PPo

If Hammy was faster then Nico in qualifying, Nico would have lost.
If Hammy hada better start and beat Nico to turn one, Nico would have lost.
If Hammy passed Nico before Hammy spun, Nico would have lost.
If Hammy passed Nico after the last round of pit stops, Nico would have lost.

Hamilton had the WHOLE weekend to beat Nico... and he couldn't.

Why can't people accept the fact that Hamilton lost a race to Nico fairly?

pontifex4

+1. He was within DRS range for a few laps and Nico didn't crumble (I have to admit that I expected he would). I like Lewis better than Nico, but I would like to see Nico upset him in the championship.

FGL28

Lewis did not have to win. Nico won. So what. It comes down to Abu Dhabi because of the stupid double points. Winning 4 Grand Prix in a row, winning 5 Grand Prix in a row finishing on the podium starting frm pit lane, well we all know that that is a sign of the worst driver for Mercedes.

jbossolo

Again, no brainer, at least for me. It's been done plenty before-
Prost on Senna (89' Suzuka)
Senna on Prost (90' Suzuka)
Schumi on Hill (94' Adelaide)
Schumi on Villeneuve (97' Jerez)
Plus, let's not forget Rosberg did crash Hammy on purpose earlier this year at Spa.
I'd return the favor for the championship at Abu Dhabi. Remember, MB has absolutely nothing to loose, these chassis/engines are done for as of next year, and they already have won the manufacturer's trophy.
They might get pissed off at Hammy, but so what? He already has a signed contract with them for next year.

A.Wayne

Will Hamilton have an Irvine, 99 pitstop ...... Reality, this is the only way NR can win, he is obviously not in the same zip code at race pace....

996FLT6

All hammy has to do is play it safe and stay behind rosberg thru out the race. Hammy doesn't need to win it outright at all. No need to engage just keep car in one piece til the end. Mike

Larry Herman

Paging Mr. Wayne, Mr. A. Wayne.......


Maybe Rosberg got into the wrong car this past weekend?

multi21

It was a flip of the coin really, but A Wayne called the wrong car having trouble.

Larry, Can you JUST IMAGINE what would have been written this morning if it was Hamilton's car that had the power unit failure and not Rosbergs?

****e happens and it's not always a conspiracy..

333pg333

LH is WDC. Driver of the year is DR though. 2016 is looking interesting with slated movement on motor rules if some of the teams get their way.

Ray S

Too funny!!

jbossolo

Much respect to both, particularly Rosberg for being gracious in defeat and congratulating Lewis.
Drive of the day was Ricciardo, from 20th to 4th. He's the real deal. Good to see both Williams on podium.
Overall, it was a much better season than most (including me) anticipated. Now the long wait begins...

LuigiVampa

I don't know what it is but I think Nico makes himself unlikeable somehow. Is it his privileged upbringing? Is it a language barrier?

To me he comes across smug. While others claim he is cool and deliberate I see it as a façade masking an underlining insecurity.

Hammy, on the other hand, is pretty much what you see is what you get. A few seasons ago I couldn't stand Hammy. He was a whiney little bitch. I think he has matured immensely a that is what enabled him to win the WDC.

My993C2

You are letting your own prejudice influence your opinion. Language barrier? What language barrier? Rosberg is fluent in German, English, Italian, Spanish and French. Ironically he does not speak Finnish (his father's native language), but since when have we ever had a problem understanding Rosberg in English? He barely even has an accent.

As far as privileged upbringing, yes Rosberg grew up in Monaco the child of a famous Formula One and World Champion race car driver. Definitely a privileged life. But you are kidding yourself if you don't think Hamilton or almost every other driver did not grow up in a rich family. Anthony Hamilton may not have been a rich race car driver himself, but he was a man of wealth before Lewis made it big. Alonso is one of the rare cases of drivers who did not grow up in a wealthy family but sill managed to make it to F1. Pretty much all other drivers grew up in families of privilege.

I think Lewis Hamilton is the better racer than Nico Rosberg. That is why Hamilton won.

