Lewis Hamilton said it “would suck” if he lost the world championship this year due to the controversial new double points rule.
A non-finish for Hamilton in the final race of the season increasingly seems to be he greatest threat to his championship chances, if team mate Nico Rosberg wins the double points round at Abu Dhabi.
Asked during today’s press conference at the Circuit of the Americas if he thought the double points rule was fair, Hamilton said: “I think the question is ‘what is fair’?”
“This is the rule that they have brought in for the first time. Do I agree with it? I don’t know if any of us agree with it or do not agree with it but it is the was it is and you just have to deal with it and hope for the best really.”
Hamilton, who will end the season with more wins than any other driver, admitted if he lost the championship due to double points “it would suck if that was the case, big time”.
But he said he was “not even going to put that negative energy out there, I’m just going to try to do the best job I can with the car that I have and what will be will be, I guess”.
Asked if F1 should keep the double points rule beyond this season, Hamilton said: “For the future I wouldn’t perhaps advise it for the following years.”
2014 United States Grand Prix
Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
Excuse me :D (@square-route)
30th October 2014, 16:47
You don’t say … :!
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
30th October 2014, 16:49
Chances are that I won’t be watching Abu Double in protest. It would be just as stupid for a driver to be in the history book as a champion with an asterisk next to their name because they won it due to double points as it is that Ayrton Senna and John Surtees are the champion in 1988 and 1964 respectively despite not scoring the most points that year.
HK (@me4me)
30th October 2014, 16:51
Who will hear your protest? I think you only lose out yourself by not watching.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
30th October 2014, 22:40
Viewing figures.
Patrick (@paeschli)
30th October 2014, 17:23
If viewing numbers end up being poor due to double points, they’ll drop it.
I’m not gonna watch that race.
SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
31st October 2014, 0:38
That’s rich.
JCost (@jcost)
31st October 2014, 6:55
They’re going to drop it anyway. If they keep it I’ll start a campaign to “impeach” Bernie.
JohnnyG82 (@johnnyg82)
31st October 2014, 15:55
I would like to see Bernie in a peach.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
30th October 2014, 16:58
Of couse it would, but if Rosberg wins in the end because of the double points, people shouldn’t say he’s not a worthy champion, as I assume a lot of them would question the legality of his title if it happened that way.
As much as this rule corrupts the championship, it’s been known before Melbourne, so it is what it is, really…
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
30th October 2014, 17:47
@fer-no65 I agree, and the upside for Bernie is that, if it decides the championship, it will bring a shedload of publicity – even if mostly bad, for him any publicity is good publicity.
KeithR (@)
30th October 2014, 17:59
@fer-no65 If Rosberg is out-driven in Austin and Brazil then Lewis breaks down in Abu Dhabi I absolutely 100% will say Rosberg is not a worthy champion. What else could one say? To say he was worthy you’d have to come up with some very creative disconnect between ‘deserved’ and ‘worthy’ wouldn’t you?
@fastiesty I know what you mean but I’m not sure even Bernie might not feel the heat if that happens. Ultimately F1 can be discredited like any institution.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
30th October 2014, 18:08
@lockup I mean he would win it fairly. He didn’t decide on double points for Abu Dhabi, he followed the regulation as everyone else.
Championships are decided by points, not by what the people think of the drivers. If Rosberg wins it, he’d win it fairly, and he’s a worthy championship. He won what was available for him.
Heck, Prost lost a title to Senna because of a rule in the points system too.
KeithR (@)
30th October 2014, 18:14
@fer-no65 Well DP wouldn’t be Rosberg’s fault. That’s as far as I’m prepared to go lol.
Breno (@austus)
30th October 2014, 19:35
Exactly. Double points are absolutely ridiculous, but it’s fair since all drivers get them.
JasonW
30th October 2014, 22:15
That doesn’t make it fair, it just makes it equally ridiculous.
Rybo (@rybo)
30th October 2014, 21:59
The only problem with bringing up 1988 or other years is that all of the races were worth the same amount of points.
There were times in 88 where Senna was quicker and there were time where Prost was ahead, but at the end of the day the same points were awarded each time. No one was able to make headway because a promoter put more money in Bernies coffers.
Bobby (@f1bobby)
31st October 2014, 0:33
I disagree. If Rosberg wins due to double points it will be a complete nonsense.
SeaHorse (@seahorse)
30th October 2014, 17:00
Why is Lewis bothered with the negative energy out there? Is he sure he is going to lose out in Abu Double?
Call me a cynic or anything, but as much as I hate Bernie’s pet double points ridicule, I feel the best way to prove to BE that it su**s is for Lewis to lose the title to Nico because of it. Otherwise the wise and old Mr. E would not be bothered to remove it as it doesn’t play any role in deciding the championship at all. For anyone questioning my intentions, I pity those teams who could stand to lose their hard earned points from 18 races in just one race due to this crazy dream of Bernie’s.
SeaHorse (@seahorse)
30th October 2014, 17:05
I meant to say ..
For anyone questioning my intentions, I pity those teams who could stand to lose their hard earned points from 18 races in just one race due to this crazy dream of Bernie’s than the WDC or WCC because thse small points would decide those teams’ prize money and their financial stability (at least short-term) and ultimately their competitiveness next season.
reiter (@reiter)
30th October 2014, 17:11
On the contrary, it would prove that it *worked*. If Lewis wins the title regardless of Abu Double, then it would prove that it just doesn’t serve its purpose and might be left out for next year. However, if Nico wins the title due to double points, the amount of controversy it would generate would be enough for BERNIE to stick with it. Bad publicity is better than no publicity, after all.
