Nico Rosberg won the 2016 Formula One championship in grand style as he temporarily halted Lewis Hamilton’s dominance in the sport.
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Lewis Hamilton was dominating the sport of Formula One in the middle part of the second decade. The British driver had ended the dominance of Sebastian Vettel who had won four consecutive F1 titles from 2010 to 2013. Hamilton went on to win the 2014 and 2015 Formula One titles. In 2016, he was gunning for a hat-trick. But, he was facing stiff competition. The rivalry was not just with Vettel, but with his own teammate Nico Rosberg.
There was a bit of history between Hamilton and Rosberg. Both were childhood friends and their Formula One careers were different. The backgrounds were also different. Nico Rosberg was the son of F1 legend Keke Rosberg and was rich. Hamilton’s father had to work multiple jobs to support him. The growing up lifestyles of Monaco and Stevenage were vastly different.
In their early careers, Rosberg and Hamilton’s differing styles were observed by many people. Hamilton had natural flair but many believed Nico Rosberg would achieve greater success due to the intellectual capacity required to manage brakes, energy harvesting, tyre management and moderate fuel usage. Hamilton’s tyre management also gave him an edge.
Hamilton and Rosberg were team-mates in the 2013 Formula One season with Mercedes. They were a new team and it was a gamble. But, contrary to expectations, Mercedes performed well. They finished as runners up behind Red Bull, with Vettel winning his fourth consecutive F1 title. Rosberg had won two races while Hamilton won in Hungary. However, there was a spot of tension in Malaysia. Mercedes ordered Rosberg to make way and the Brit finished in the third spot.
In the 2014 F1 season, more controversy erupted. Rosberg had used engine modes banned by Mercedes to give himself a power advantage over Hamilton in the closing laps. Tensions further arose when Hamilton discovered Mercedes had compiled a dossier for Rosberg to study on Hamilton’s performance data. Hamilton, who had out-qualified Rosberg in the first two rounds and won in Malaysia, said, “Someone in the team did a huge study on my pace in Malaysia. Since I arrived in Bahrain, Nico had a big document of all the places I was quick and used that to his advantage. So, I will do the same for the next round in China and hope I can capitalize.”
Hamilton won the 2014 F1 season and he followed it up with a brilliant performance in 2015. The Brit ended the season with 381 points, recording 10 wins and 11 pole positions to win the FIA Pole Trophy for most pole positions of the season.
In the 2016 season, Rosberg started the season on a dominant note. He won the first four races in Australia, Bahrain, China and Russia to establish a big lead. However, his streak ended with a retirement in the Spanish Grand Prix. In that race, Rosberg and Hamilton collided with each other as relations touched rock bottom.
Mercedes continued the domination, with Hamilton winning in Monaco and Canada. The season was see-sawing between Rosberg and Hamilton. After Rosberg won in Azerbaijan, Hamilton won four consecutive races in Austria, Great Britain, Hungary and Germany. Rosberg got the initiative when he registered another hat-trick of wins in Belgium, Italy and Singapore.
The German got a crucial edge in the Malaysian Grand Prix when Hamilton retired due engine issues. The radio despair which was captured by Hamilton when his engine blew went viral on social media. He had three simple words when the engine gave away which was ‘Oh noo, nooooo.’ Rosberg recovered after a collision with Vettel to finish third. This result proved to be crucial.
After Rosberg won in Japan, Hamilton tried to close the gap with three wins in USA, Mexico and Brazil. Heading into the final race in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton trailed Rosberg by 12 points. The equation was simple. Hamilton had to win and hope Rosberg finished in fourth position to ensure he won the title.
Lewis Hamilton held the lead from a cautious Rosberg at the first corner of the race. Rosberg was advised by the Mercedes pitwall to not take any risks with Verstappen, believing that he will pit soon allowing Rosberg to emerge back into clean air. However, Red Bull Racing took advantage of this conservative approach from Mercedes and chose to run Verstappen as long as they could in the first stint in order to complete the race on a one-stop strategy and holding up Rosberg in the process.
The risk posed by Verstappen’s strategy to Rosberg became apparent soon, with Räikkönen following Rosberg close by and Vettel fast approaching this group. Rosberg was urged to attack and pass Verstappen on track, which he managed to do on lap 20 and began to catch Hamilton.
In the penultimate lap, Vettel attacked Rosberg, who defended his position. Red Bull also encouraged Verstappen to push up to Vettel’s DRS to take advantage of a mistake by Vettel or Rosberg. Had Rosberg been passed for a podium finish, Hamilton would have won the World Championship Drivers’ title and denied Rosberg his first title. Rosberg held his own and won the title. Remarkably, after the race, he announced his retirement from the sport thus ending his final season on the ultimate high. In retirement, Rosberg moved into driver management, television punditry, and became an eco-entrepreneur. He was awarded the Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year and was inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame in 2017.
