F1: Rosberg Caps Off Season With Win in Abu Dhabi

Rosberg converted his sixth consecutive pole position into a third straight win to see out the 2015 season, while Hamilton could only get close ahead of the final pit stops.

Meanwhile, Hamilton had been quickest on the track and had cut Rosberg’s advantage to just a second when the German pitted again on lap 32. “Next year could start tomorrow for me – I don’t need a holiday”.

Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team’s German driver Nico Rosberg races during the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit on Sunday.

Rosberg dominated from pole using a supersoft-soft-soft strategy and although this was identical to his team mate Lewis Hamilton, who came second, the German racer made his pit stop first and was effectively in control of the tactics, ensuring his lead.

Valentino Rossi led the championship for nearly the entire season as he chased a tenth world title, but it wasn’t to be as team-mate Jorge Lorenzo never surrendered and eventually closed the gap to seven points going into the final race in Valencia.

“We took some learning on board off that weekend and whether the auto has come more towards Nico and gone away from Lewis, it could be a factor but I wouldn’t want to reduce it to one factor, there could be many factors playing a role”.

“I think being a world champion sounds a lot better than winning a race, obviously”, said the Briton, who thinks the about-turn in fortunes has more to do with a recent auto set-up change.

Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari completed the podium and his Scuderia team-mate Sebastian Vettel produced a fine display to finish fourth from 15th on the grid.

“Of course, it’s too late but I don’t look back”.

“I don’t really understand it, I came out 11 seconds behind and had a mountain to climb”, Hamilton said. Going too long was probably not the right thing to do.

“We have to make an audit in the next couple of weeks and analyse what happened in the last couple of races”.

Force India’s Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished fifth and seventh in Sunday’s race, separated by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Notably, Dutch rookie Max Verstappen, who had earlier clashed with Jenson Button, held him up for an entire lap with his Toro Rosso.

When the lights went out, Rosberg made a ideal start while Hamilton struggled to stay with him and had to engage his best defensive driving to retain second place.

Alonso, who was penalized after being caught up in a wreck with Pastor Maldonado and Felipe Nasr, said Formula One was in trouble and the cause was not demonstrating common sense.