Lewis Hamilton is all but conceding he will lose the world championship to Nico Rosberg in 2016.
The Briton made it three consecutive wins and nine in total this year with a comfortable victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix. However, in each of his last trio of successes, his teammate has finished in second.
As a result, Rosberg will head to the championship finale in Abu Dhabi later this month with a 12-point advantage. That means the German only has to finish on the podium at Yas Marina to claim his first Formula One title.
After the race at Interlagos, Hamilton couldn’t believe the “incredible luck” of his teammate, as a Red Bull challenge was hampered by what would turn out to be a wrong decision to switch to intermediates after the second red flag.
And he admitted that the success on Sunday was slightly less sweet due to Rosberg again following him home.
“I’m in an awkward position going into the last race,” he told Sky Sports. “It doesn’t really make a big difference if I go and drive like I do right now because I’ve already lost so much [ground] through the year.
“But I can’t give up because I don’t know what could happen. It’s unlikely, but you never know.”
Indeed, that word ‘unlikely’ is perhaps an understatement as it comes down to one race around a circuit not known for surprises.
Fernando Alonso was stuck behind Vitaly Petrov for most of the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP, allowing Sebastian Vettel to become champion, but in the days of DRS, a repeat of that is highly unlikely.
Instead, Hamilton’s only main hope is a repeat of 2014 where mechanical issues hit Rosberg, gifting the title to the now three-time champion.
Based on the year so far, however, Lewis’ outlook is largely negative: “Nico’s doing all he has to do.
“He has finished every race and not had any problems, where I have,” he added reflecting on several engine issues that have hampered him this season.
Despite the rain allowing Red Bull to be as quick, if not quicker than particularly Rosberg in Brazil, with a very minimal chance of any inclement weather in the Middle East, Hamilton doesn’t see how he can rely on a rival team to boost his chances.
“What can really happen? Nico is just cruising to finish second and unfortunately, the Red Bulls are not at the moment quick enough to really challenge us,” he said.
“All l can do is focus on my job and hope things happen for the right reasons.”
He did send one little message to his teammate after the race, however, indicating that on any given day he is still the faster driver at Mercedes.
“I’m happy that I beat everyone today and I’m happy that with the same car I beat Nico,” he claimed in the press conference. “Nico’s driving at his best right now and today he had nothing on me.”
