Rod Torque: Lewis finishes with a flourish

Lewis Hamilton let the world know that he is signing off this year’s Formula One season on a high with a convincing win at the final race in Abu Dhabi.

Although Ferrari and Red Bull have had a look in they were both convincingly beaten by the Mercedes Silver Arrows team.

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Is it the end of an era for Mercedes and Hamilton, or will I be giving the same news in 12 month’s time?

To be or not to be, that is the question!

The good that they have so ably done for so long should see them through for another year.

They really have been that good that we either take it for granted or criticise their consistency.

I think that the last season of the current formula is going to see more wins from the opposition than those of the incumbent champions as the wonderful formula of competitiveness takes effect.

2021 is a year away but it will herald a completely new face for Formula One with low profile tyres (at last!) and ground effects being reintroduced.

Colin Chapman will turn in his grave but with joy when he sees ideas of brilliance that he introduced on the Lotus 81 being given prominence after being banned more than 30 years ago because they were so far ahead of their time.

I will give a full explanation of this before the 2021 season but if you anxiously require the info please phone me for a chat.

Next year being the last of the current cars will only see minor changes such as practice and qualifying differences to the present, while the design staff will be spending most of their time preparing for their new rocket ships for ’21.

Back to last weekend’s racing, which I think was a little boring, mainly because Max Verstappen’s Red Bull Honda could not perform to its full potential due to technical problems.

This meant that behind Hamilton, Verstappen finished a fairly distant second with a ditto for Charles Leclerc (third) who was however hounded by Valtteri Bottas in the second Merc (fourth) which had started from the back of the grid due to an engine change.

This was an excellent performance and took the shine off Sebastian Vettel’s fifth place in the second Ferrari.

Alexander Albon’s Red Bull Honda was the last car to finish on the same lap as Hamilton, such was his pace.

That was the season that was, gone very quickly with some very exciting racing.

I think Brazil was best but as usual cannot wait for the cars to gather down under for the opening race of 2020 on March 15.

HAVE YOUR SAY

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