Absolutely, just a shame we didn't get a decent race to end the year with
Indeed. Hamilton made a blistering start to set a marker down, and with the pace he was showing I'm positive he would have still won the race, but it was an anticlimax the way Rosberg fell away due to his technical problems. I have to say, I was impressed by Rosberg wanting to carry on over the line at the end when they asked him to retire with a couple of laps to go.
What a cracking start Hamilton got off the line, so nice to see a British driver wining the championship again!
Brilliant stuff to see a Brit on to once again. I think all of us thought he was chucking away his chance of future world championships when he left McClaren, but in hindsight it's turned out to have been an inspired move to have a fresh start. He did say back in 2012 when he moved that it wouldn't be in 2013 that they would be competitive, it would be this year, and it has turned out that way. His drivings been a million miles away from the loss of form back in 2011 where he didn't seem even capable of driving an F1 car any more, let alone winning another championship.
That was the first thing that I thought at the time too. I really hope not though, he's such a big character and a great driver it'll be really sad to lose him next year. Ron Dennis has a lot to answer for.
He seemed to be putting on a brave face in his interview after the race, but that's all it looked like, the donuts definitely seemed like he was saying farewell to the fans.
In all honesty, even on form, he deserves to carry on. Magnussen did well in his first race but has been disappointing since and Jenson has consistently outperformed him pretty much ever since.
McLaren I think are in real trouble. The rot set in under Martin Whitmarsh, and Ron Dennis's return has done nothing to stop it continuing. Lots of people assume they'll come back to the top again within a couple of years, but there's no guarantee of that. Look at some of the teams that took years to return. Tyrell, with so much success in the Jackie Stewart era, didn't win another championship until 3 owners and 3 rebrands later in 2009. Who would have suggested in 1997 that Williams would still be waiting nearly 20 years later for another championship? They are finally starting to come good again, but it's still just the first tentative steps to getting to the top.
Couple of final thoughts on the season. Yes I know it's only been a two horse race and would be nice to see more teams involved, which we can only hope for next year (Ricciardo must surely be a future world champion with the way he's blown Vettel out of the water this year), but it's still been infinitely better than the one horse race of two of the last three years (sandwiched around 2012 which promised much but ultimately delivered little).
Thankfully the double points didn't distort things in any way, other than making it look like Lewis won the championship more convincingly than he did. If press reports are to be believed then double points are to be quietly filed in the round waste receptacle under Bernie's desk, which is where they should stay.
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