26/11/2016
NEWS STORY
At times it is difficult to like Lewis Hamilton.
While there is no doubting his tremendous talent and the fact that he rightly deserves his pace in the sport's history books alongside his heroes, there are other aspects of the man that rankle.
Be it playing up to the gallery in claiming that despite a run of six victories from seven races he had been "on the back foot all season", or his well-aimed ambiguous remarks to the media, be it about the book he'll be writing in ten years or his post-Malaysia suggestion of a Mercedes conspiracy.
In the same way that Hamilton knows exactly what he is doing when he climbs into the cockpit of his Mercedes, so too the Briton knows exactly what he's doing when he stands before the media. Long before he made his F1 debut he was being groomed for such matters, as part of the mighty McLaren no less.
And just as his oblique reference post-Malaysia to a conspiracy hit the desired target, stirring up just the right amount of trouble, so too was his response on Thursday to the question about his team swapping members of his crew with members of Nico Rosberg's crew. Suggesting that all will be revealed in a book further down the line was all that was needed to (further) sow the seeds of doubt.
On Thursday we witnessed his genuine emotion as he recalled the passing of Aki Hintsa, revealing their final hours together and how the Finn's death will further empower him as he heads into the weekend.
Yet at the same time we witnessed him, yet again, never pass up an opportunity to have a dig at his teammate, never allow an opportunity to rile Rosberg, albeit with a smile, go untaken.
99.9% of journalists and fans will admit that on any given day in the same equipment, in the same conditions, Lewis will have the beating of the German. He is the faster, better all-round driver. Fact.
On the other hand, Rosberg is very good. He's very fast, a proven winner and - in similar equipment - able to beat most of his current rivals. Fact.
Hamilton knows he is better, his results speak for themselves, and yet he can seemingly never acknowledge the ability or achievements of his teammate, and former friend.
Winners, true champions, have a special mind-set, and as they go about dominating their chosen sport or profession will show a ruthlessness that mere mortals might admire but can never truly to aspire to.
Yes, the enemy must be defeated, crushed... but surely they can be left with something.
Not so, according to Hamilton.
Ahead of the season finale, facing a 12-point deficit we can all relate to, he couldn't allow Rosberg a single crumb of comfort.
Speaking to reporters the Briton insists that should the German win the title, it is he, the Stevenage Rocket, who will be the "moral" 2016 world champion.
"I think in my heart I will feel, and maybe I should keep that private to myself, but I feel a certain way in my heart how I have performed," he said.
Note the well-aimed intention of the line... "maybe I should keep that private to myself"... but I won't.
"If he is labelled "the world champion" it doesn't necessarily mean that's the way it's labelled in my heart," he continued, using speech mark air quotes to emphasise the intended sarcasm.
"Just like 2007, in my heart I feel like I actually won that championship," he said, referring to his debut season when Kimi Raikkonen took the title as Hamilton fell victim to the in-house squabbling at McLaren. "Whilst it doesn't show that on paper, and people only remember who won the championship, in my heart I know and that's good enough for me."
Returning to the present, and this year's title, he said: "If I was to win? Oh, by far it would be the greatest, it would be the greatest achievement of my career for sure. It would be a battle, similar to the years and years of battle that I have had, particularly in our younger days as a family, all coupled into one year.
"I never want to write a book," he concluded. "I get offers to do books all the time and I turn them down, but I get excited about one day talking about this year. There are so many thoughts I have on my mind which I can't share with you just yet."
He can't help himself.
Check out our Saturday gallery from Abu Dhabi, here.