F1: A title fight for the ages – Gulf Digital News

F1: A title fight for the ages – Gulf Digital News

Michael Schumacher was still racing, and Lewis Hamilton only a one-time world champion, the last time rival teams took the Formula One title battle down to the last two rounds of the season.

Not since 2012, when Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel faced Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in a final race title-decider in Brazil, has there been a run-in like the one between Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ now seven times world champion Hamilton.

But this one is different, with eras to be ended and Formula One records beckoning.

“It’s different because we’ve got two incredibly close teams, it’s different because as a team we’re fighting for uncharted territory,” Hamilton told reporters on Thursday ahead of the season’s penultimate race and first in Saudi Arabia.

“Nobody’s ever won eight (successive) titles, team or driver.”

Mercedes have won the last seven drivers’ and constructors’ championships but this year could break the sport’s longest period of domination by a single team and crown Verstappen for the first time.

Since 2012 the battle has gone the distance only twice and on both occasions it was between Hamilton and Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg.

Verstappen needs to score 18 points more than Hamilton to end matters in Jeddah this weekend.

Otherwise the battle between