333pg333

Not sure when Pappa H made his money but not before Lucy and NRos had been racing side by side for quite a long time in Karts etc. Interesting take:

"Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg: 'They'd even race eating pizza'

By Lawrence Barretto
BBC Sport
"Nico hit me. Nico's hit me," says Lewis Hamilton calmly over the team radio, disbelief almost shading into resignation.
Hamilton's left rear tyre begins to deflate as the razor-sharp carbon fibre shards from Rosberg's shattering front wing scythe through the rubber, all but ending the Briton's race as his Mercedes is swallowed up by the chasing pack.
Hamilton, fuming afterwards, tells the press: "We had a meeting about it and he basically said he did it on purpose. He said he could have avoided it, but he didn't want to. He basically said, 'I did it to prove a point'."
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg
The pair were competitive in everything they did, including unicycling and eating pizza
Hamilton and Rosberg's relationship was already strained before the second lap of the Belgian Grand Prix in August. Especially after Rosberg's qualifying mistake in Monaco three weeks earlier that angered Hamilton, as the knock-on effect compromised his own lap.
In Hamilton's eyes, the race in Belgium proved to be a turning point. "Spa was like, 'I'm going to turn this up. I'm going to have to turn this up. This means war', that kind of feeling. I took that energy and turned that negative bomb into a positive."
When two sides go to war there's always sadness. But war between two childhood friends? Who raced together as 14-year-olds, roomed together, and dreamed of a life in Formula 1 fighting for the title together as team-mates... how did it get to this?
Play media
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg clash at Belgian GP
Rosberg clips Hamilton in Belgian GP
Rewind: It's a beautiful summer's evening in Parma, Italy in 2000. Hamilton and Rosberg, team-mates at Team MBM in the Formula A karting championship, are sitting opposite each other at a pizza restaurant.
The waiter brings over two pizzas, then returns shortly after with a second for both young men. The pair look at each other, then down at the pizza, then start shovelling it into their mouths.
"As a kid, I didn't like pizza, but I remember often going out for dinner with Lewis and Nico," former F1 race winner and rally driver Robert Kubica, who raced the pair in 2000, told BBC Sport. "They would even have races to eat pizza, always eating two at a time.
Play media
Young Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg
Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg: rivals from the start
"There was always competition. They always wanted to win, to beat each other. But they didn't fight. It was friendly competition. There was always laughing afterwards.
"We had so much fun. We were friends. It was nice. We were normal kids. I have good memories of growing up with them."
Rosberg and Hamilton's friendship goes back more than 14 years, when they would hang out all day and all night at kart races across the world.
They even shared a hotel room, which according to Rosberg was the scene of many wrestling matches between them. "It was so competitive between us," said the German at the recent Brazilian Grand Prix. "It's the same today."
Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton won the 2000 European karting championship, when Rosberg was his team-mate
Dino Chiesa, their old karting boss, added in an interview with BBC Sport: "Many times I was called by reception about some problem in the room. It might be noise or they might have broken something. They would never sleep, so they were always tired the next morning.
"Both liked ice cream so much, particularly vanilla. During the night, they wanted to eat ice cream always, so I had to go out everywhere and find some to keep them happy. They were just kids."
There's a break between races. But the competition doesn't stop. There's table tennis, football in the park, video games at the track and even riding a unicycle.
"Probably the first bit of real competition we had was when Nico used to ride a unicycle everywhere," said Hamilton. "So I thought 'I've got to learn to ride this unicycle. I've got to be better than him'. I spent all my time outside the go-kart learning to ride this unicycle."
Rosberg has said it took Hamilton only two hours to teach himself how to do it.
Hamilton added: "I have never laughed so much than when we were racing together. Nico was kicking everyone's butt at that time. We had some great races together and built a great relationship.
"We were just arriving and enjoying go-karts and eating pizzas every weekend, fighting all the time and just having fun, whereas now it's all business."
Double jeopardy: Hamilton v Rosberg for the title
Hamilton now has a 17-point lead over Rosberg with a maximum of 50 points remaining at the final race in Abu Dhabi. Hamilton can win the title by finishing second to Rosberg. But should he finish third or lower, victory would make Rosberg champion.
