ROSBERG FENDS OF HAMILTON TO WIN MAIDEN F1 TITLE
HISTORIC: Mercedes AMG Petronas driver clinches world title in tense finale
LEWIS Hamilton played every trick he could to save the title he has owned for the past two years, but it was not enough here under the desert lights. And Nico Rosberg is the champion of the world.
A dusk race that hinted at unimaginable drama ended up with the Mercedes AMG Petronas first and second.
To Hamilton the race win. To Rosberg the crown. By five points after 21 rounds.
It was always the most likely outcome, given that Rosberg carried a 12-point lead into the title-decider.
The question was how Hamilton would go about the race.
Roar into the lead and to hell with the title ramifications? Or try to bunch his teammate Rosberg into the pack and leave him perilously close to the Ferraris and Red Bulls?
He did the latter, limiting his speed at the front. It caused him to hear the wrath of his Mercedes team, who repeatedly instructed him to speed up. He brushed aside the requests, telling them that they should ‘let us race’.
There were two or three perilous moments for the German. The first came at his initial pit stop. He was delayed there by the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen coming in. He, therefore, found himself behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who was on a one-stop, rather than two-stop, strategy.
Verstappen was then holding up Rosberg, opening the possibility of Red Bull getting their other driver, Daniel Ricciardo, in and out ahead of Rosberg.
Mercedes gave the order for Rosberg to push, and he did. It was a close call at corner eight, the tyres of the pursuing Mercedes and of Verstappen coming close. Then, at the next corner, Rosberg exited smartly, pulling away on the second straight.
By beating three-time champion Hamilton the usually-reserved Rosberg did far more than that.
Rosberg realised a dream and silenced his critics when he emulated his father Keke’s achievement and claimed his maiden drivers’ championship.
In addition to persuading F1’s veteran commercial ring-master Bernie Ecclestone to “eat his words” after saying that a Rosberg title win would be bad for business, he left several other pundits chewing furiously.
His father famously won only one race in his 1982 title triumph and a career total of five, but Rosberg swept to the title with nine wins this year.
His overall triumph against Hamilton reflected his character — his refusal to concede, a relentless competitiveness and a cerebral attention to detail.
It also enabled Rosberg to exorcise the demons that appeared to inhabit his intense competition with Hamilton, a relationship which dates back to teenage karting days, which has exploded with collisions in the last four years.
Rosberg reliving the final tense laps, said: “With the guys (Vettel and Verstappen) coming up behind me the end was not the most enjoyable.
“I’m very proud to have done the same feat as my Dad achieved.”
On the podium, Hamilton’s good grace returned and he gave Rosberg a handshake and a hug.
“Big congratulations to Nico, good job man,” said Hamilton.