Winner and star of the race

Where was this form at the beginning of the year? Nico Rosberg took his sixth win of the year and his third in a row. In fact it's been all Rosberg since Lewis wrapped up the championship in America.

Nico was dominant in qualifying, over a third of a second clear as he took his sixth pole position in succession. He streaked away at the start and in truth despite Lewis coming at him in the middle of the race had everything under control.

Hamilton has complained that he feels the way the car has been developed over the latter part of the season has kept him from finding that final bit of pace, but let's not take anything away from Rosberg, he has been in fine form and this is brilliant momentum to take him into the winter and will have him very hopeful for 2016.

But of course 2016 is a whole new beginning. Mercedes should still be strong but Ferrari are after them with particularly Sebastian Vettel surely a major championship challenger next year, but perhaps more importantly for Rosberg, Hamilton will have reset. It should not be forgotten he took the title this year with relative ease, clinching it with three rounds to spare. 

Hamilton has been living the high life even more since he won the title and it's got to be said that even though it might be that he's not as comfortable with the car it's also not too difficult to suggest that perhaps he's taken his eye off the game just a little since he took the big prize. 

With the season starting afresh I expect Lewis to come back stronger and more focused which is when we'll really see if Rosberg can handle another bruising title campaign. With Vettel looking like he'll be part of the fight next year it's even more important that Rosberg can start as strongly as he's finished this year otherwise he may get relegated to a support role for Lewis, something I'm sure he wouldn't enjoy at all. For now though, Rosberg will be feeling confident and that's a good feeling to have as we start the off-season.

Lewis Hamilton finished second and was again arguing with the team about strategy as he tried to get ahead of his team mate, but once again he was found lacking. I'm sure he'll come back stronger as long as he doesn't let those thoughts that Mercedes were trying to help Rosberg out in these last few races.

Kimi Raikkonen produced probably his best weekend of the year with strong qualifying and racing to finish third, while his Ferrari team mate Vettel fought from 15th on the grid to finish fourth. 

Force India's Sergio Perez was a contender for star of the race as he started fourth and finished fifth in what has been a great run of form for the Mexican. His team mate Nico Hulkenberg was way off his pace in seventh. Splitting the Force India's was Daniel Ricciardo who drove a feisty race for sixth, while Williams disappointed as they released Valtteri Bottas into Jenson Button during a pit stop earning him a penalty and a new front wing. Felipe Massa wasn't much better off as he lacked pace for only eighth. A disappointing end to 2015 for Williams.

Romain Grosjean gave a great showing after a grid penalty dropped him to 18th at the start. He rose to ninth with some great battling and a good strategy. It was his last race for Lotus as he goes to join new team Haas next year. Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat claimed the last point.

The battles

Once again we relied on the midfield to provide our entertainment after what was another less than thrilling race. Carlos Sainz was the stronger Toro Rosso driver this weekend with Max Verstappen suffering a scrappy Sunday evening. Jenson Button in the McLaren enjoyed his fighting despite only finishing 13th. Fernando Alonso wanted to retire early after taking out Pastor Maldonado at the start and having to change his front wing and then getting a drive through penalty. It's not been a good year for him. Rumours continue to circulate that the Spaniard may not even drive next year if Honda and McLaren haven't seriously raised their game by the first test.

Reflection

It's been another dominant campaign for Mercedes, but unlike last year until the title was sewn up, Rosberg hasn't been able to match Hamilton for much of the season resulting in a rather uninspired title fight. However, this shouldn't take anything away from Lewis who has driven beautifully for most of the year. His qualifying speed was electric for the first two thirds of the season and when that hasn't been there, he's been aggressive off the start and put Rosberg in his place. I don't think he'll be overly concerned by Rosberg's recent run of form, Hamilton is still the champion after all. 

It's good that Ferrari have slowly begun to catch Mercedes. The scarlet cars are not quite able to match them yet, but another winter could see them make the step up to be silver beaters. Vettel will certainly be ready, he's been rejuvenated this year after struggling during his final season at Red Bull.

