F1 needs to put on a show and take fight to Mercedes

It marked the 12th one-two finish for Mercedes this season, eclipsing the record they set previous year.

“I think we have to do an intelligent list over the next couple of weeks to try to analyse why. I am sure the team will give us a great auto once again”.

Rosberg dominated to win pole position at Yas Marina Circuit and backed it up with his ever first race victory in the UAE capital city. This team has done a remarkable job, so a big thank you to everyone back at the factories. I owe a lot to this team and it really feels like a family to me.

The only surprise was that Hamilton’s second change was for soft tyres, and not the faster super-soft tyres Mercedes appeared concerned would grain, but Sebastian Vettel managed to put in a longer stint on precisely the same rubber.

“My success is Lewis’ failure, in a way”.

Sainz’s team mate Max Verstappen had an adventurous race which included a stop to replace hugely flat-spotted tyres and a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits during a tough fight with McLaren’s Jenson Button. So, it is a great moment. I tried as hard as I could in the first stint, keeping a decent gap to Nico, looking after the tires. As that program continues to slide out of relevance, his switch to the incoming American Haas F1 team seems far more appealing than many would have thought it to be heading into the season. For now, I am going to enjoy the win and the progress. Alonso had threatened mid-race to retire his vehicle “if we don’t get a Safety Car” but in the end he stuck it out to the bitter end. I would have liked more battles though, but it looked quite spread out.

He has won 10 races and taken 11 pole positions on his way to sealing the championship by the swaggering margin of 59 points, yet his podium smiles at the end of this race did not disguise the fact that he was pervaded by a unusual sense of anticlimax.

“It’s been an incredible year, and happy 44th UAE National Day”, Hamilton told the crowd.

“We started better this season but it’s not been an ideal year”, said Raikkonen.

“I am back on the podium”. Next season can start tomorrow for me! Rosberg followed our expected two-stop strategy, stopping exactly on the laps that we forecast.

Raikkonen’s pace was impressive, with his qualifying time only four tenths of a second behind Hamilton, but Ferrari was left to rue a critical miscalculation with Vettel.

“It’s never nice to finish third but I’ll take it after previous races”.

“I am fourth in the championship this season but it does not make an very bad lot of difference”.

All eyes were on Marquez to see if he could overtake Lorenzo after his spat with Rossi who later accused the two-time world champion of conspiring to help Lorenzo claim his third MotoGP world title. “In the race I was pretty happy with the speed and everything ran smoothly”.

He said that for this weekend he had taken off a part of the car’s suspension which was worth 0.1-0.15secs a lap in improvement but that it had not made the difference he hoped.