Hamilton Tried To Win The F1 Title By Driving Super Slow, But It Didn’t Work
Lewis Hamilton started the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from pole position, but knew he had to do something different if he wanted to take a fourth world title.
Nico Rosberg lined up alongside him and needed to finish on the podium, if Hamilton won, to claim his first world championship.
What followed proved to be one of the tensest season finales and title deciders we’ve seen in some time, with Hamilton pulling out an unusual tactic to try and take the title.
But what other option did he have? With the chequered flag in sight, Rosberg remained in second place but the Red Bull drivers and Sebastian Vettel on super-softs were closing in.
Hamilton put the tactics to work and drove slower than Mercedes wanted, in a bid to bunch up the field and push Rosberg into the clutches of the Red Bulls and Vettel.
The Ferrari driver ended up picking his way passed Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, latching onto the gearbox of Rosberg with a few laps remaining.
Through all of this, Mercedes kept telling Hamilton to up the pace due to the “dangers” from behind. But Hamilton continued to do what he was doing, in the hope of securing the title.
The repetitive instructions caused Hamilton to respond “just let us race” and “I’m comfortable where I am”. Things got a little heated over team radio!
But in the end, Hamilton’s tactic didn’t pay off as Vettel’s charge faded. The Ferrari racer tried, but couldn’t get ahead of Rosberg.
Hamilton crossed the line in first place, with Rosberg in second to secure the world title – his first in F1. Vettel was third, with Verstappen and Ricciardo next up.
After so much Mercedes domination, it really was cool to see three different cars in the top four, fighting so close together with just a few seconds separating them for the final few laps.
It was a hugely tense final race and an emotional one too, for Rosberg, Hamilton (for the wrong reasons – even if he did seem fairly upbeat on the podium) and – of course – the departing Felipe Massa and Jenson Button. Massa finished ninth, while Button retired with a suspension failure.
And of course, it was super awkward between Hamilton and Rosberg after the race…
Comments
Becouse even when he slowed down by more than 0,5 sec per lap they still could not catch up.. At the end he almost stoped..
Let me tell you, ill give Lewis credit. If you try that in any racing game, you’ll finish last everytime
It was his only option. He gave it a go, massive props to both drivers for their races
Who can blame him? Any driver in that position would of done the same.
Exactly. He couldn’t do much else if he wanted to take the title
I wouldn’t say super slow, but it was a bit of an assh0le move..
It’s even worse because he said he won’t do that.
I agree. After what he did I am glad he didn’t win the championship.
With that selfish move that almost gave Ferrari the win, I hope Mercedes treats Rosberg as their #1 guy next year onwards.
Yeah, screw Hamilton for trying everything legal in his power to win a championship…
And treating Rosberg better than Hamilton would exactly be what Hamilton and his fans speculated since he saw every little chance of winning the title go away with each technical dnf.
Lewis deserves a lot of credit, just because of the sheer skill he showcased today. It’s not easy keeping a driver of Rosberg’s calibre just under a second behind for most of the lap, and over 1 second at the DRS detection point. And that too doing that consistently, really tells us something about the control he has.
the meeting between Nico and Hamilton was so awkward that Iooked like obama meeting Trump
😂😂😂 they both handled the podium well though given the circumstances
This needs to be on comments of the week😂
Anyone in that position would have done the same. Fighting for the world championship, wouldn’t everyone have done all they can to win? I say fair play.
Agreed!
Agreed
He almost lost his contract though
*lewis
What a race! Absolutely fantastic show and great performance by Vettel. Very happy with Rosberg winning the title, even tough I root for Ferrari I do prefer Nico from the two Merecedes’s drivers. Fair play for Lewis, he raced a good race and had an overall decent season. Looking forward to what the future holds for us in terms of F1! Come on Ferrari!
So tense! I was nervous the whole time 😂😂