Rosberg’s success in Suzuka has meant victory for Mercedes-Benz in this year’s Manufacturers Championship with four races to go.
Ferrari and Red Bull failed to pose a serious problem to the silver arrows in 2016 and they are now fighting their own battle for second place. Pretty boring stuff.
For three years now, Mercedes have dominated the sport and, as a consequence, killed the show. However they cannot be blamed for being the strongest force in F.1, for having the most responsive cars to upgrades and for being the Team with the most talented driver line-up. By having constantly to face Hamilton’s natural crave for speed, Nico has turned into a more complete driver and he is now in the strongest position ever to take the title with him. No one else could challenge Lewis if not his own teammate and Rosberg has kept the cool and the calm to put himself in the best position yet to hit at his coveted target. A few distractions by Hamilton and a generous quantity of his misfortunes have helped Nico to increase his lead by 33 points, a gap which seems impossible to close. However a fight is a fight and victory cannot be declared as such unless your opponent has conceived defeat and that is surely the last thought in Hamilton’s mind.
Austin and Mexico will tell…let’s wait for the next “family” epilogue.