Nico Rosberg primed to end F1 title race in Brazil — and prevent end-of-season showdown in Abu Dhabi

Nico Rosberg is guaranteed the Formula One drivers' championship title if he wins the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday. Wallace Woon / EPA

Nico Rosberg may not want to talk about it, but he is poised to join an illustrious club if he can complete a hat-trick at the Brazilian Grand Prix and secure his first world championship.

The German has a 19-point lead ahead of his Mercedes-GP teammate and defending champion Lewis Hamilton in the title race with two races remaining.

Victory will lift Rosberg beyond the reach of the three-time world champion and end his dogged pursuit of the glory he prefers not to mention.

Rosberg won in Brazil in both 2014 and 2015 but missed out on the championship each time as Hamilton claimed the drivers’ titles.

Victory this time would gain him entry to the sport’s “hall of champions”, where he would join his father, Keke Rosberg, the 1982 F1 champion.

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Hamilton, who clinched his first title by taking fifth place in a nail-biting final lap at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in 2008, knows that he has to win and hope that Rosberg misses out on a podium finish. That would ensure the title race goes down to the wire at the final race in Abu Dhabi at the end of this month.

The Englishman, who has won the past two races, is driving with a freedom that comes from a sense of resignation.

Hamilton, who has never won in Brazil, knows that he has to be at his best only to keep his hopes alive -- and then wait and see how Rosberg performs.

“It’s great for me to be performing as I know I can perform,” Hamilton said after his 51st career win at the Mexican Grand Prix on October 30. “But I am fighting for something now and I don’t really know if I’ll be able to make it.

“It’s definitely an unusual scenario for me to be in, so I’ve just got to push all the way to the end. One way, it can be painful. Another way, it can be a great thing.”

Since 2004, the championship has been decided in Brazil six times, but only once has the race winner been champion – when Kimi Raikkonen took the title with a late-season surge to beat Hamilton in 2007.

That year, Raikkonen turned a 17-point deficit into a title triumph in the final two races.

“It won’t be as painful again as that was,” Hamilton said, when asked to reflect on his title showdowns. “I’ve lost many races and championships in my career, so it’s not like I’ve never experienced it.

“Right now, I know I’m in a scenario where I know there is more of a chance I will lose it than win it. That’s hard to swallow.”

Elsewhere, French driver Esteban Ocon will race for Force India next season after agreeing a multi-year deal, the Silverstone-based team said.

Ocon replaces German Nico Hulkenberg, who has moved to Renault, in the line-up alongside Mexican Sergio Perez at a team currently fourth in the constructors’ championship.

Ocon, 20, is contracted long-term to Mercedes-GP, Force India’s engine provider, and made his debut this year with the lowly Manor team as a mid-season replacement for Indonesia’s Rio Haryanto.

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