At the other end of the grid, the once mighty giant of Formula 1 McLaren will be hoping for something special from Honda over the winter. By all accounts the chassis wasn't too bad, but if Honda can't find the solutions they seek it'll be another tough year facing them.

Special mentions for Perez, Ricciardo and Grosjean, who I think have all delivered strong campaigns this year. Perhaps though it is Max Verstappen who could well be many peoples driver of the year just for his entertainment factor, he has produced some truly inspired driving. Many times this season he has livened up some fairly insipid races.

It's a fact that this year hasn't produced the racing at the front that everyone desires. Sometimes sport is like that though and we shouldn't have overreaction, Formula 1 is still a fine product, and as rules stay the same so competition will close up. I expect a far fiercer battle at the front next season.

Of course this year has been tormented by politics, particularly with regards to money and teams and even the sports rule makers and owners never seeming to be willing to look at the big picture. Hopefully after two teams made a complaint to the European Competition commission there will be some much needed action to put the teams and the sport on a much more even footing and we can concentrate on the racing. For too long have we had to worry about teams and circuit finances and it's time it stopped.

Already teams will be focusing on next season, there's a tyre test next week in Abu Dhabi before real testing for 2016 gets going at the beginning of February. Formula 1 never rests...

photos taken from auto-motor-und-sport.de and autosport.com

Hamilton clinches title in style

Lewis Hamilton is the 2014 world champion, taking it in style by winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It was a calm assured performance, a true champion's drive. There was tension throughout the build up with both drivers looking nervous.

Lewis particularly seemed to just keep an icy stare and be unresponsive, his mind obviously focused on the race ahead. He was second on the grid to his title rival and team mate Nico Rosberg, but got the most perfect immaculate start he could have wished for, Rosberg bogged down slightly, Lewis was in the lead by the first corner.

There wasn’t a better time to be heading the pack, he had the control, he knew Nico needed to be in front to have a chance, but Lewis immediately got a gap and never looked to be under the kind of pressure that actually must have been weighing on him heavily. Through the first round of pit stops the status was maintained.

Lewis kept a gap of over two seconds, then the moment came when he must have allowed himself to relax. It’s fair to say Lewis has had the most reliability problems this year over qualifying and race time, but on lap 23 Rosberg went wide losing a second. Lap 25 the radio message came on air that he was losing power.

He’d lost all his Energy Recovery Power, that’s about 160hp leaving him a sitting duck on the straights. It only got worse as more problems afflicted him and he could do nothing about holding cars back, especially in the DRS zones. By lap 52 he’d dropped out of the points and team told him to pit the car.

It’s a measure of the man that Rosberg said he wanted to go to the end which he did, finishing down in 14^th place. Afterwards he admitted that perhaps the better driver had won this year, but that he’d work harder for 2015, he knows he needs to get better at wheel to wheel combat.

I’m tempted to say that this was his one chance for the title and Lewis will overwhelm him next year, but too many times people have written him off, against Michael Schumacher, against Lewis Hamilton. But he took the championship down to the last race, and I have no doubt he will already be focussing on 2015 and will be back stronger than ever. He has been a more than worthy opponent.

Hamilton though could not relax as Rosberg for a while hung on around fifth position, the place that would make him world champion should the 44 Mercedes retire. As Rosberg then slipped down the field, Lewis took his foot off the throttle a bit allowing Felipe Massa back into contention in the Williams.

As Hamilton pitted for the final time on lap 32 of 55, Massa now in the lead kept going until lap 44 switching to the much quicker super-soft tyre. He carved into Lewis’ 11 second lead, but Lewis reassured his team he was controlling the gap, pumping in the odd fastest lap as proof. But Massa kept on attacking and by the flag was just a couple of seconds behind.

In truth though Hamilton had this entire race in his grasp from the start, capping a brilliant season. He’s suffered reliability problems, he’s made mistakes, he’s been out of sorts in qualifying. No one expected Rosberg to get more pole positions than him but in the races he’s been supreme. 11 victories show just how much of a class act he’s been.

