Nico Rosberg: “I made my peace with this track”

Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton had to settle for second place on the podium as Mercedes colleague Nico Rosberg won the 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

He finished well clear of Mercedes teammate and 2015 Champion Lewis Hamilton, who between he and the team made the decision to for a longer second stint when just one second behind Rosberg. “Since then I have come back stronger and I am excited about the way the end of the season went”.

Nico Rosberg said there’s no secret to his revival after taking his sixth consecutive pole position this season at the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

It was a record 12th one-two finish of the year for the all-conquering Mercedes team.

Another driver who had a less than stellar evening in Abu Dhabi was Max Verstappen who was eventually classified 16 – having been hit with a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, and a 20s post-race time penalty for ignoring blue flags.

Even boxers manage to shake hands after the bell – but not Hamilton and Rosberg.

He learned today that even if he were to skip next season’s Baku Grand Prix he would not have a auto available to him at Le Mans to defend his overall win in the great race, but today, he can take solace in a quietly impressive seventh-place finish for Force India, and his teammate Sergio Perez can be happy with an equally impressive fifth. As a result, Wolff says option were given to Hamilton and his race engineer this time around.

“Next season could start tomorrow for me – I don’t need any holidays”.

Hamilton qualified behind his team-mate and was second to him throughout the first stint before they both pitted from the super-soft compound to softs.

“I’m feeling very happy”, beamed Rosberg, whose recent performances have belied those he gave earlier in the season, suddenly giving voice to the suggestion that he may provide a much sterner challenge in 2016.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis has suggested that Alonso, who has two years remaining on his contract, could take a sabbatical next season rather than endure another embarrassing year at the back of the grid.

Vettel’s fightback was assisted by a lot of midfield runners pitting within the first seven laps as the supersoft tyres began to degrade quite quickly in the opening stages.

Rosberg got off to a flyer from pole and the slower Hamilton was immediately under threat from Raikkonen. At the beginning of the season he was always this tiny little bit ahead, so it’s good to turn that around.

“At my first pit-stop, I saw that Valtteri was going to get released – which his team shouldn’t really have done, as I was pulling into the pit-box – and I braced myself for the hit”.

There were, however, a number of battles behind the race leaders between the Williams, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Lotus. “Everything was working well and things were running smoothly, auto handling well, so, it was good – but obviously not enough still to beat these two (Rosberg and Hamilton) but, you know we did our best”.