An awkward handshake in front of a phalanx of cameras marked the beginning of the end on Thursday.
The end is the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of the Formula One season, the season-deciding finale, where the championship is Lewis Hamilton versus Nico Rosberg. There can be only one winner.
Read why Gary Meenaghan thinks Lewis Hamilton would be a worthy F1 champion in 2014
Read why Graham Caygill thinks Nico Rosberg would be a worthy F1 champion in 2014
Mercedes’ two drivers could hardly cut more of a contrast. Hamilton, the preened and tattooed Briton, dripping in diamonds and dating a pop star, Rosberg, the unremarkable German whose only jewellery is a golden wedding band.
Yet the pair’s careers are intrinsically intertwined.
It is 14 years since the childhood friends contested the Formula A World Karting Cup while teammates.
Hamilton came out on top that season and this weekend is in the driving seat again, leading the world championship by 17 points as the two prepare to duel one final time.
The friendship has grown frosty in recent months courtesy of high stakes and on-track high jinks.
At a news briefing yesterday at Yas Marina Circuit, the two men barely made eye contact, despite being made to press the flesh in front of photo-hungry media.
Hamilton, dressed in all white, knows he needs only to finish second to guarantee a second world championship and complement the title he won in 2008.
It is the fourth time in his eight seasons that he has arrived at the season-ending race capable of winning the championship.
“In terms of the pressure, I don’t particularly feel any,” said Hamilton, who won the race in the UAE capital in 2011. “I think I’ve had plenty of experience through my racing career – 15 or 20 years of it – to be prepared for today. There’s no special recipe.”
Rosberg, who appears to have grown more unkempt as the season has progressed, conceded the weekend ahead will be more vigorous than any of his previous 165 races.
“I wouldn’t use the word pressure, but it’s going to be intense,” he said, with exhausted eyes and messy blonde hair. “It’s going to be a great battle. I look forward to it. That’s what I’ve been working towards for a while now, for this sort of chance, this last race here.
“Of course, I’m here to try and win the race and then I need a bit of help from Lewis that he doesn’t finish second. That’s it. I’m hoping Lewis can come up with something.”
Rosberg’s final quip was said with an amicable smile and a hopeful glance towards his teammate, but Hamilton spurned it like an appeal from a jilted lover.
There was no more interaction as Rosberg took the hint and adapted to his role, while Hamilton, clearly in the zone, wore a thin smile and provided short, sharp answers.
While the tension was palpable, there were no verbal barbs, save for some veiled digs at each other’s questionable racing decisions earlier in the season.
Hamilton said the reason he will not speak to his teammate is because “we’re not children, we should know what is wrong and what is right”.
Rosberg responded by clarifying that there is one thing Lewis can do to ensure the race remains above board: “Drive cleanly himself – it’s not like he can’t do anything.”
Rosberg’s win in Brazil two weeks ago, his first in eight races, has given him hope and something to chase, but the 29 year-old German conceded he must rely on an involuntary favour from his teammate or on another car splitting the two Mercedes to demote Hamilton to third.
“Of course a lot of things can happen, but it can happen as easy as a Williams, for example, having a great start and slotting in between us two,” he said. “This track is one of the most difficult to overtake. The speed difference you need to overtake the guy in front is really very big and so that will be one opportunity. But there’s many scenarios, so, as I say, I’m optimistic.”
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso lost the world championship in Abu Dhabi in 2010 after finding his car stuck behind a determined Renault, but the regulations have since changed to avoid such a situation. The introduction of drag reduction systems means overtaking should be more possible.
Hamilton, though, is not thinking about that aspect of the race.
“I come into the race weekend to try to win, as I do every race weekend,” he said. “In that regard, nothing changes.”
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
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