It was always going to come down to Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
Before the 2016 Formula One season began, pit-lane chatter abounded as to which team might make the leap and challenge for a championship. Ferrari laid down blazing times in preseason testing; Red Bull reportedly had some tricks up their sleeve. Some even predicted McLaren would emerge from 2015’s dismal ninth-out-of-10 finish.
Still, there was little doubt about who would lead the pack. Since the series switched to turbocharged hybrid-V6 powertrains back in 2014, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 had simply figured out its car better than everyone else.