Nico Rosberg won the Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi in a dominant race under the floodlights of Yas Marina Circuit. The German beats Hamilton, who was in a different strategy. Kimi Räikkonen finishes fourth on championship with a podium.
The last Grand Prix of the year was approaching and Nico Rosberg came in good shape. He started from pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton. The German made ??a perfect start while Hamilton nearly lost his position with Räikkönen and the two Force India.
There was action behind Sebastian Vettel, who escalated to twelfth place – he was wearing the harder compound – as Carlos Sainz located himself in seventh. It was not so good out of Alonso, who after a touch ahead Nasr was carried into Pastor Maldonado, who would have to retire. Alonso pittet for repairs and then was penalized with a drive through; that costed his race.
Williams were in the spotlight during the second lap: Felipe Massa recovered Sainz’s seventh place while Bottas lost his in benefit of Kvyat.
Drivers early took off their supersoft tires. Nasr was the first to do so as Grosjean passed him. On Lap 6 Kvyat did the same, and then it was Ricciardo’s turn.
On lap 9 Bottas also stopped, suffering unsafe release from his crew chief, touching with Button and forcing him to re-enter to repair the damaged car. The penalty, 5 seconds Stop & Go. The Finnish had already lost the opportunity to be fourth in the championship.
The race leaders stopped at the pits. Rosberg would not let the lead of the race, but Vettel stood between the Mercedes as he had not stopped. Hamilton would pass him and then the German let his teammate pass him for his fight for the podium .
Vettel and Grosjean, who also had not stopped, did so on lap 24, while Verstappen and Hülkenberg, pitted for second time. Also would Rosberg and Räikkönen around lap 30, given that Hamilton was cutting the gap.
The race stabilized and Vettel would not put the supersofts until 15 laps to go, after having to let his teammate thorugh, bothering his fight with Perez and Ricciardo. Hamilton followed a similar but unsuccessful strategy; he could not reach Rosberg.
The race ended with a fight to get into the points: Massa surpassed Kvyat while Sainz and Romain Grosjean caught the Russian driver. The French had stopped on lap 45 and relatively fresh tires allowed him to finish ninth behind Williams, a great result for closing his stage in Lotusc.
The third consecutive victory of Nico Rosberg closes the championship. Many donuts by many drivers celebrated the end of the season along with fruit juice on the podium of Mercedes and Kimi Räikkönen.
Behind, Vettel, Perez, Ricciardo and Hülkenberg arrived. Mercedes also makes a record in championship points with 703.
Formula 1 season 2015 ended!. See you next year in Melbourne!
Championship TOP10:
1 | LEWIS HAMILTON | GBR | MERCEDES | 381 | |
2 | NICO ROSBERG | GER | MERCEDES | 322 | |
3 | SEBASTIAN VETTEL | GER | FERRARI | 278 | |
4 | KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN | FIN | FERRARI | 150 | |
5 | VALTTERI BOTTAS | FIN | WILLIAMS | 136 | |
6 | FELIPE MASSA | BRA | WILLIAMS | 121 | |
7 | DANIIL KVYAT | RUS | RED BULL RACING | 95 | |
8 | DANIEL RICCIARDO | AUS | RED BULL RACING | 92 | |
9 | SERGIO PEREZ | MEX | FORCE INDIA | 78 | |
10 | NICO HULKENBERG | GER | FORCE INDIA | 58 |