Rosberg ends season with victory in Abu Dhabi

Nico Rosberg will head into the winter break with a smile on his face after taking the win at the Abu Dhabi season finale. He was 8.2 seconds ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton as he crossed the line, making it yet another 1-2 finish for Mercedes which meant they surpassed their points record from 2014 (without the double points finale).

Rosberg led the way off the line and created a comfortable gap of some six seconds with ease. However, during the second stint Hamilton managed to close up the gap to under 1.5 seconds. Just when Hamilton was knocking on the door of the DRS window of one second, Rosberg pitted. Hamilton, though, stayed out.

The Brit went ten laps longer on that stint than his team mate in a bid to chase him down on fresher tyres at the end. The use of the supersoft option tyre for the final stint was considered, but graining fears saw the World Champion use the soft prime tyre once again. He was 13 seconds behind Rosberg when he exited the pits, but was unable to make the inroads he needed to take the win.

Kimi Raikkonen in the early stages was keeping himself in close proximity to the Mercedes, but he couldn’t keep up with their pace on the prime tyre. He finished 3rd.

Sebastian Vettel hauled himself up to 4th place from 15th on the grid. A great start saw him up to 9th at the end of the first lap, and a long first stint on the prime tyres worked in his favour. A final stint on the options saw him make his way past Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez in the closing stages.

Perez matched his qualifying pace but he couldn’t keep the Ferrari behind. He also had to fend off a late charge from Ricciardo in 6th. Nico Hulkenberg was 7th after a race-long scrap with Felipe Massa, Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz, but Romain Grosjean, running the option tyres at the end, threw his name into the mix to take 9th place on his final race for Lotus before joining Haas in 2016.

Jenson Button equalled his starting position of 12th, once again taking every opportunity to race other cars. One overtake of particular merit was passing Felipe Nasr’s Sauber around the outside of turn 11.

The Brit also had a close call with Max Verstappen. The Dutchman, also using the option tyres for the final stint, shot up the inside of Button at turn 8. Button tried to keep his car alongside for turn 9, but the two made contact at the apex. Verstappen went off the circuit and rejoined ahead of the McLaren, which saw the stewards handing him a 5 second time penalty. After the race he was given a further drive through penalty for ignoring blue flags, dropping him to 16th.

Valtteri Bottas was on the back foot when, during his pit stop, he was given the green light to exit his pit box whilst Jenson Button was approaching in the fast lane. Bottas clipped his front wing against the rear of the McLaren, meaning he not only needed to pit again for a new front wing, but also received a 5 second time penalty for an unsafe release. He finished 13th.

Marcus Ericsson also went long on his first stint, which saw him finish ahead of team mate Felipe Nasr in 14th. They were ahead of Fernando Alonso, who made contact with Nasr and Pastor Maldonado at the start. Maldonado was left with suspension damage, and Alonso was given a drive through penalty for causing the collision.

Will Stevens once again out-performed team mate Roberto Merhi. Both drivers were eager to show why they should be kept on for 2016, with Alexander Rossi and Mercedes reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein waiting for a seat at Manor.

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