The fat lady is tuning up for Mexico City, where this coming weekend Lewis Hamilton needs to finish only fifth to clinch his fourth world championship. Given that since the summer break Hamilton has lost only once - in Malaysia, where he finished second to Max Verstappen - you'd have to rate his chances as somewhat better than average.
After the season he has had, the odds shorten that sooner or later he has to have some sort of mechanical failure, but Mercedes reliability has been remarkable in 2017, and Hamilton, freed of the occasional torment that was Nico Rosberg, has driven better than ever before, rather dispelling the age-old theory that drivers give their best when pressured by their team mate.
Valtteri Bottas has given a good account of himself, once or twice having the better of Hamilton, but Rosberg he ain't. Only now perhaps are we beginning to appreciate how good Rosberg was.