The Formula 1 Podcast: Does Nico Rosberg deserve the Drivers' Championship?

The 2016 Brazilian GP could be a Grand Prix of firsts for the Mercedes drivers – Lewis Hamilton could win his first-ever race in Brazil OR Nico Rosberg could win his first-ever Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship. It should be said that ‘may the best driver’ wins. But in which case, shouldn’t it be Fernando Alonso? However, we are loving the suspense and surprise of title fight this season and don’t mind it being taken forward to Abu Dhabi. After all, there’s finally some surprise in the sport other than Max Verstappen. Unless, of course, you’re Robbie Williams. [caption id=“attachment_3096372” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton are locked in the title race. Reuters[/caption] While Abu Dhabi pays millions hoping to host a ’title decider’, Brazil has done so six times in recent memory. By the way, the 2012 edition of the race was also Mclaren and Jenson Button’s last win. What are the odds we could be repeating this statistic for Mclaren this time, next year? As we look forward to Interlagos, we discuss our vivid memories of a circuit that made Timo Glock world famous. We also remember a rare and unexpected robbery attempt on Jenson Button, Adrian Newey’s Red Bull Racing ’tank’ that withstood a bang in 2012 and Schumi helping Baby Schumi to his third world title. Will Nico Rosberg be able to race in Brazil without thinking of the Drivers’ Championship? He’s made the ‘race-by-race’ approach work, till date, but mind games will be at their absolute best. And as tough as it will ever be, we try and settle this whole ‘Does Nico Rosberg deserve the Drivers’ Championship?’ debate in the podcast. A point to be noted here is that by saying someone is ’lucky’ to win a Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship, that too in its longest season ever, might be belittling the title in itself. As for Lewis Hamilton, we hope he’s learning lessons from Serena Williams on how to thwart a ‘match point’. Actually, who better than Williams to teach him? Formula 1 has senseless penalties. It would be good to see some sensible ones applied too, especially for exceeding track limits. All sports have one. In fact, the one sport that doesn’t is World Wrestling Entertainment. Speaking of penalties, we wonder how Sebastian Vettel went scot free after his expletive laden radio message in Mexico? It is one thing to not respect competitors, but it is another to not respect the Race Director. The least they should’ve done was strip him of his ‘Driver of the Day’ award. But the FIA isn’t in setting examples, so we shouldn’t be surprised. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso has called the current Formula 1 as Formula 1/2 (or Formula 0.5)! This is probably better than being classified as GP2. If Ross Brawn is indeed interested in working on the long term plans for the sport, it should include a robust part that should have the best drivers on the grid race in Formula 1 cars and not Formula 0.5! Finally, just when we thought that almost no one would be been interested in learning from Formula 1, an Olympic Champion has indicated how skiing should use Formula 1 qualifying system at their World Cups. This comes in a year when we almost ditched the only thing that’s working well in the sport. Tune in for the full podcast