He’s attacked Rosberg for the lead several times over the year, passing his team mate with clinical precision and on the edge manoeuvres that  have shown just how much he wanted it this year.  There’s a case for other drivers to be crowned driver of the year, but with the pressure on him in the best car of the year, fighting a driver who was always there fighting, he didn’t crack. Even after Brazil where Rosberg held him off, it could have affected his game this weekend, but he was focused, and always reset his mind to come back stronger.

Ultimately though Hamilton is the fastest guy out there and quite possibly the best over taker in the business and he’s had ample opportunity to show it this year on a Sunday afternoon.  

Behind Lewis and Massa, Valtteri Bottas took third in the other Williams, fighting back brilliantly after dropping to eighth at the start. Both Red Bull’s had been disqualified from qualifying due to overly flexi front wings and had to start from the pit lane, but Daniel Ricciardo stormed through the field to finish fourth while in his final race for the team Sebastian Vettel could only manage eighth. A sad end to his Red Bull career, but he’ll look forward to reenergising himself at Ferrari next year, although from the sounds of it, that’s going to be full of difficulties.

Jenson Button in possibly his final driver for McLaren and in Formula 1 finished in fifth out-classing his team mate, scoring over double the points of Kevin Magnussen as well as out-qualifying him over the year. Magnussen could only trail in 11^th after a scrappy first lap. Button looked saddened at the end of the race and I think he deserves another year although Magnussen has put together a decent first year.

Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez got Force India a double double points finish getting to the chequered flag in sixth and seventh after racing an alternate strategy to the majority of the field by running the super-soft tyres at the end. Hulkenberg was particularly impressive after suffering an unjust five second penalty for forcing Magnussen off the road.

Fernando Alonso in his last race for Ferrari finished ninth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. A disappointing end to the season and to the Spaniard’s career with the Scuderia after what had promised championship success in 2010. That after five years they have managed only close second places can only be seen as failure on the teams part. Alonso looks set to go to McLaren, but his story seems to be rapidly moving to a career which he’ll see as unfulfilled.

Hamilton though is back on the up, thanks to a crushingly dominant car and some supreme driving. Today he showed his champion qualities to become Britain’s first multiple world champion since Jackie Stewart. This could be the start of a Hamilton era.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Forecast

We've arrived at the final race of the season. The Abu Dhabi track is fast and wide for half of it with the second half having more of a street circuit feel, barriers lining the track quite closely at some points. Pirelli have brought the soft and super-soft tyres which should produce at least a two stop race. There are two DRS zones, one between turns 7 and 8 and the other between 10 and 11, which is more of a curve anyway. The weather as always here looks bright and hot, with temperatures around 30C.

Of course this is a twilight race, it starts in the light and finishes in the dark, so as the temperature lowers the cars could behave differently on their rubber so we could see some interesting strategies unfold.

Only two men can be crowned World Champion now we've reached the finale of the 2014 season. Mercedes team mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have been fighting season long in their battle for supremacy, but it's not quite a winner takes all race.

What looks like a one season only affair with the rule likely to be dropped for next year, the final race of this year is worth double points. It is a quite stupid rule that was meant to make the championship battle last longer, but it's a rule hated by the fans, the F1 press and the drivers, although not Nico Rosberg at the moment, although he concedes he didn't like it at first.

Thankfully Rosberg lies just 17 points behind Hamilton, so even without double points the title fight would have gone to the wire anyway. But if it had been a normal season Hamilton would only have to finish sixth to clinch the title if Rosberg were to win but alas Formula 1 has a tendency to bring turmoil upon itself, only a result that is unaffected by double points will be considered uncontroversial.

I have no problem with either man winning the title despite the current win ratio of 10-5 in Hamilton's favour. Sometimes it pays to be consistent, so a Rosberg championship win would be more than worthy, but only if it is unaffected by double points in my opinion.

However, double points are what we have so here are the permutations for the championship showdown:

Hamilton wins the title if he finishes first or second. If Rosberg finishes second Hamilton must finish fifth or higher. If Rosberg finishes third then Hamilton must finish sixth or higher. If Rosberg finishes fourth then Hamilton must finish eighth or higher. Finally if Rosberg wins the title he can not finish lower than fifth and Hamilton must finish ninth or higher to stop him.