All the title permutations for the final race
Rosberg added: "It is amusing because there are a lot of similarities [between this year and 2000]. Every other day there are moments or things that pop up and I can smirk and think, 'that's exactly the same as it was 15 years ago'."
That relationship has been tested this season, with the pair going wheel-to-wheel in Bahrain, while Hamilton was furious with Rosberg after an incident during qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix.
"Nico and I can count our friends on one hand," he said at the time. "Nico does not come into those five friends I have, and I don't come in the five friends he has."
That came after Rosberg, following an early season defeat by Hamilton, said: "[Lewis will] break me down mentally? Well, good luck with that one."
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg
After years of competing in lower formulae, Hamilton and Rosberg finally made the podium together in F1 at the 2008 Australian Grand Prix
Their rivalry has also been likened to that of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Hamilton takes on the role of Senna, the intuitively talented racer who went all out for victory, while Rosberg shares similarities with 'Professor' Prost - a man whose consistency and calculation of a situation brought reward.
Was that always the case?
"Nico is calm and polite," said karting boss Chiesa. "He is less childlike because he is the single child in the family. Lewis is a bit more strong. He wants to play more, fight more, joke more."
It's a typical karting race day and baking hot. There are a few hours to kill in between races. According to Kubica, Rosberg - who grew up in Monaco - would head to the motorhome of his father, 1982 world champion Keke, to have a rest and cool off.
Hamilton, son of a British Rail worker and council-house tenant, didn't have that luxury. On karting trips, he would have his box trailer and a pot of noodle soup.
But despite the gulf, the pair would still hang out together. Did they ever talk about one day reaching Formula 1? "We were talking about how cool it would be, one day, if we were in Formula 1, just how cool it would be to be team-mates. We said it several times," said Hamilton.
"I can't remember back then if I believed it. Nico would say 'when I'm in Formula 1', and for me it was 'if I ever get to Formula 1'. Because obviously Nico's dad was a Formula 1 driver - he knew he was going to make it.
"For us, we never really knew what was going to happen, we just kept at it."
Play media
Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton discuss their friendship
2013 archive: Hamilton & Rosberg - best of friends
It's March 2008 and the season-opening grand prix in Australia. Hamilton has a storming race, clinching victory for McLaren. Almost as impressive is Rosberg's drive to third in a midfield Williams.
Hamilton and Rosberg embrace on the podium. This was a big moment in their lives. It was the first time they were on the podium together as F1 drivers.
"Half an hour after the podium, Lewis called me to say, 'hey, did you watch the race? We are on the podium in Formula 1 together finally'," recalled Chiesa.
"That was something special for me, to have a call from Lewis after that one. Nico called me, too, but I speak to him on a more regular basis."
This season, they're doing more than just sharing a podium by coincidence - they're fighting for the title. How did they cope when they were rivals in 2000?
"Sometimes they would argue," said Chiesa. "At that time, I think Lewis had more talent than Nico. At the end of the race, it was usually Lewis who was the winner. If he was not the winner, he was in front of Nico.
"You could see that it was easier for Lewis to reach the limit, he can brake late, he can take more speed into the corners, he can make better manoeuvres to overtake. He just has more talent. Nico was clever to understand the situation quickly and to learn from Lewis."
It's September and Hamilton has just won the Italian Grand Prix, with Rosberg second. Hamilton is understandably delighted, especially after the Spa episode, while Rosberg is happy to take the positives from finishing second.
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg
Their old karting boss Dino Chiesa said Hamilton had more natural talent than Rosberg
Was it the same when they were kids? "Nico accepted finishing second in a race but Lewis always wanted to win," said Chiesa. "He didn't like to finish second. He was always fighting to win.
"Because Lewis knew he was the best, he wanted to be the best. For him to finish second in a race is really bad, he would be really upset. He would cry. That has happened many times, when he doesn't win."
At the final race in Abu Dhabi, though, the only tears that may have fallen from Hamilton's face will have been ones of joy."

333pg333

First day on the job...