Losing out to Nico Rosberg in three successive races, the German recorded his first Formula 1 hat-trick while Hamilton was left wondering what went wrong.
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The win was the 16th in 19 races for Mercedes.
“I’m excited about how the end of the season went and next year – it can come any moment, it could start tomorrow if it were up to me, no problem”.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton’s rivalry with Nico Rosberg ended in a bitter defeat in Abu Dhabi. I will try to keep it going for the start of next year. “I’m happy. I’m happy it’s over, for sure, so now we can really enjoy”.
Rosberg says it is just a case of he’s faster at the moment, however, Hamilton says he’s been unhappy with changes Mercedes made to the auto.
“I think being world champion sounds a lot better than winning the race, so that’s good”, he said.
Hamilton has been untouchable for much of the campaign, but he admitted his dip in results are a concern heading into next season.
Hamilton was crowned as Formula One World Champion at the YAS Marina circuit ahead of the race, but had hopes to secure his 44 win, in his number 44 Mercedes auto, only days before the United Arab Emirates celebrates its 44 national day.
Usually the two drivers follow a similar strategy, but this time the team opted to do something different, and Hamilton stayed out for a much longer middle stint.
“The driver is always a big factor in the vehicle package, and I know Lewis said a couple of days ago that the auto did not feel the same as before”.
“In hindsight, once Nico had pitted I probably would have backed off a little bit and gone a bit longer…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”, he said.
Rosberg did not stop again until lap 31 but this time Hamilton lengthened his stint.
“Our 2016 season now starts in just 48 hours time when we embark on a 12-hour test throughout Tuesday, during which we will be testing the new ultrasoft tyre as well as new constructions for 2016”. His team-mate Vettel, who started 15th because his team had made a basic mistake in qualifying the day before, worked his way up to fourth.
Force India’s Perez came in fifth, unable to hold off Vettel at the end, while Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and the other Force India of Nico Hulkenberg took sixth and seventh respectively. Of course we’re aware of the threat from the red guys, and we don’t them to come too close, and we’ll give it everything over the winter.
Behind the two silver arrows, the luckless Fernando Alonso suffered a puncture in a collision with Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus, for which he was regarded as the guilty party, and given a drive-through penalty, taken after his necessary pit-stop for repairs.
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“Whilst the last three weren’t spectacular, overall it was an incredible year”.
