For many people, the events of early October will be remembered for presenting a vital moment to swing the championship in the direction of Nico Rosberg.
Rosberg started the month with an eight-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship, with the German on 273 points compared to teammate Lewis Hamilton’s 265.
Mercedes had their first opportunity to win the Constructors’ Championship in Malaysia, needing to outscore Red Bull by just four points during the race to lead the championship by 216 points with 215 remaining.
Hamilton took pole position for the first race of the month, at the Sepang International Circuit, and looked on course to hit back after Rosberg’s run of three consecutive race victories.
The carrot on the stick would have looked even brighter after Rosberg spun at the first turn after contact with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who retired from the race, and faced a fight through the order to return to the front end of the classification.
Hamilton was close retaking the championship lead with his 20s+ lead until a flume of smoke came from the rear of his Mercedes after crossing the start-finish line on lap 41, and his car stopped at turn one.
This promoted Daniel Ricciardo, one of the unluckier drivers after punctures in China, Spain and pit lane chaos in Monaco, to a first victory in over two years. Max Verstappen completed Red Bull’s first one-two finish since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Rosberg recovered to claim a podium to go from accepting damage limitation to inflicting damage to his teammate. This result meant that Hamilton was required to spend the rest of the month chasing a 23-point deficit with five races to go.
The race also saw both McLaren drivers score points for the first time since the Monaco Grand Prix in May, with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button finishing seventh and ninth. Button was ahead of Renault’s Jolyon Palmer on track, who finished tenth for his first F1 point.
Rosberg soon returned to winning ways and dominated the Japanese Grand Prix weekend at Suzuka to take his first victory at the track after Hamilton had an off weekend and finished third from second on the grid. His performance in Japan would go onto have huge repercussions at the end of the season.
Mercedes celebrated their third Constructors’ Championship win at the track, extending their advantage over Red Bull to 184 points with just 172 remaining.
Hamilton’s first victory since July came in the United States when he won from pole position.
He led the majority of the race to win ahead of Rosberg who was lucky to finish in second after taking advantage of a Virtual Safety Car period to pass Ricciardo, who got past Rosberg for second place on the opening lap.
Verstappen’s Red Bull stopped on track on Lap 31 which gave both Mercedes the chance to pit for another set of tyres with a free pit stop and the German got past Ricciardo.
Hamilton went on to take his first race win in Mexico in the final race of the month after both Mercedes cars cut the chicane on the first lap of the race.
Much debate went on over whether the leader should have given the position back, however, second-placed Verstappen was passed by Rosberg after the first turn.
In the final ten laps, all focus turned to the battle for the final place on the podium. Verstappen cut a chicane to defend from Vettel before the German went on an infamous radio tirade in anger at no instant decision being made for him to gain the position.
Vettel also used extremely defensive positioning to deny Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo an overtake into then-fourth-place in the race. Verstappen came third ahead of Vettel and Ricciardo.
This ultimately didn’t matter as the Australian was promoted to the podium in the final classification a couple of hours after the race ended. Verstappen entered the podium room but quickly left after being informed of a five-second time penalty promoting Vettel to third and the German stood on the podium.
Vettel was then demoted to fifth after being given a ten-second time penalty for his actions on Ricciardo, leaving the Australian to celebrate late into the Mexican night.
The month ended with Rosberg leading the championship on 349 points, 19 clear of his teammate ahead of the final two rounds, while Ricciardo confirmed a third-place finish in the championship for the first time since 2014.
