So it comes down to the last race of the season to decide who will be the Formula One World Champion for 2016. In one the leader who has never won the title before and in the other his teammate, the reigning champion! Who will win?
Abu Dhabi hosts the 21st and final race of the season with Nico Rosberg sitting 12 points ahead of his only title rival and teammate Lewis Hamilton. The two Mercedes drivers have been untouchable in the last three seasons and for the third year in a row one of them will be champion.
The difference this time is that it might not be Hamilton, in fact unless Rosberg has an issue it's highly unlikely. So how did we get to this point?
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Here's a rundown of what happened in each race up to now to put the German on the verge of his first World Championship:
Australia:
Mercedes got away with a 1-2 that they probably shouldn't have. Ferrari made strategy errors and had looked like winning the race with Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton messed up his start and slipped back to seventh. The superiority of the car and his own ability helped him to finish behind Rosberg as the German drew first blood.
Bahrain:
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For the fifth race in a row, starting at the end of 2015, Rosberg won the race. Once again Hamilton had difficulties with his start and that dropped him down the grid. He collided with Valtteri Bottas on the first lap and suddenly he'd gone from pole to ninth. Once again Hamilton saved the day to finish third but was already struggling in the title race.
China:
An engine failure to Hamilton's car meant he started last on race day. Things got worse for the Brit as he collided with debris left from a coming together between Vettel and Raikkonen on the first lap and he then had his own crash with Felipe Nasr. He recovered to finish seventh, having been fifth, but Rosberg once again won the race.
Russia:
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More bad luck for Hamilton. The reigning world champ ran into the same engine problems in qualy that he'd had the week before, at least this time he'd got into the last 10 shoot-out already. Rosberg led the race from start to finish and Hamilton's bad luck followed him into the race. Though he managed to finish second another engine problem slowed him down when he'd cut the German's lead to just seven seconds.
Spain:
Max Verstappen becoming the youngest ever F1 race winner should have stolen all the headlines however he was overshadowed by the Silver Arrows drivers. Hamilton and Rosberg swapped the lead of the race twice in the opening corners of the race but on the fourth corner they collided and took each other out of the race!
Monaco:
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Daniel Ricciardo led a safety car started Monaco and stretched his lead over Rosberg quite quickly. The German was struggling for pace and holding up Hamilton. Eventually he released his teammate who hunted down the Australian. However the Red Bull driver should have won the race but at one pit stop his team weren't ready with his new tyres, it cost him the lead and eventually the race. Rosberg's seventh place finish let his title rival back in the championship.
Canada:
The two rivals bumped tyres on lap one and let Vettel in to the lead. This time it was Rosberg who suffered as he dropped to 10th in the race. Ferrari made a mistake with their strategy though and Hamilton's one stopper put him in the lead. Rosberg was a lucky fifth as he lost the back end of his car trying to take fourth on the last lap but avoided hitting the wall and held on.
Europe:
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After cutting the championship lead down to nine points Hamilton was quicker all weekend going into qualifying in Baku. However he struggled in qualy and hit the wall on the 10th corner in the third session leaving him to start the race 10th. Rosberg won the race from pole with Hamilton fifth and frustrated at more issues.
Austria:
Hamilton got back on track with a win but it wasn't without controversy after the pair clashed late in the race. A storming Hamilton tried to get round his rival but Rosberg wouldn't yield causing them to collide. The German was worse off and ended fourth after a 10 second penalty, even though Niki Lauda seemed to blame Hamilton after the race.
Great Britain:
On home soil Hamilton reduced the gap down to one point. The champ didn't put a foot wrong as he led from the off. His teammate finished the race in second but having received help over the radio from his team was handed a 10 second penalty which saw him drop behind Verstappen and into third on the podium.
Hungary:
From 43 points behind in the title suddenly Hamilton led just five races later. There was controversy in qualifying as Hamilton felt Rosberg hadn't slowed down through a double yellow flag zone but the German kept pole. It didn't matter though as Hamilton overtook at the start and never gave up the lead. Twice Rosberg got within half a second and twice his teammate pulled away.
Germany:
Once again Hamilton overtook his teammate on the first lap and again Rosberg fell foul of the rules. The German was given a five second stop-go penalty for an altercation with Verstappen. When he pulled into the garage though the Mercedes stop watch wasn't working and he ended up staying for eight seconds. He eventually finished fourth.
Belgium:
Lewis Hamilton and former teammate Fernando Alonso started on the back row of the grid after incredible penalties for taking numerous engine changes. Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen all collided on the first lap which helped Rosberg win easy and Hamilton come through to finish third.
Italy:
Hamilton was back on pole however he was quickly down to sixth at the beginning of the race after another terrible start. It left Rosberg with another easy win and the Brit with another damage limitation second place finish.
Singapore:
More trouble for Hamilton as the Red Bull of Ricciardo split the Mercs on the grid. Hamilton once again couldn't get the car working for him in the race and the podium was the same as the race start with Rosberg winning from Ricciardo.
Malaysia:
The world champ was back on pole and looked too good going into the race. And that dominance continued on Sunday. With Rosberg struggling in fifth after two collisions and Hamilton leading by 25 seconds with 15 laps to go it all looked set for Lewis. That's when his engine blew for what was probably the defining moment in the title race.
Japan:
Another front grid lock out for the pair with Rosberg taking pole. Once again Lewis had a shocking start and slipped to eighth. Again he recovered to finish third but it wasn't enough.
USA:
Where Hamilton had last year confirmed his title win this year he kept is title bid alive with a race win, leading from start to finish. Rosberg was lucky to keep hold of second place after a virtual safety car stopped Ricciardo's Red Bull from closing the gap.
Mexico:
Hamilton on pole but Rosberg looked to have qualified just fourth until a last minute boost into second. Hamilton made a mistake on the opening corner, running wide onto the grass, but compaosed himself to finish first from Rosberg. The win put him level with Alain Prost on 51 race wins on the day his teammate might have won the title.
Brazil:
Heavy rain, two red flags and five safety cars couldn't stop Hamilton reducing the lead in the title race down to 12 points and making sure the title would be decided this weekend at Abu Dhabi. He won on an emotional day for Felipe Massa with Rosberg predictably in second.
Hamilton may need a miracle to win the title but it's been a hell of a season so far so who knows!
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