xpb What can Rosberg stop?
17.11.2016
E s comes to the big showdown in Abu Dhabi. Nico Rosberg goes into the season finale with a lead of 12 points. In principle, it's like a penalty without a goalkeeper for him. In contrast to Sao Paulo, 99.9 percent of the weather in the desert will not go crazy. That takes a big risk factor. In a dry race, Mercedes should be difficult for the competition to beat. Anyone who has won 18 out of 20 races and celebrated 7 double victories is the clear favorite in the last Grand Prix.
Third place in the final is enough for Rosberg
It wouldn't even hurt Rosberg if when a competing car slides between him and Lewis Hamilton. Even then, he would still bag his first world title. Hamilton has to roar for the fourth win in a row and hope for a miracle.
Is his only hope that the technology of his teammate will also fail? “Except for the incident in Barcelona, Nico always crossed the finish line. That's what you call great reliability, ”says Hamilton. Of course, what resonates in this sentence: Without my failure in Malaysia, the situation would be very different.
Hamilton can't do more than win. Just like he has done in the last 3 races. Everything else is not in his power. In the USA, Mexico and Brazil, Rosberg had no chance against his rival. Again and again you heard the same sentences from him after the defeats. After qualifying: “Pole is not everything. I'll try at the start. ”After the race:“ Lewis was just a little faster than me today. ”
But the championship leader doesn't let his stable rivals run riot. It has been driving like clockwork, especially since the summer break, and continues to make no major mistakes. And when things get tough, Rosberg has the skills and the luck of the capable not to fly off and to be eliminated. All qualities that a Formula 1 champion needs.
Alonso has already given away a 15 point lead
Example 44th round in Brazil. His Mercedes stood sideways between turns 12 and 13, but didn't hit anywhere. Despite a lap time of 1: 31.093 minutes - 5.5 seconds slower than Hamilton - Rosberg didn't even lose a position.
“I fought against aquaplaning throughout the race. But the moment came completely unexpected ”, reported the later second, who put the near accident on the rain tires.“You can't cope with standing water.” The fact that he was clearly slower than Hamilton in the rain in Sao Paulo is explained very simply at Mercedes: “Nico has a lot more to lose than Lewis. One spin and everything can already be over. ”
The tactics and the course of the race also help Rosberg to always get the maximum number of points possible for him from a weekend. In Austin, a virtual safety car gave him second place against Daniel Ricciardo without a fight. In Brazil, Red Bull gambled away with the second tire swap for intermediates. Otherwise Rosberg would have finished third and Max Verstappen second.
“I knew that it would be difficult to regain my position on the track against him. Red Bull had the same pace as us. When he turned into the pits, I was very happy and sure that he gave me second place. ”In Mexico, Rosberg was lucky that the front suspension did not buckle when he came into contact with Verstappen's Red Bull.
Rosberg does not believe that an easy weekend in Abu Dhabi will be. “Nothing is easy in Formula 1.” He still doesn't talk about the world championship title. Instead, he digs out the well-known standard sentences: “I want to win in Abu Dhabi.”
2010 showed that a World Cup in the desert state can tip over. At that time, Sebastian Vettel still won despite being 15 points behind Fernando Alonso the crown. Because Ferrari screwed up the tactics. But will that happen to Mercedes too? So far, the strategists of the Silver Arrows always made the right decisions. Also in Brazil.
“With Nico we could have risked with intermediates after losing space against Verstappen. But the time gained by the intermediates did not justify losing 20 seconds in the pits, ”say the strategists. And even Rosberg would have argued against a change after his experience on Full Wets.
