If Rosberg wins the WDC this year..

[The Black Knight]

1982?
Keke Rosberg won the championship after only having one 1 race all year and because his nearest rival in Didier Pironi got smashed up so badly in Germany that he never raced again.

1976?
James Hunt won the championship after only Niki Lauda had crashed so badly that he suffered severe burns in the fire. Niki Lauda is so hard core that he came back and drove six weeks later. Then he won the 1977 championship and after a period of retirement, won the 1984 championship as well.

1988?
Ayrton Senna literally won the championship by being worse that Prost.

Even if Nico comes third and Lewis wins the last GP, Nico Rosberg will have still won 9 Grands Prix. I think that this thread follows Betteridge's law of headlines; which says that "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word 'no'."

Will he be the least deserving champion of all time? No.

Yeah, I pretty much agree with that. Rosberg is super talented and there have been far worse champions in the past. He has been lucky and sometimes you need that. The best top notch drivers don't need that luck, however, when your teammate has multiple reliability issues and you share the best car, sometimes it just falls into your lap.

[AndyL]

Yeah, I pretty much agree with that. Rosberg is super talented and there have been far worse champions in the past. He has been lucky and sometimes you need that. The best top notch drivers don't need that luck, however, when your teammate has multiple reliability issues and you share the best car, sometimes it just falls into your lap.

Even the best require luck I would say, except in Schumacher-Ferrari situation where they have a dominant car and a team-mate who is under orders to play second fiddle.

If you consider Hamilton to be one of the very best, and I would, then if the best didn't need luck he would win this year. Which he may still do of course. So we'll see in a couple of weeks whether you are right and the best don't need luck!

Alonso is another example though. At least once he's had a championship-winning car, and was the best driver on the grid at the time, but didn't win the WDC.

[Nitrodaze]

Thankfully it is going to the wire. With five points to spare, it would take a major f**k up or a DNF to cheat Rosberg out of his first F1 driver title. Hamilton would be thinking of 2007 where he was in a similar position then it all went pear shaped. As Rosberg has survived the crazy weather of Brasil and the rookie whipper snapper [Verstapenn]. He just needs to keep out of trouble and nurse the car home in 2nd or 3rd.

i agree that Rosberg has been quite good this year to take full advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves through the season. Even with luck, you still have to cross the line first. And he did that 8 times which is as many times that some world champions win in a season to become world champions.

If there are any qualms with the way the season turned out, it would be with Merc that did not provide the tools for an exciting battle for the driver's title to take place.

[The Black Knight]

Even the best require luck I would say, except in Schumacher-Ferrari situation where they have a dominant car and a team-mate who is under orders to play second fiddle.

If you consider Hamilton to be one of the very best, and I would, then if the best didn't need luck he would win this year. Which he may still do of course. So we'll see in a couple of weeks whether you are right and the best don't need luck!

Alonso is another example though. At least once he's had a championship-winning car, and was the best driver on the grid at the time, but didn't win the WDC.

I probably should have said the best don't always need luck rather than don't need it.

[Nitrodaze]

Even the best require luck I would say, except in Schumacher-Ferrari situation where they have a dominant car and a team-mate who is under orders to play second fiddle.

I probably would say Schumacher made is own luck and was always there to take advantage when things were not quite in his favour. But having a sidekick driver to back him up certainly made a huge difference to making his own luck.
I personally think Rubens Barichello and Eddie Irvine should have each won one drivers title at Ferrari given the support or left to race freely.

To win the title they need loads of talent firstly and then tons of luck. Luck is a crucial part of winning. To not crash out in the wet or get the dodgy engine or DNF due to other peoples mistakes is all luck. Hulkenburg would certainly agree with that.

[AndyL]

In my view the least great (I know--oxymoron) WDCs have been:
1. Keke R: Villeneuve's death, Pironi's season-ending injury, and turbo unreliability handed it to him

1982?
Keke Rosberg won the championship after only having one 1 race all year and because his nearest rival in Didier Pironi got smashed up so badly in Germany that he never raced again.

Stat attack: Keke is the only champion in the history of the F1 world championship to have won it in the 4th best car, as measured by constructor's championship standings.

That may be skewed by the fact he had somewhat lesser team-mate for most of the season, but Derek Daly was a consistent points finisher, and the Williams surely can't have been the fastest car by any means as it set no fastest laps and one pole position all season.

[Mia 01]

I hope Rosberg wins but both deserve the title.
Next year it´s Verstappens turn. I don´t like that, I dislike him even more than Hamilton!

[Ari33]

I hope Rosberg wins but both deserve the title.
Next year it´s Verstappens turn. I don´t like that, I dislike him even more than Hamilton!

I try to judge all F1 drivers on what I watch F1 for, their driving abilities. Some have bigger egos, character flaws or perceived personalities which are less likeable than others... but I've never really felt that way about Max.
What is it you don't like about him?

[Nitrodaze]

I hope Rosberg wins but both deserve the title.
Next year it´s Verstappens turn. I don´t like that, I dislike him even more than Hamilton!

Mia, you never know in this game, it might be Kimi or Vettels turn next season.

[Bagwan]

I try to judge all F1 drivers on what I watch F1 for, their driving abilities. Some have bigger egos, character flaws or perceived personalities which are less likeable than others... but I've never really felt that way about Max.
What is it you don't like about him?

He's had a few run-ins with Kimi .
Mia wouldn't like that too much .

I would think that's your reason .