Title already in hand, Lewis Hamilton has his cruise control engaged

At the time, when Sebastian Vettel won the final nine races of the 2013, matching the record for most successive wins in F1, the reaction was mostly apathetic.

The German was booed by fans on the podium at some races, and much of his success was put down simply to the view that he had the best car that year in the Red Bull Racing team’s RB9 chassis.

What often is forgotten is that three of those victories for Vettel came when he already had won the drivers’ title, effectively races with nothing at stake but pride.

Yet, Vettel was relentless, dominating in Abu Dhabi, the United States and Brazil on his way to putting his name in the record books.

It did not matter that the championship was already secured. Vettel’s determination to win as many races as he could meant there was never any danger of him slacking off. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Lewis Hamilton, who won this season’s championship with three races to spare.

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To be fair to the Briton, this is new territory for him.

His first two world titles were won at the last race of the season, so this has been the first time he has been world champion with races on the calendar still to go.

But Hamitlon was in disappointing form in Mexico, beaten in qualifying by teammate Nico Rosberg, and then in the race.

It was not that Hamilton was not trying, it was just that Rosberg did a better job. But the fact it happened was a demonstration that the Briton’s level has gone down.

The reason that Hamilton, 30, has been able to wrap up the title so early is that he has consistently out-performed Rosberg, who was his only real challenger, given the dominance of the Mercedes package again this year.

But, having taken pole for 11 of the first 12 races of the season, he has not been quickest in qualifying since Italy in September, and he was beaten again on Saturday by Rosberg to the top spot on the grid in Brazil.

Hamilton’s life away from F1 has come in for increased scrutiny over the past week, mainly after he had crashed his road car, a Pagani Zonda “super car”, in the streets of Monte Carlo on Monday.

Now, that is no one’s business but his own, though it is not exactly great public relations for him, Mercedes or F1 to have the world champion, the best driver in the world, on paper, anyway, having an embarrassing moment in public.

It certainly did not help in Sao Paulo that Hamilton had felt tired due to “heavy partying” and that had been partly, along with a virus, why he had arrived in Brazil for Sunday’s race only on Wednesday, 24 hours later than planned, meaning he missed a sponsors event he had been scheduled to attend.

Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, defended his driver on Friday, telling reporters: “Many people out there judge that lifestyle to be detrimental to a racing drivers’ career; it doesn’t bother me at all because he delivers.”

Essentially, Hamilton can party when he wants and head over to the US at every opportunity as long as the results are good.

But, Hamilton’s form is slipping and it will be harder to justify that behaviour if he continues being beaten by Rosberg, which has been going on for longer than Mexico.

Rosberg had taken pole and was leading in Russia when he had to stop with a mechanical failure, and the German had Hamilton beaten in the US before he slid off the track to give up the lead.

Rosberg is a very good driver, but his form over the past two years indicates he cannot put in the consistent performances required, when it matters, to be a great driver.

It is unlikely he has become a world-beater overnight, so for him suddenly to be getting the better of Hamilton hints that the champion is the driver whose performances have become uneven.

Hamilton has been keen of late to link his achievements with that of his childhood hero, and fellow triple world champion, Ayrton Senna.

However, the problem with associating yourself with greatness is that great things are expected of you in return.

Hamilton is on track for an anti-climactic end to the season if he continues playing second fiddle to Rosberg, but he can change that with a strong display Sunday and an 11th win of the year.

* With agency

Title already in hand, Lewis Hamilton has his cruise control engaged

Sebastian Vettel’s determination to win as many races as he could meant there was never any danger of him slacking off. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Lewis Hamilton.