AS team-mates go, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton appear to enjoy the kind of creative tension not seen since Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan shared a US Winter Olympic figure skating squad or the day when Graeme Hogg and Craig Levein came to blows in Kirkcaldy. The 2016 Formula 1 drivers' championship boils down to 55 laps of the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi as these two Mercedes drivers, who go way back to their karting days, slug it out to reach the chequered flag first. To win his fourth F1 crown Hamilton, trailing Rosberg by 12 points, must win and hope some traffic gets between him and his German rival, who must only finish third. Not for nothing is it being called the Duel in the Desert.

Crashes have been a feature of the relationship between these two men and wouldn't it just round off an epic season for this form of motorsport is another was engineered here. As championship leader, Rosberg, of course, would be the beneficiary and it is precisely the kind of ploy which his countryman Michael Schumacher used to pull off with such applomb. Take the 1994 season in Adelaide, for example, when with Schumacher leading Damon Hill by one point as the race began, both drivers were forced to retire on lap 36 when Schumacher's car happened to strike Hill's as the Englishman was trying to overtake.

These two men, said to compete at everything, including eating their dinner, when they were carefree teenagers making their way through the karting ranks, also have some serious form when it comes to these coming togethers. What about this from Hamilton in relation to a crash involving the two men in Belgium in August 2014: "We had a meeting about it and he basically said he did it on purpose," Hamilton said at the time. "He said he could have avoided it, but he didn't want to. He basically said, 'I did it to prove a point'."

Even more notable was the opening lap of this year's Spanish Grand Prix, when Rosberg closed the door on a Hamilton overtaking move, forcing the Brit onto the grass. As Mercedes bosses looked on aghast, he spun wildy across the track and soon both cars were in the gravel and out of the race after just 10 seconds of the start. Even Jenson Button joked in the lead-up to this one that he could be open to persuasion,

“Well [Rosberg will win the championship] unless one of us crashes into him!" Button said. "I mean, Lewis is very rich and has a lot of money, flies around in a private jet, so I’m sure he can afford to pay me."

"It has been done before," said Maurice Hamilton (no relation), the respected F1 commentator in a radio interview with TalkSport. "But he [Rosberg] is not that sort for a start. He is not thinking that way. He wants to win it properly having come this far. The ideal scenario for him is to win the race and beat Lewis Hamilton fair and squad on the day and win the championship ina proper manner. It [a crash] would not go down well and Mercedes wouldn't be happy.

"But there is a bit of tension, yes," he added. "They had a press conference on Thursday sitting side by side. They stood up for a photo call and didn't shake hands. They didn't speak to each other directly but they talked about each other in a farily nice way but you could almost cut the atmosphere with a knife, you could feel it. And no wonder, this is the 21st race, going back to March, it all boils down to this race and they both know it."

While some freshness in the form of a first-time champion would help sell the sport, the commentator feels the equation may actually be simpler for Hamilton to contemplate. While Rosberg may have numerous equations and permurations going through his head, Hamilton just have to win. It may even be advantageous for the Brit, who has been fastest in practice, to slow things down if he gets pole position in qualifying tomorrow then a lead, encouraging more other cars to get involved in the shake-up.

"I think he [Hamilton] has an easier game plan," said Maurice Hamilton. "He has won the last three and he needs to keep the momentum going. Rosberg only has to finish third but that is easier said than done because these guys are hard wired to win the race. Rosberg has to think about all these things, he has never been so close to the championship, he might never be so close again and it all boils down to this race.

"If Rosberg wins it people will say it is only because Lewis Hamilton had more mechanical misfortune, which is true, but that is the way it goes," added the F1 commentator. "Rosberg has been absolutely consistent and steady right the way through, while Hamilton has been more spectacular at times, but has had mechanical issues and some bad days which Rosberg just hasn't had."