Lewis Hamilton may be the world champion-elect, but Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, himself underwhelming for much of the season, has turned the tables to make Hamilton look downright shabby in his title-winning hangover.
Aside from Rosberg’s run of five pole positions, a rekindling of his night unbeatable 2014 qualifying form, the German has convincingly beaten the Briton twice in a row since his own late-race mistake at the United States Grand Prix handed championship glory to sister car.
One race win could be written off as a fluke – after all, Rosberg has won three races prior to the Mexican Grand Prix – and two perhaps a blip, but in Abu Dhabi, where he so painfully lost the title fight last seasons, Rosberg has the opportunity to make a statement: Nico is back in business.
Whether he admits it or not, Hamilton’s post-championship defeats get under his skin in the way they question his authority. The most effective world champions have a tendency to beat their teammates into submission – Sebastian Vettel’s pummelling of Mark Webber the most recent example – and in doing so draw their team around them to win those vital one-per-cents in intra-team battles. Rosberg’s resurgence softens his claim.
The three-time world champion dismissed Rosberg’s Mexican GP victory as little more than his team being “extra warm” to the inconsolable German after his title loss the previous weekend, but in Brazil, the home race of Hamilton’s idol Ayrton Senna and a grand prix he has never won, the disappointment was more telling.
From filing to turn up for the post-qualifying photos when Rosberg claimed pole to demanding the team put him on a potentially more favourable strategy than his leading teammate, the cracks became increasingly evident – even his attempted defence of his second consecutive defeat sounded patchy.
“Since Singapore there have been some changes to our car which seem to have shifted the direction, so I need to figure out why that is and how I can get back on it,” he mused.
“I have only just noticed that is the only thing that has changed since things have changed, so maybe I need to go and do some studying and see what I can do to change that.”
Whether Hamilton is alluding to the safety-oriented increase in tyre pressures mandated after his win at the Italian Grand Prix or referencing something else remains unsaid, but his sudden vulnerability in the face of Rosberg’s newfound mental fortitude could be the foundations of a fascinating prologue to the 2016 season.
In Abu Dhabi Hamilton, having justifiably spent the weeks after winning his title letting his hair down, will have used the two weeks since Brazil to pick himself back up and mount a challenge for victory.
Rosberg, on the other hand, will seek to further exploit his newly identified racing focus – on his own performance rather than on attempting to cover or match his teammate – to collect his sixth pole position and cruise thereafter to victory.
It is, as has for so long been billed, the resumption of the battle between the cool and calm German and the ferocious and instinctive Briton – and if we’re lucky, it might be but a taster of things to come.