Why 2014 could go down as a classic

The next seven weeks will decide where 2014 stands among the classic grand prix seasons. If the denouement is as dramatic as the beginning and the middle of the year, it will be right up there.

That goes against conventional wisdom, but cut through the politics, the complaints and the legitimate concerns about the future, the title fight has been spectacular this year.

Ideally, the battle should rage between not just a pair of drivers, but rivals in different teams. But while Mercedes has done all the winning it only takes two drivers to make a great title battle and Lewis Hamilton versus Nico Rosberg has had it all.

Well, almost all. The coming five races will give them the chance to produce the grandstand finish that a great year deserves.

And with Daniel Ricciardo hanging in there and ready to pick up the pieces (although it would require a spectacular metaphorical blow-up by Mercedes for him to do so) in the 'Alain Prost 1986' role, it should be a thriller. Exactly what F1 needed after Sebastian Vettel's utter dominance of the second half of last year.

After 14 races, the gap between Hamilton and Rosberg stands at just three points and has never stretched wider than 29.

Both drivers have had stints in the lead, Rosberg rather more than Hamilton. But even had the nightmarish double points rule for the season finale on Abu Dhabi never been dreamed up, a final-race shootout would have been a near inevitability.

Hamilton and Rosberg have had some intense battles, like in Spain © LAT

There have been some great races between the pair. In Bahrain and Spain, they were fighting for victory to the chequered flag, Rosberg desperately trying to find a way ahead.

In Monaco, Rosberg's controversial mistake on his final qualifying lap, either a blunder that he perversely benefitted from or a ruthless professional foul, depending on your perspective, ratcheted up the tension another level.

Then there has been the unreliability, hitting Hamilton harder once you take his qualifying problems in Germany and Hungary into account. Although Rosberg has also had his share, retiring from the lead at Silverstone and hitting trouble before the race even started in Singapore.

You can argue that the car problems have distorted the battle between the pair, but reliability has always been a factor in title fights. It might prove to be the decisive one this year.

But the moment the contest really came alive was at Spa, when the pair collided. F1 might be a non-contact sport, but this propelled the battle to a whole new level.

Clearly Rosberg's error but, despite what the conspiracy theorists contend, not deliberate, this made relations between the two turn from frosty to warlike.

This is exactly what a classic world championship needs: genuine needle. It would be overstating the case to say the pair hate each other, but in the pressure cooker of a title fight they are cast as sworn enemies and play the roles superbly.

But any season-long battle is defined by the way it ends. The years that stand out in the memory are those tinged by either controversy or some indelible flashpoint.

Lewis Hamilton has been through three last-round shootouts, losing in 2007 and, as a rank outsider, 2010. His sole title to date came in 2008 following a finale at Interlagos in which, again, the conspiracy theorists had their say.

Timo Glock lost fifth place to Hamilton at the final genuine corner at Interlagos. Those who believe this was a gift should consider that Glock was on slicks on a damp track and registered a near-identical laptime to Toyota team-mate Jarno Trulli, on the same rubber, on that final lap.

Reliability has been a crucial factor for the drivers in the title fight © LAT

But this is an example of the kind of intensity that a driver has to have the strength to withstand in a winner-takes-all finale. Sometimes, it can come down to one key moment, even in the final seconds of a race.

Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna infamously twice clashed to decide the championship - there will be plenty of reminders of that over the weeks to come even though neither incident occurred in the final race - while the collisions between Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill (1994) and Jacques Villeneuve (1997) are among F1's most infamous incidents.

Such moments, be they collisions, passing moves or Nigel Mansell's tyre exploding at Adelaide in 1986, are the defining images of a season. This is why some title fights lack the same resonance.

A good example of this was in 2010, when four drivers went to the Abu Dhabi finale as contenders. The race is remembered for Ferrari's strategic blunder, covering Mark Webber and disregarding the threat posed by Sebastian Vettel.

There is no iconic image, so it will not be celebrated in the same way. The details of the race itself were mundane, but in the circumstances it was an astonishing ending that simply lacked a focus.

You could say the same about the amazing 1984 title race, when Niki Lauda beat McLaren team-mate Alain Prost to the title by just half-a-point. The Austrian's calculating drive from 11th on the grid to the second he needed was remarkable, but the slow death of Prost's title hopes lacked the explosive quality of more famous finales.

The 2012 title decider between Vettel and Alonso lacked a climactic moment, beyond the fact that the German's Red Bull somehow survived being collected heavily by Bruno Senna's Williams on the first lap.

That finale was overshadowed by an idiotic, spurious and largely fictional conspiracy conjured up by those who wilfully refuse to understand the simple mechanics of driving past a green flag and that therefore leaving a yellow flag zone before overtaking another car...

These examples illustrate how important it is not just to have a final race shootout, but one that delivers with a glorious moment of sporting theatre.

The 2012 title shootout was one to remember © XPB

We can't know how this title fight will end. Perhaps Hamilton, with two wins on the bounce, will extend his run of victories and edge out of reach of Rosberg and avoid another controversy?

Or perhaps Rosberg can re-take the initiative, which could have the compound benefit of forcing Hamilton into some more mistakes such as the ones that have occasionally compromised him in qualifying?

Both of those scenarios are possible, but the sporting gods will surely demand at least one more pressure point, when on-track decisions will sway the destiny of the crown one way or another. In those crucial few seconds, a legend might be made.

That will be the moment everyone remembers, and would be a trademark of one of the great seasons. It's important to recognise the quality of what you are living through, for this might prove to be a championship future F1 fans will be envious we were able to experience first-hand.

The two protagonists are also gloriously divisive. Hamilton is stunningly quick and, when on a roll, a force of nature. By contrast, Rosberg plugs away, rarely makes costly errors and has shown a ruthless streak that could serve him well over the next seven weeks.

Some criticise identikit PR-spouting drivers, but both have clear personalities manifesting themselves in the way they perform on track. That is another hallmark of a great season. What 2014 offers is a chance to get behind two very different personalities.

Because for all the complaints about the state of F1, much of this season has been a joy.

The Singapore Grand Prix was actually one of the least exciting races of the season, but it still produced an interesting enough race and a Hamilton charge that would have stood one of he better races of a campaign had it occurred 10 years ago.

The technique and skill required to excel in F1 in 2014 is still breathtaking, regardless of arguments about a lack of physical challenge. Don't underestimate how good drivers like Rosberg and Hamilton, not to mention Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas, are.

And what any fans of a sport crave is exactly what we have right now, an intense battle between two competitors operating at a high level.

Amid all the politics and rhetoric, it's essential we all remember that. After all, it's the competition that really matters.