After a year of intense fratricidal struggle, the oracle Abu Double finally he spoke. And he said “Lewis Hamilton“. Not that the classification, despite the double points (the only exception for the last race of the 2014 season), left who knows what margin of hope to Nico Rosberg, who had to count on the help of one of the two Williams – cars too strong to stand in the middle of the big group, but still too weak to worry about the domination of the two silver arrows – or about a mechanical breakdown of the rival, to prove the assault on the title. And in reality, until yesterday afternoon, the blond from Wiesbaden had also done all his homework well, suggesting how he could also have some cards in his hand to play during the race, who knows, just to favor one between Massa and Bottas to the detriment of the neighbor in the box.
The journalistic conjectures about Keke’s son’s possible strategies – and with them a good chunk of his dreams of glory – however, they broke miserably when the traffic lights went out, just when Nico, the one between the two credited with being stronger psychologically and less marked by nervous tension, did excessively skate the rear tires, thus losing the first position and part of the chances of playing the long-awaited strategic wild card. A beautiful and good mistake, that of the German. An error that effectively closed the game at the kick-off, despite the advantage of the F1-W05 Hybrid number 6 of shooting from the rubber part of the grid. Stuff that, in tracks built in desert areas where sand is king – such as the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi – is certainly not a minor benefit.
But then, bad luck has also set in to write that ending that only the avid Hamilton fans could hope for, with Lewis in the lead alone and calm – although not without a few minutes of anxiety for the anomalous deterioration of the second set of tires that made him lose a lot of ground before the last pit stop – and Nico struggling due to a mechanical failure which, lap after lap, He was wearing out the twenty-nine-year-old’s chances more and more of Finnish origin to be crowned world champion.
In the end, therefore, the strongest driver in the race won. A Lewis Hamilton won who after a central phase of the championship spent more complaining about everything and against everyone, almost seeing the plot even where it wasn’t – and it’s the final results that say it, certainly not us – has finally started to do what he does best: push like crazy on the foot of the accelerator. A world champion victory won with merit, thanks to the eleven seasonal victories against the five of the rival, net of mechanical failures and controversies that, after all, they balanced more or less equally – in the face of conspiracies – throughout the season.
At the same time, Rosberg was defeated, yes, but with a very high head. As already mentioned in some of the previous analyzes, the German was able to compensate with cunning, with a spirit of sacrifice and with a great heavy foot, the structural superiority with which Mother Nature has honored her rival for the laurel wreath. And all in all, with the eleven pole positions brought home – raise your hand if you would have ever bet on such a result at the beginning of the season – we do not think that Nico, even with a possible technical problem on Hamilton’s car, would have stolen anything if he had. world champion graduate. Let’s face it: the strongest in an absolute sense won, but sport is also beautiful because this does not always happen and, in that case, it would not have been so scandalous to see a boy triumphing who, in the first year in which he was lucky enough to fight for the title, managed to stand up to a Special One like Hamilton, right up to the last kilometer.
Furthermore, the images of Rosberg’s cockpit are beautiful, with those cameras positioned right in front of his eyes to immortalize the concentration and, then, the resignation not to mention the desperation of a world championship now gone. Even more beautiful, just to close the subject, to hear Nico insist with the wall to be able to finish the race, to avoid retirement, to honor the show, the audience and even the winner. To see him step on the back podium and hug Lewis and Toto Wolff, after celebrating the end of a truly incredible championship with all the mechanics in the pits. In short, this is also sport. And today the Mercedes standard bearers have written a magnificent page.
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