Lewis Hamilton has arrived at the title decider in Abu Dhabi after one of the longest and most heartbreaking journeys of his life. The world champion has travelled around the world in nine days, flying from the last race in Brazil to Switzerland, to Los Angeles, and now on to this illuminated confection in the desert, where this weekend he takes on Nico Rosberg for the world championship crown. Seeing his friends, naturally, accounts for the west coast of America, but Switzerland is another story altogether. Hamilton detoured to a hospital there to visit one of his mentors on his deathbed. Hamilton trusted Aki Hintsa like few others and the squat, quiet, chuckling Finnish doctor had been one of the paddock’s most popular figures. After a year and a half fighting cancer, Hintsa died last week.
The inspiration Hamilton drew from seeing the doctor at the end — and from a friendship of a dozen years — will provide extra impetus, he said, when he tries to overturn a 12-point deficit to Rosberg in the dusk race that is being written up as the Duel in the Desert.
