Rosberg wins in Abu Dhabiposted in F129 | 11 | 2015
NICO ROSBERG WON a third successive Formula One grand prix for the first time in his career when he led the season-finale race in Abu Dhabi from start to finish.
Rosberg, who started from pole position, dominated the race at the Yas Marina ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The Englishman hasn't won a race since he clinched his third world championship in Texas on October 25.
In contrast the German finished the season with three back-to-back F1 wins — taking his career total to 14 victories —boosted by six successive pole positions.
Hamilton, who eventually finished 8.2 seconds behind the race winner, opted for a different race strategy in a bid to find a way past the German, but fell short when he essentially couldn't maximise his car's tyre wear.
When Rosberg made his second stop on lap 31 of 55, Hamilton opted to stay out rather than pit on the following lap.
As the triple world champ extended the life out of a set of soft Pirelli tyres, there was an exchange of messages between driver and the pitwall over to whether he could go to the end of the race.
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But as Rosberg closed rapidly, Hamilton eventually pitted for a second time after 41 laps. Strangely, rather than taking on super-softs, the switch was to softs, leaving him with a 12.5s deficit.
Despite a brief surge as he initially closed the gap to within six-seconds, ultimately it was a forlorn battle for Hamilton who had to settle for runner-up to Rosberg again.
"I did what I was told pretty much," Hamilton, whose Mercedes team sealed its recordbreaking 12th one-two of the season, explained afterwards. "I tried as hard as I could in the first stint, keeping a decent gap to Nico, looking after the tyres.
"The second stint I was quicker, getting close — I was just one second behind — and I could have made the tyres last longer. But it was down to the team which tyre we went to for the final stint.
"I'm not sure if I could have taken my tyres to the end: some part of me wishes I had just given it a go."
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen finished on the podium for only the third time this year, immediately in front of his team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, who had started from 15th on the grid.
Related: Lewis Hamilton wins third F1 world title
Sixth-placed Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo was the meat in a Force India sandwich as Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished a strong fifth and seventh respectively.
And while Williams driver Felipe Massa came home eighth, Frenchman Romain Grosjean in his final race for Lotus ahead of his move next year to Haas, finished ninth, with Daniil Kvyat completing the top 10 in his Red Bull.
Perhaps the most noticeable incident in the first part of the race was a pitlane collision between Williams's Valtteri Bottas and McLaren's Jenson Button.
Bottas was released by his pitcrew and as Button cut across into his pitbox, the Finn caught the rear of the Brit's McLaren. Stewards penalised the Finn with a five-second time penalty.
The incident resulted in damage to Button's rear wing, while Bottas sustained front-wing damage, leading to a long, slow lap back to the pits for a new nose.
F1, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina — Result
1. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 55 laps 1hr 38m 30.175s
2. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes +8.2s
3. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari +19.4s
4. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari +43.7s
5. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +63.9s
6. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault +65.0s
7. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes +93.6s
8. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +97.7s
9. Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus-Mercedes +98.2s
10. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault +102.3
11. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renault +103.5
12. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda +1 lap
13. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes +1 lap
14. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
15. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap
17. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda +2 laps
18. Will Stevens GBR Manor-Ferrari +2 laps
19. Roberto Merhi ESP Manor-Ferrari +3 laps
Retired:
Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes 0 laps completed
Fastest lap:
Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 44.517s
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Jim McGill