But then his lap gains began to decrease and Rosberg knew he had the race won, his sixth victory of the season to Hamilton’s 10.
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Hamilton had dominated Rosberg throughout the campaign but the German managed three victories in a row at the end of the season, after the British star had secured the drivers’ title in the USA.
Wolff nonetheless confirmed that Mercedes would spend the opening weeks of the winter looking into Hamilton’s concerns over the W06’s set-up in a bid to establish why he struggled more in the closing races. He will have a while now to take stock of his superb end to the season, but the success in Abu Dhabi may be just what Nico Rosberg needs to drive him on to title glory. I would love to start the 2016 season tomorrow – but I know that´s not possible.
It is always tough to race Lewis.
While the Motogp title was hotly contested, France’s Sebastien Ogier was never really troubled as he sealed his third consecutive World Rally Championship with three races to spare in Australia.
Kimi Raikkonen was a lonely third for Ferrari to seal fourth in the Drivers’ standings ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who cut through the field after starting a lowly 15th place.
Hamilton had asked about trying to get to the end on one set of prime tyres, but this idea was quickly rebuffed.
“We started better this season but it’s not been an ideal year”, said Raikkonen.
He said: “After I pitted I was 11 seconds behind and had a mountain to climb”.
“As that didn’t work out, the stop, going too long was probably not the right thing to do, but we gave it a try…” Maybe it’s just Rosberg’s will to win and finish the season in style? So impressive was Vettl, it makes you wonder if the Mercedes would have had such an easy ride if Vettel had started in third, as he probably would have done had it not been for the error in qualifying. “We don’t want to let them get too close”.
Hamilton had a lengthy exchange with the Mercedes pitwall regarding his strategy before his final stop, and in the end his request to try nursing the tires to the finish was overruled by Mercedes because he would have been unable to keep Rosberg at bay.
Force India’s Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg finished fifth and seventh in Sunday’s race, separated by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.
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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. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso made contact with the Sauber of Felipe Nasr and hurtled out of control into the blameless Pastor Maldonado of Lotus.
