Lewis Hamilton says car disappointments were the main r
eason he lost his reality title to Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg. The Briton had three engine disappointments over the season, which affected on his focuses add up to, while Rosberg had none. Hamilton won Sunday’s season-finishing race in Abu Dhabi yet the German was second – fixing the title.
“I did everything I could, particularly towards the end. Nico had a clean year without any real issues and that’s why we sit in this position,” he said.
“But he did a fantastic job, so big congratulations to him.”
Hamilton, 31, had two indistinguishable issues with the mixture framework that implied he began down the matrix in early-season races in China and Russia, and the new parts utilized as a part of the repairs prompted to a lattice punishment that implied he needed to begin at the back at the Belgian Grand Prix later in the year.
He then had an engine disappointment while driving the Malaysian Grand Prix in September, which turned what might have been a little lead in the title over Mercedes team-mate Rosberg into a 23-point shortage with five races to go. “I was generally quickest most of the year, so it’s definitely been a positive, a lot of positives to take from it. So I take that into next season,” Hamilton said.
By difference, 31-year-old Rosberg just endured one specialized issue in a race, which dropped him from second to third at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Hamilton chose to drive purposely gradually in Abu Dhabi trying to back Rosberg into different drivers and downgrade the German beneath the third place he expected to secure the title.
He more than once disregarded requests to accelerate from the team, and said he made no expressions of remorse for his activities.
“I’m in a position where I’ve obviously had a lot of points lost during the season so, for me, I’m out there fighting and I generally never try to do anything to harm the team or the brand or anything like that.
“But we’ve won the constructors’ championship so it was down to me and Nico and yet they still felt they needed to make comments.
“We’ll discuss it afterwards as a team as we always do and pull back in. But we can’t let that overshadow the fact Nico’s just won a championship and the team has dominated all year long. It’s been an incredibly successful year.”
