Rosberg wins Formula One title for 1st time; Hamilton 2nd

Button, also competing in his swansong, retired early in the race with a broken suspension.

Still, he expects to find plenty of energy to celebrate his win.

“I did nothing risky so I don’t feel I did anything unfair”, he said.

“I don’t think I did anything risky, I don’t think I did anything unfair”, said Hamilton.

Rosberg joined an exclusive club by becoming only the second son of a former champion to take the title, his father Keke having won the championship 34 years ago with the Williams team.

‘The other half of me says it was his only chance of winning the championship, and maybe you can not demand one of the best racing drivers, if not the best out there, to comply in a situation where his instincts do not allow him to comply. Let me sleep overnight and come up with a solution.

Asked if Hamilton could face punishment, Wolff said: “I need to form an opinion, which I haven’t yet” and “everything’s possible”.

After all the suspense and expectation, Hamilton chalked up his 10th win of the season, and fourth in a row, but was powerless to do anything about the championship outcome despite making every effort.

At the end, the two smiling rivals were seen on the podium, as Hamilton congratulated Rosberg with a handshake. The turning point, as he explained on Sunday in a floodlit Abu Dhabi paddock, came in Texas last October on the day Hamilton clinched his third title and tossed a cap in his team mate’s direction post-race.

Hamilton had an outside chance of being the first British driver to win four championships.

Rosberg’s title went down to the wire in a nerve-shredding finale.

Hamilton’s tactics had forced a compressed field and a fight for positions.
Mercedes technical team chief Paddy Lowe followed on the radio.

The Mercedes driver was unhappy with team orders which repeatedly urged him to speed up so that teammate Nico Rosberg was not vulnerable to attack from the chasing pack.

“But I couldn’t get past them”. “It’s a bit of a shame”.

Rosberg was clearly getting nervous, and Vettel was a wheel’s length away from him on the final lap. We won the constructors’ championship so it was down to me and Nico today.

He jumped from his auto and danced around the track before being hugging his mechanics.

On the podium, Rosberg’s eyes were watering as the weight of his achievement sank in and he thanked his wife, who also wiped away tears nearby.

“A big congratulation to Nico”.

“He just kept on scoring when it mattered”, said team boss Toto Wolff. Meanwhile, Verstappen’s auto went into a spin following contact shortly after the start, dropping down from sixth to last, but soon caught up.

Rosberg closed out the 2016 Drivers’ Championship with 385 points, with Hamilton in second with 380 points and Ricciardo third with 256 points.

Hamilton, who had started on pole and led all the way through, began backing Rosberg up into Vettel and Verstappen as the laps ticked down and it became clear his grasp on the championship was slipping. However, he still did the best that he could, taking a lights to flag win.

Race victor Hamilton tossed Rosberg’s second-place cap toward him with barely a glance in his direction, let alone consoling words. “The battle with Max, the pressure at the end, Lewis driving slow-the feelings during that were just unreal”.

“If I had dropped behind those guys, it was over”, Rosberg said. “Max went full on aggressive, as usual”.

The second stops for both Hamilton and Rosberg were smooth, with the duo retaining formation as they rejoined second and third behind Vettel, who was running a long second stint, until the German pitted.

Mercedes teammates Rosberg and Hamilton have had a tense relationship but the new champion said he was proud he could finallty get one over on his rival. He finished the year with four consecutive wins from pole.

Hamilton’s latest reference to lost points is a continuation of previous complaints throughout the season with regards to the engine problems that cost him vital points.

“Can’t believe it’s over”, Rosberg said.

He needed cars between him and Rosberg and if he’d charged off into the distance he would never have had that.