SeaHorse (@seahorse)
30th October 2014, 17:24
@reiter I can understand your logic. But that (logic) is not what the Big E is well known for, is he? If you put your foot in his shoes, you’d think if Lewis wins the championship, double points has not altered the championship battle and so it is harmless and can be continued for future seasons. But when Nico wins Lewis fans as well as the UK media will literally fire him and so he might drop this nightmare from future seasons. All the while he won’t give any regard to those teams who could lose their hard work of 18 races in just one of his logic-less fixing something which aint broken decisions.
Ninjenius (@ninjenius)
30th October 2014, 18:27
@reiter @SeaHorse Bernie’s motivation behind the double points system was to ensure that more than 1 driver could still have a mathematical chance of winning the title at the season’s finale. So, providing Lewis is no more than 50 points ahead come Abu Dhabi, the system will have “worked” regardless of the finale’s outcome.
Ninjenius (@ninjenius)
30th October 2014, 18:28
*49 points
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
30th October 2014, 19:51
I never understand this either…
Everyone seem so sure that something bad will happen in the last race.
Looks like it has got in to Lewis head too….
Alex W
30th October 2014, 23:37
Well the Mercedes is not very reliable by todays F1 standards, so there is your reason.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
30th October 2014, 17:06
I would feel really bad for Lewis if he lost the championship in Abu Dhabi while leading by over 25 points. IMHO, he deserves the title more than Nico. Still, hope to see an interesting battle between the two of them in the remaining races.
MilleniumBug (@milleniumbug)
30th October 2014, 17:14
The sad thing about this is that people in future will only remember the champions in the history books, doesn’t matter double points or not
Sam Andrew
30th October 2014, 17:17
The only way Hamilton was ever going to be beaten by Romberg this year is due to reliability, the double finish will just punish unreliability even more.
Anil Sanagavarapu (@anilsk2013)
30th October 2014, 17:25
Is it possible that certain teams will tactically take an engine penalty and start lower on the grid in Brazil? So they can avoid penalties in Abu Dhabi for a higher double point finish? I am thinking Force India and Ferrari just might…
SoLiDG (@solidg)
30th October 2014, 17:34
I bet they will. They won’t want to lose out in the last round with double points.
It could mean millions in price money.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
30th October 2014, 17:44
@solidg @anilsk2013 Ferrari have ‘loaded the dice’ – they could come last two years in a row and still get more money than Marussia or Caterham.. over both years!
KeithR (@)
30th October 2014, 17:48
@anilsk2013 I think Red Bull have chosen Austin to do Vettel’s change for that reason, and because passing is easier at Austin than in Brazil. Brazil seems a bit late, though FI could get some passing done using their power up the hill, maybe.
Anil Sanagavarapu (@anilsk2013)
30th October 2014, 21:39
I agree. In the reduced field of 18 cars, it might be “easier” to charge through the back field for VET. Perhaps F.I. could match VET’s strategy on one of their cars.
Sharon H (@sharoncom)
30th October 2014, 18:08
I would rather have had two races in Abu Dhabi, if it absolutely had to count double.
SeaHorse (@seahorse)
30th October 2014, 18:25
@sharoncom That’s a fair way of sweetening the poison pill called Double Points
Alex W
30th October 2014, 23:38
good compromise
Travis (@mcmerctn)
30th October 2014, 19:43
Yes it would. I don’t think Lewis is going to lose the championship this year, I think it will be his WDC. But it is very tiresome to read this continuing criticism of double points being unfair. Any regulation set forth before the start of the season that allows for sufficient time for preparation is not unfair. If Nico Rosberg does win the title this year with the double points rule, then he simply scored more points under the rules that the championship set forth at the start of the season, which is not unfair, rather, it is playing by the same rules as the ones everybody else had seen well before the start of this season and doing it better than everyone else. While I certainly don’t see the necessity of having a double points race, the criticism of unfairness seems misguided to me. Having said that, I hope the double points race is either taken away or better yet, the final weekend will have a saturday race and a sunday race both worth “single points”.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
30th October 2014, 22:08
@mcmerctn
Just because the drivers have been told in advance doesn’t make the system any less inequitable and, therefore, unfair.
Bobby (@f1bobby)
31st October 2014, 0:41
Exactly. The rules going into the new season could state that, ‘The winning car in the final round of the season takes 1000 points.’ One can say, ‘All the teams knew the rules going into the season, ergo its fair’, but they’d be wrong. It’s completely retarded.
Wesley (@)
30th October 2014, 21:12
“It would suck…big time.” Well said Lewis.
Maybe not well said but,very true.
Bobby (@f1bobby)
31st October 2014, 0:38
Before the start of the season every sane thinking F1 fan knew that double points was disgraceful. Now that it could very well turn the title on its head it seems even more so. I wish I didn’t care for this sport as much as I do. So much bull****.
Winston Byrd
31st October 2014, 1:16
I’m just going to say it. If Hamilton hadn’t driven his car so hard in Austin and Brazil then he would have been able to compete in Abu Dhabi. Right?
Winston Byrd
31st October 2014, 1:17
Save your car for the double points race.
RL
31st October 2014, 5:02
Indeed it would suck. But it was only a couple of months ago I was really looking forward to double points for Lewis, as it meant more points to chase down Rosberg’s lead. Then Singapore happened…
Anthony
31st October 2014, 6:34
Does anyone know what Hamiltons comments on double points where pre-season?