Abu Dhabi GP Rosberg ends F1 season on a hat-trick high

Mercedes have equalled the most races wins in a season by a team, as they completed a dominant 2015 season with a one-two finish.

Lewis Hamilton was only too keen to re-assert his world champion credentials despite Nico Rosberg’s bowing out of the season in commanding style with his win in the Abu Dhabi GP.

Ferrari had a good day, despite Vettel starting in 15th after the team screwed up qualifying, with Raikkonen holding on to his third place on the grid and Vettel storming through the field to take a well-deserved fourth spot.

Rosberg, eight seconds clear of Hamilton, celebrated his sixth win of the year and the 14th of his career.

“I’m excited about the way the end of the season went It’s a great battle internally all the time – that’s what I race for and I look forward to more next year”.

“I am so happy that I found some performance at the end of the season. Its great to end the season like this and go on holiday like this”.

Or are the wins here and in Mexico and Brazil simply consolations and Hamilton will reassert the superiority that saw him triumph in 10 of the first 16 races next season?

Mercedes dominated the season, with Hamilton winning 10 Grand Prix and Rosberg six.

“I think being world champion sounds a lot better than winning the race, so that’s good”, he said.

But Wolff, Mercedes’ joint team boss, said: “I wouldn’t say it’s the most likely suspicion”. The pace was good, especially in the first and final stint, the auto was also good and I managed to do some overtaking.

Prior to the second stops Hamilton had closed the gap to Rosberg to 1.3 seconds, but, having finally made his final tyre change, he re-emerged from the pits with the gap having grown to 12.5 seconds.

Fifth place went to Force India’s Sergio Perez, who had to fend off a tough challenger in the form of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Rosberg admitted he was ecstatic to maintain the upper hand over the man who had beaten him to the title in Texas, where a momentary lapse had cost him victory. He pushed hard, even setting the fastest lap of the race, though in the end crossed the line around 8.0 seconds behind the leader. Romain Grosjean, in his final race for Lotus was ninth, and Dani Kvyat rounded out the point scorers with tenth in his Red Bull.

“I think we need a bit of common sense….”

Lewis Hamilton admitted that he has been disappointed with his end to the year, but vowed to return stronger for the 2016 season.

Behind the two silver arrows, the luckless Fernando Alonso suffered a puncture in a collision with Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus, for which he was regarded as the guilty party, and given a drive-through penalty, taken after his necessary pit-stop for repairs.