In an interview with yesterday with the media, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton believes his battle with team-mate Nico Rosberg for this year’s Drivers’ Championship is a lot more intense than his previous title fights.
With Mercedes having the best car on the grid this year, Hamilton and Rosberg have gone toe-to-toe in the battle for top honours and it is the latter who leads the standings by just 11 points with only eight races left. It is a far cry from Hamilton’s two previous title fights in 2007 and 2008 when the then McLaren driver was facing a different challenge as his rivals Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were driving for Ferrari.
Hamilton who was beaten to the 2007 title by Raikkonen before winning in 2008, admits it’s a different kettle of fish this time around. In his interview yesterday, Hamilton said the following:-
‘The battle does feel a lot more intense this year, When I was racing against Raikkonen and Massa, they were in a different team and their cars had different strengths and weaknesses to my car and, in my team, it was just me that was really competing with them.’
There is no question that the title battle for Hamilton is more intense this year, especially when his rival is his team mate and also a driver he progressed through the junior formulas with. As Hamilton points out, the challenge that Raikkonen and Massa have given him in previous years is completely different, was in a different situation to where he is now but he still competed with them just like he is doing now with Rosberg.
Further on in his interview yesterday, Hamilton believes that the title fight with Rosberg is similar to a game of poker. Hamilton added the following:-
‘Now I’m racing against a guy who has the same car as me – we both have access to exactly the same data and feedback so it is really hard to try and be ahead. It’s a little bit like playing poker – you have a set of cards and the other guy is not supposed to know what you got, but Nico and I can see each other’s cards so then it’s more difficult to beat each other.’
As Hamilton rightly points out, the situation this year with the title fight with his team mate is different to what he has been used to. Both drivers have the same access to the data and the feedback within the team which does as Hamilton says make it difficult to beat each other when you know that your team mate can access your data also.
But in regards to what Hamilton has stated yesterday, the title battle with the drivers he has come across has been challenging and unique. Hamilton has experience of battling for a world championship which could prove to his advantage towards the latter stages of the season. But you cannot discount Rosberg out of pushing Hamilton just like Raikkonen and Massa did until the very end of the season and seeing which one will be successful.
Will it be Hamilton or will it be Rosberg? For me at the moment, it is too close to call.
