... AS HE PLOTS NEW PATH TO LEGENDS’ STATUS

LEWIS HAMILTON is the first Formula One driver to win 10 races in a season and fail to secure the world title – and he will not be celebrating. “You can’t win them all,” the 31-year-old Briton said as he conceded the title to Nico Rosberg in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. “I did everything I could these last four races. A big congratulations to Nico his first world championship.” Defeat in the title race, in which German Rosberg got nine race wins, means Hamilton will have to wait to become only the fifth driver with four or more world titles – Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel won four, Juan-Manuel Fangio five and Michael Schumacher seven. That means Hamilton is brilliant but not quite a Formula One legend. Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who aged 86 has seen every champion crowned since the world title began in 1950, has said Hamilton is needed by Formula One. “As a driver, he (Hamilton) is absolutely outstanding,” Ecclestone told reporters this year. “He is box office, 100%. It doesn’t matter what comes out of Lewis’s mouth. It’s good even if it’s silly. He’s great for the sport.”