Both drivers will be praying their cars hold together, but the likelihood is that this will be a Mercedes 1-2 such has been their advantage this year. Hamilton would like to win it in style, but even over the course of this season you can see how his driving has matured so perhaps if there is no opportunity to make a move he will settle back for a calm drive to second.

Yes, I agree that's an unlikely scenario, he'll want to put one over on Rosberg one more time. It'll be tough though, Brazil showcased Rosberg at his best. He was the fastest throughout Friday and Saturday, and despite Lewis being quicker on race day, managed to hold him off to take a brilliant win. It gave him confidence and it'll be no surprise to see him win again this weekend. But Lewis is brilliant in Abu Dhabi and I can see him laying down a marker for this season, but also for next year when Mercedes are likely to be challenging for the title again.

Hamilton can see this is an opportunity to get another title, but to trounce Rosberg one more time this season could set the tone for an era of success with Mercedes provided he signs a contract beyond 2015. It takes a lot for Rosberg to be rattled, but he knows he's not as quick, and like Mark Webber before him against Sebastian Vettel, he might see this as his only opportunity to get a championship and we've already seen this season he can get a bit desperate.

There are plenty of other talking points surrounding Formula 1 at the moment, not least the debacle with the smaller teams of Formula 1. Talks will be on-going about how to resolve their financial situation and give a fairer deal to all the teams, but the big teams don't want to give up their monetary advantage and there's more and more a feeling that Formula 1 could be heading for a customer car scenario which I think will lead to more teams folding. The Super GP2 idea is absurd and should be written off already even if the grid numbers fall further.

Bernie Ecclestone's future should be up for debabte too. Unless he's playing a really clever game, which he has done before, then his comments regarding Formula 1's fan base mark him out as someone who should no longer be in control of the motor racing worlds premier series. He has said that the sport doesn't need to appeal to younger viewers, that it's the smaller teams own fault in regards to their financial situation and nothing to do with how uneven the money is shared out. This is someone operating a world away from reality.

Fernando Alonso was expected to be announced as a McLaren driver but that announcement has been put back to 1st December as they decide whether to take Jenson Button or Kevin Magnussen. It's appalling treatment of a world champion, Button deserves a lot better. We can now be certain that Vettel is off to Ferrari, the team confirmed today he is to join them on a three year deal. In other driver news, Romain Grosjean has signed to stay with Lotus for 2015 as they take receipt of Mercedes power units.

Back to the race though, with Mercedes likely to be heading the field Red Bull and Williams are likely to be the main challengers once again. Vettel has won here three times, but it's very unlikely he'll be able to do it again. It's his last race for Red Bull so he'd at least like a podium as a parting gift. Of course he'll have to outdo his team mate Daniel Ricciardo first which has proved a far tougher proposition than he probably thought at the start of the season.

Williams think they'll be strong here, strong enough to interrupt the Mercedes battle? Probably not, but it's one final try at getting a win that I think they deserve. McLaren have shown improved form recently, Button was an absolute star in Brazil, and if this is to be his last race in F1 then he'll want to go out in style.

Alonso is likely to be saying goodbye to Ferrari this weekend, he'll be dragging the most out the car as always but for some reason I have a feeling Kimi Raikkonen may get the better of him this time out ...

Sauber look likely to end the campaign with their first pointless season in their history. Having not retained either of their current drivers I doubt they're going to get 100% commitment from either this weekend.

Caterham let go over 200 employees this week but are re-joining the grid as they seek a buyer for the team. Kamui Kobayashi is driving while Roberto Merhi says he'll be driving the other car but this is all still to be confirmed. It brings the grid back up to 20 cars, but whether they'll still be around for 2015 is another matter entirely.

Some better news about Jules Bianchi too. Although still unconscious he is now out of a coma and has been flown back to France to the Le Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice. He is still however in a serious condition after suffering severe head injuries in the Japanese Grand Prix last month.

So, the finale is upon us and the tension is growing. In one sense it's about who will win the title, in another it's about the huge furore that will erupt should it be decided on double points. Only Formula 1 could potentially screw up a brilliant season. Let's hope it's a great way to end the year.

all photos taken from autosport.com