Abu Dhabi ‘There can be only one’, the tagline of the cult 1986 film ‘Highlander’ about a battle between supernatural beings for immortality, epitomises the winner-takes-all nature of this weekend’s Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton or his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg: There can be only one to lift the world title on Sunday evening – in the final act of what has been a drama-filled and sublime piece of sporting theatre.

Feverish anticipation surrounds an electrifying climax to the Formula One season – the Abu Dhabi showpiece is a record 60,000 sellout – but who will prevail and secure sporting immortality?

Surely Britain’s Hamilton deserves to repeat his 2008 world title success, having won 10 grands prix as opposed to Rosberg’s five, powering him to 334 points – 17 ahead of the German?

Yet for Mercedes’ non-executive chairman Niki Lauda, a three-time world champion, both the Briton and German deserve to be acclaimed the best driver on the planet after enthralling F1 fans with their titanic tussle for supremacy in 2014.

In an exclusive interview with Gulf News, Lauda said: “To me they are both world champions. They are both outstanding race drivers and Nico did brilliantly to win the last race [the Brazilian Grand Prix] in Sao Paulo. It’s going to be a very interesting race to watch.”

The pair’s wheel-to-wheel combat has been, quite literally, fast and furious.

They have left the other drivers on the grid trailing in their wake – only Red Bull’s emerging star Daniel Ricciardo’s three wins have interrupted their dominance – and their ferocious lust for success led to bitter recrimination earlier in the year.

This arrived following Rosberg’s collision with Hamilton at the Belgian Grand Prix in August, which forced the Briton out of the race and allowed the German to storm to victory.

Hamilton later fumed: “He said he did it on purpose, he said he could have avoided it. He said ‘I did it to prove a point’.

Lauda and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff subsequently held showdown talks with the warring duo and warned them not to repeat their feud, leaving Rosberg suitably chastened after being handed a heavy fine. He would later also admit to “an error of judgment”.

Does Lauda feel the pair’s fierce rivalry has exceeded the bounds of reasonable taste at any stage?

“When I joined the board as non-executive chairman [in 2012], the first priority was to get the quickest pair of drivers,” the Austrian replied. “We wanted two drivers who would fight to go in the same direction in qualifying and the same for the race, both pushing themselves to the limit.

“If they do that, they’re the only ones who can win the championship, but sooner or later there will be a collision and they had that at Spa. If we win the race, why not take the [top] two places? So we clearly told them [after the collision]: ‘Nothing like this happens again’.”

A veteran of 177 grands prix, Lauda tasted both triumph and disaster during an illustrious career – claiming three world titles (1975, 1977 and 1984) and famously defying death and making an astonishing recovery from an horrific crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix.

What salutary lessons will he be imparting to Hamilton and Rosberg before the race? Lauda replied firmly that the time for talking has stopped and the duo must fight it out for glory alone.

“I don’t want to give them any more messages,” he said. “From my point of view, we have won the constructors’ championship. It’s just the two of them; there is no third guy now.

“From my point of view as an ex-racing driver, I am leaving them alone. They have to sort it out themselves.”

He added: “The team just has to ensure that both cars work. We don’t want any technical problems there and we want to give both of them the same chances [to win]. From my point of view, there is no more warning or whatever. It will be a challenging race because both of them want to be world champion and, at the end of the day, there can be only one world champion.”

Whatever happens on Sunday, Lauda believes the duo’s brilliance bears favourable comparison with past greats, such as himself or four-time world champion Alain Prost and his great rival Ayrton Senna.

“They are identical in that they can both do whatever they want,” the 65-year-old said. “They have dominated the season like Prost or Lauda or Prost and Senna. Like in the past, you never know who’s going to win.

“It’s very tough for them as the worst thing for a racing driver is when you are in the same team as a close rival. Yet one or the other never had a car advantage because the cars are identical and it’s their own driving which can decide the championship.”

Lauda also warned the German against attempting to emulate Senna’s deliberate crash into Prost at the 1990 season-ending Japanese Grand Prix, which decided the title in the Brazilian’s favour.

He said: “These things can happen but the driver has to realise that if tries to run the other off the track, they could damage their own car and their championship could be gone, too. So it’s not easy to think about doing that, as they might lose everything.”

He also hopes the double-points system being implemented for the first time at the final grand prix of the season – the winner gets 50 points as opposed to the usual 25 – does not have a decisive impact on the title race.

“From a sports point of view, I don’t like it, because it could always decide the championship in the wrong direction,” Lauda said.

However, he is all praise for the scene of the F1 finale, Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit, which was inaugurated in 2009.

Lauda said: “For me, it’s an outstanding race and from day one it’s worked very well. I like the fact it ends at night time and the circuit is perfect – there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s one of the best races on the calendar from a racing point of view and other points of view.”

Behind every great racing driver is a great team, Lauda acknowledged, hailing Mercedes’ record-breaking season – during which they have posted a new best tally of 11 one-two finishes.

“Teamwork is the key [to our success],” he said. “And the car has been truly unbeatable. We will try to do keep doing a good job, but the others sooner or later will catch up.”

For now, however, the prodigious pair of Hamilton and Rosberg are in their own untouchable stratosphere.

Yet on Sunday, there can be only one.