Martin Brundle reflects on the 2016 F1 season finale, Nico Rosberg's title and explains why Mercedes have 'a huge problem' to solve
Monday 28 November 2016 16:10, UK
Congratulations to Nico Rosberg, the new world champion.
He's dedicated most of his life to enjoy that moment with his family and team, winning races and championships along the way combined with a huge amount of work, dedication, risk, stress, elation and abject despair.
He joined the Mercedes team in 2010 and has played a fundamental role in the development of the team and this dominant car. During that time he has had two team-mates who are undoubtedly two of the greatest racing drivers of all time in Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton, albeit in Schumacher's less competitive phase two.
He can't match Hamilton's 'A game', and as Rosberg puts it "he has always edged me" since they were kids in karting. So he learned to come at it in a different way, through application and by keeping total focus and a calm head. When Hamilton hit mechanical trouble, especially in Malaysia, Rosberg's natural speed and application was enough to seize the chance and take the title.
Going into the championship showdown, Hamilton had three cards in his hand and he played them all. Try to psychologically destabilise his team-mate. Win the race. Back Rosberg into the opposition.
The traditional Thursday press conference was reorganised such that the two Mercedes protagonists shared the platform exclusively and Hamilton went into overdrive to try to play the mind games about his life, his driving, his achievements and later on anything else that came into his mind such as "in my heart I'm the champion". Rosberg said relatively little, but it was all just bouncing off him, his 'one race at a time' mantra was being internally and externally chanted and it worked for him.
Hamilton had the edge on speed all through the event, just as he's enjoyed these past few races. If he'd been this engaged and focused all season he may well still have overcome the engine dramas. I believe we saw a new determination and focus from Malaysia onwards which wasn't always present mid-season. He won Abu Dhabi driving as slowly as he could and it was still fast enough.
Hamilton defends 'rough' tactics
I'd heard on race morning that Mercedes had told Hamilton that if he played games backing up his team-mate they would pit Rosberg first and give him an advantage. I challenged Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff on the grid and they instantly confirmed this.
I'm sure there was lots of nodding agreement and acceptance in pre-race meetings while Lewis was thinking "okay, so I can only back him up after pit stops, and at the end of the lap away from the DRS overtaking zones. And especially after the last pit stop".
And so it proved to be. The drama was enhanced by two significant variables. Max Verstappen was squeezed in turn one after both Red Bulls had poor starts and he spun. To bring him back into play Red Bull elected to one stop Max and he did a fine job of stretching his supersoft tyres to lap 21 which left him him splitting the Mercedes after their early first stops.
Because of Hamilton's slow pace and therefore threat from others, two stopping Rosberg had to pass his Red Bull nemesis, and after radio instruction to do so, launched a bold move into turn eight alongside the feisty teenager. The battle ran all the way to the next chicane until the champion elect was through. Bodywork damage or a sliced tyre was highly possible at any time for Rosberg.
Then he had the easy job of closing back up to his coasting team mate. "If Hamilton was so slow why didn't Rosberg pass him if he's the world champion?" I hear some of you say. Lewis was being very cunning as to how and where he was slow.
As per the regulations, the teams ordered up 286 sets of Pirelli slick tyres for the 22 drivers for the whole event, and only 49 sets of super-softs were chosen. The second variable was Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari finding himself out of sync with his main rivals and so running long and then fitting a set of the apparently unloved super-softs on lap 37 for a remarkable turn of speed taking him spectacularly quickly back to the pedestrian leaders caught up behind Hamilton.
This forced Rosberg into a late defence against Vettel and so taking more risks but somehow the Ferraris and Red Bulls just couldn't muster the speed to make Hamilton's plan work.
Meanwhile the Mercedes team were issuing increasingly firm and managerial instructions to Hamilton to speed up which he batted away with various opinions of the situation. At that speed he had plenty of time to think it through. This is a huge problem for the team, their employee and resident superstar has set a precedent that he's in charge of tactics even if it seemed that Ferrari might win the race. They have to reset the chain of command going forward and this will not go down well with Hamilton.
Hamilton's tactics were unfair on his team-mate, uncomfortable to observe, and disrespectful to his team. And I'd have been surprised and disappointed if he had done anything else. He's a hard-wired winner and that's why he's a three-time champion. Senna and Schumacher have done worse. It won't win Hamilton many friends but he won't care one bit, and it's fascinating to see that he took much of the post-race media coverage which was all part of his desire to minimise Rosberg's title if he couldn't win it himself.
Relieved Rosberg savours title
And so we say goodbye to another season, the longest in history, along with this spec of cars and tyres. They won't sound any better next year but they will look better and go faster, but it remains to be seen if they are any more exciting to watch in combat. It's going to be an aero development war which will leave poorer teams behind but there are a few teams who fancy themselves to halt the Mercedes dominance.
We also say goodbye to two of the nicest guys on the grid in Jenson Button and Felipe Massa, multiple race winners both who depart with universal respect. An interesting comparison with the killer instincts of Hamilton and other multiple champions.
I've really enjoyed this season, more so than 2015, as Red Bull and Ferrari homed in on the Merc pace, along with Verstappen lighting up the race track and races.
Roll on the 2017 season and thanks for your company through this year.
MB
