If Nico Rosberg walks away from Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday as the 2014 Formula One drivers’ champion he will be following in the footsteps of his father Keke, who won the title in 1982.
Their successes will be similar in nature, too, as both will have taken the title despite not being the driver who won the most races during the season.
Gary Meenaghan on why Lewis Hamilton would be a worthy F1 champion in 2014.
In 1982, Keke won only one of the 16 races, yet he came out on top in the drivers’ championship by five points.
That was in a highly competitive season where no driver won more than two grands prix, with a record 11 drivers claiming a victory that year.
Nico has had a more successful time of it with five wins this year – a season where, for the first time, he has had a championship-winning car in the Mercedes-GP F1 W05.
His achievement, though, has been overshadowed by his teammate Lewis Hamilton, whose 10 wins make it understandable as to why the Briton may be seen as being a more deserving champion.
But Rosberg has earned the right to be in the hunt for the title coming to the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Even without double points this week, the fact he also had 10 second-place finishes shows the consistency of his campaign.
He is 17 points adrift of Hamilton and, even though the Briton has been hindered by reliability problems, particularly through mid-season, Rosberg also has had his fair share of misfortune and could have had another two or three victories.
Rosberg led in Canada until he slowed with brake issues. The same problem hit Hamilton and the Briton was forced to stop. Skilfully, Rosberg was able to drive around the difficulties and keep going. He had to settle for second place but it was still 18 points achieved through the ability to guide a sick car to the finish line.
It was one of a few victories missed through no fault of his own. He was leading comfortably in Britain, too, when a gearbox problem stopped him, which left him with no points and gave Hamilton the win and maximum points.
He was also forced out in Singapore with electronic problems. While he may not have beaten Hamilton that day, it was a likely second place and another 18 points.
In Hungary, he was 10 seconds clear when the timing of a safety car proved disastrous and caused him to drop back to the middle of the pack. Again, through no fault of his own, a dominant win turned into a fourth-place finish.
Hamilton has had similar hard luck stories, but Rosberg could easily have had seven to eight wins this season with better fortune. So any thoughts that he is lucky to be in a position to beat the Briton this weekend are misplaced.
Rosberg is the first of Hamilton’s teammates to get the better of him in qualifying over a season. The German outpaced Hamilton 11 times to seven on Saturdays to take 10 pole positions to the Briton’s seven.
That is no mean feat against a driver who is considered by much of the F1 paddock to be the quickest man on the grid in terms of raw pace.
Where Rosberg has fallen down has been his inability to consistently beat Hamilton in wheel-to-wheel tussles.
But the German has shown he can do it, as his superb drives under heavy pressure in Monaco in May and in Brazil two weeks ago illustrate.
If he puts in a performance this weekend like the one in Sao Paulo, it will ensure that Hamilton will have to finish second to earn his second world title.
Despite not having as many wins as Hamilton, Rosberg has shown the speed, consistency and technical know-how to be worthy of being the F1 champion this season.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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