Did Rosberg deserve his first championship?

A second-best champion?

With everything to play for as they started the final race of this F1 season, all eyes were on Nico Rosberg. Could the German manage a podium finish and claim his first world championship, or would his teammate Lewis Hamilton pull off a last-minute upset and take the prize? Despite some controversial tactics from Hamilton, Rosberg finished the season with 385 points to Hamilton’s 380. Five days later, he announced his retirement from the sport.

Rosberg’s win came with a bit of controversy – all season, Hamilton has been beset by bad luck. Many chalk Rosberg’s success to this, but is this fair? Well, this subject has divided the world of F1. Many former champions have lined up to defend Rosberg, with Alain Prost saying that he deserves this due to performing in the face of a media constantly calling him second-best. You cannot deny that he has driven some superb races this season, winning nine of the 21 races and finishing on the podium in 16. In a normal season, few would be lining up to question him; but this has been no normal season.

Hamilton’s bad luck.

You also cannot deny that Hamilton has been afflicted by some awful luck (to the point when the driver even went full conspiracy theorist in the middle of the season, questioning why every Mercedes problem seemed to affect him). Hamilton suffered more poor starts and engine failures than his teammate (four and zero respectively). The driver himself admitted responsibly for some of his poor starts, but three engine failures is massively unlucky – the minimal difference between the two drivers’ points’ means that had Hamilton suffered fewer problems, he probably would have won this season.

It’s easy to sculpt what should have happened, but every sport has its complexities.

The stats also tell an interesting story. Hamilton took 12 poles to Rosberg’s eight and won 10 races – one more than his teammate. Nobody doubts Hamilton’s talent – indeed, his three previous world championships are proof of that – and perhaps the tendency is simply to assume he should have won and find evidence to support that. Hamilton’s engine problems are unfortunate, but to be expected in a mechanical sport. It’s easy to sculpt what should have happened, but every sport has its complexities.

Rosberg really upped his game from last season, giving his best performance yet – his win in Singapore was perhaps his champion’s drive of 2016. Nobody is denying his competency as a racing driver, but whether he’s truly up there with the best – his poor showing in Monaco is held as proof that he wasn’t the best driver of the season. But then, Hamilton has struggled too, performing poorly in Baku and Singapore – both drivers have had bad outings this season.

What will the history books say?

We could argue about the technicalities and results all day and not come up with a conclusion, so I will instead finish with the simplest statistic of them all. In the 2014 and 2015 World Championships, Hamilton took the title, whilst Rosberg finished second. The German’s perseverance to come back and finally claim a world title of his own is perhaps more of a testament to his champion’s spirit than any argument over Hamilton’s dodgy engines ever could be.