After Brazil GP my world turned upside down, as I heard about the passing away of Dr Aki Hintsa, who had worked for 11 years in F1 as a doctor and coach. He had been diagnosed with cancer in the summer 2015, and the doctors had given him only a few months to live. However, against all odds Dr Hintsa managed to win his battle against cancer. The last news I read about him said that he was well and the Finnish F1 team planned to invite him in the Formula 1 studio for some GP weekend. There was absolutely no way I was prepared to hear the news of his passing away! Suddenly cancer had recurred and he had lost his battle against cancer. He was taken so early, only at the age of 58. He would have had so much more to give to the world! I read Oskari Saari´s book about Dr Hintsa and his holistic model for personal success, as it came out in the spring 2015. The book made a huge and lasting impression on me -deeper than I even realised first. The news of Dr Hintsa´s death has gone deep into my emotions, although I never even had the honour to meet this unique and extraordinary man. Today I read the news that Oskari Saari will finish the biography of Dr Hintsa, as the man himself had wished only days before he passed away.
So my thoughts have been very distracted this weekend. On one hand I´m trying to enjoy the very last GP weekend of the season, but on the other hand my thoughts are with Dr Hintsa and his family. I didn´t see qualifying live on TV today, as I took part in my grandmother´s 90th birthday party. This made me go through deep thoughts as well, as the possibility to celebrate your 90th birthday in decent health definitely cannot be taken for granted! However, I took a look on the Formula 1 news, as I was sipping coffee at the party ;)
Luckily qualifying was on, when I came home and turned my TV on. To honour Dr Hintsa´s memory, Hamilton had had the text "Dr Aki Hintsa 1958-2016" put on his helmet for the weekend. Hamilton had a close friendship with Dr Hintsa, who had helped the Briton a lot during his career. The Briton had met Dr Hintsa only a day before his death. Coming to this season-finale, Hamilton has said that he wants to win the race for his friend, and the Briton´s determination was there to be seen in qualifying already. He was the fastest man in Q1, with points-leading teammate a whole second off his pace. Ferrari´s pace seemed excellent indeed, as Kimi was second fastest with teammate Sebastian 3rd. A bit surprisingly, both Toro Rossos were out of Q2, as Kvyat was the first faller in Q1. Teammate Sainz was left in modest P21. Manor´s Wehrlein was responsible of the most positive surprise, as the German managed to make it to Q2 by making it 16th in the first session.
All top teams came out at the beginning of the second session. Once again, Red Bull ran a different tyre strategy to their rivals; they ran the super softs instead of the ultra softs, meaning they will start on the longer-lasting -but slower- rubber. There wasn´t any ambiguity about Mercedes´ dominance, as once again Hamilton was the fastest man at Yas Marina with teammate Rosberg at his tail. Worth noticing was the fact, that Red Bull´s Verstappen managed to split the Ferrari teammates in spite of the tyre choice. Both Verstappen and Ricciardo left the pits for second runs on the purple-marked ultra soft rubber, but they aborted their flying laps as there was no need to improve. This time Williams´ Bottas led those who failed to get through to the final segment.
In Q3 Hamilton took provisional pole; especially his second sector was absolutely crushing. Rosberg tried his very best to take the battle to his teammate, but he was still three tenths down on Hamilton, who seemed to be a man on a mission. Kimi had driven an extremely strong qualifying, and the Iceman was third after the first runs. Ricciardo was fourth, Verstappen fifth and Sebastian sixth. Both Silver Arrows managed to improve their lap times on the second runs, but Hamilton held on to pole by three tenths of a second. Behind the dominant Silver Arrows, Ricciardo unfortunately displaced Kimi for third on their second runs. However, the duo was separated only by a hundredth of a second! Sebastian -who a bit surprisingly got beaten by his teammate in the qualifying battles this year- finished 5th, and Red Bull´s Verstappen had to settle for P6, as the Dutchman had made a mistake on his final run. Hulkenberg and Perez locked out row four for Force India. Alonso underlined McLaren´s improvements with ninth, and Williams´ Massa rounded out the top ten.
Rosberg may have a 12-point advantage heading into tomorrow´s title-deciding race, but for now the momentum is definitely with Hamilton. It seems that the Briton has got some extra boost for this weekend. He wants to win the race and dedicate the victory for his deceased friend. I have a feeling that it´s exactly what Hamilton will do tomorrow! But winning the world championship isn´t only in Hamilton´s own hands anymore. All Nico has to do is to finish on the podium and he´ll clinch his first world title. I´m not a fan of either one of the Mercedes drivers, but I really appreciate Hamilton´s gesture to have Dr Hintsa´s name on his helmet and his intention to dedicate the possible victory for him -so yes, this time I actually hope Hamilton is going to win the race tomorrow! (I never thought I´d one day hope Hamilton to win!)
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