The victory was the sixth of the season for Germany’s Rosberg and third in a row – he also won in Brazil and Mexico. I don’t know what his intention is behind it or what he means.
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He said that for this weekend he had taken off a part of the car’s suspension which was worth 0.1-0.15secs a lap in improvement but that it had not made the difference he hoped.
He added: “We have to do an intelligent list over the next weeks and try to analyse it. We have to find out”. The Spaniard had another tough race, given a drive-through penalty for causing a collision at the first corner in a decision he said was symptomatic of the sport’s problems. The auto is being developed all the time and after Singapore, we took some learnings on board, and developed it in a different direction.
“There’s been so much discussion about has he stepped up his game or has the auto come towards him development-wise?” said Mercedes motorsport director Toto Wolff.
“I guess it always could have been a better finish but OK, I think it was more or less what we expected to get”.
Ferrari followed close behind in Abu Dhabi coming in third and fourth.
But Wolff said he expected nothing but tough times from his challengers in 2016.
“I don’t think it is something that happens consciously”, he said.
Rosberg’s renaissance came too late to alter the fate of this year’s title race.
“The start, the pit stops and the tyre management were all really good and I felt like I had it all under control”.
It drew down the curtain on a disastrous season for an under performing McLaren team boasting two former world champions. In the Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes ended with a mammoth 703 points while Ferrari managed 428 points to secure second place and Williams 257 points to take third.
“Austin (Texas) was very disappointing for me”. They are all fired up. Although Hamilton is the more talented driver, Rosberg may just beat the Briton to the crown by sheer determination. If Hamilton had shifted to supersoft tyres during his final stop, he could have challenged the leader.
Mercedes have been Formula One’s class act for the past two years – winning 32 of the last 38 races – and with limited changes to the regulations over the winter it is expected that they will lead the way once more in 2016.
Almost all cars finished the race, but only Lotus pilot Pastor Maldonado was the only exception, as the Venezuelan was struck by Fernando Alonso on the opening lap and could never get back to the pits for repairs. “And we can’t go back to what it was before because they don’t want to go back to what it was before”. “We see the grandstands half empty on this circuit – and half empty on most circuits”.
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“The option (supersoft) had 7-8 laps on full fuel”. The option tyre (a super-soft tyre) had eight laps, but even though the vehicle was lighter it would not have lasted until the end.
