Rosberg admits the 2015 season has been tough but he feels he can look forward to next year with confidence after his exploits at the end of this campaign.
Advertisement
All three podium finishers started oblivious to the carnage behind them.
The closing races of 2015 offered hope for the future but just how much of a pointer they really are remains to be seen.
“In hindsight, once Nico had pitted I probably should have backed off and made my tyres last longer”, Hamilton said.
Despite a brief flurry of fastest laps, Hamilton was unable to find the second-a-lap speed he needed to catch his teammate, and after getting the gap down to less than seven records, Rosberg actually increased it in the final stages of the 55-lap race. The Italian team certainly has the momentum, but the Silver Arrows will be hard to beat.
“Next year can come any moment – it could start tomorrow, I don’t need any holidays – and it is great to end the season like this”.
“But I can’t grumble too much”.
Running around at the rear, and just before the midway point of the race, Alonso suggested he had had enough when he declared over the radio: “If we don’t get a safety vehicle I will retire the car”. My tyres were done at the end of the first stint sitting behind Nico.
“Going too long [before the final stop] was probably the wrong thing to do, but we gave it a try and I did the best job I could with it”.
“I don’t know the big picture and ultimately you have to rely on the engineers to give you the optimum strategy at that point”, said Hamilton.
“I think we have to do an intelligent list over the next couple of weeks and try to analyse why”.
The German must either rise to the challenge and follow in the footsteps of father Keke, Finland’s 1982 world champion, or be written off as a number two. We’ve shown that Mercedes is the best team in the world.
Horner, who last week called for a shake-up to the rules in a bid to make the sport more competitive, said: “I think the regulations are extremely stable for next year and obviously Mercedes will inevitably carry on the dominance, such is their margin”.
Force India’s Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished fifth and seventh in Sunday’s race, separated by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. “I am happy, it was good fun”.
There were, however, a number of battles behind the race leaders between the Williams, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Lotus.
This came briefly after Bottas had crashed into the rear of Button in the pit lane, the Williams man taking a five-seconds penalty for an unsafe release from his garage.
Advertisement
He did not, but he finished one lap down and ahead of only the Manor pair of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi.
