Ferrari had a good day, despite Vettel starting in 15th after the team screwed up qualifying, with Raikkonen holding on to his third place on the grid and Vettel storming through the field to take a well-deserved fourth spot.
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“This is the ideal ending to the season for me – something I hoped for so much after a tough year”.
‘Austin was the low point of the season and since then I’ve come back a lot stronger. It was exciting the way it went I controlled the race and pushed all the way through to the end.
But asked if he expects Hamilton to be crowned a four-time world champion next year, Stewart, speaking from the Abu Dhabi paddock, replied: “If Mercedes retain the leadership that you nearly expect from Mercedes, I’m afraid you could be finding the same thing, but don’t count out Rosberg”.
The Mercedes team’s one-two finish carried their points total to a record 703 for the season, more than the 701 they accumulated past year when the final race was awarded double points.
Hamilton’s race came with controversy over his Mercedes AMG team’s strategy calls.
The victorious German said he would not be giving a Christmas present to the world champion who lives across the corridor in Monte Carlo. Rosberg has appeared even more single-minded since being beaten to the championship in Austin in October, when he was furious with Hamilton for being “extremely aggressive” on the opening corner of the US Grand Prix. I am happy to have won three races in a row for the first time in my career. This kind of season, they need to make more sense about what they are doing because I don’t see this in WEC, MotoGP and other categories that are much more fun than us. We left it to him and his side of the garage as to which strategy he would go for.
“But we gave it a try and did the best job I could with it”.
Before that decisive pit stop for Hamilton however, the Briton had pleaded with his crew to let him hang on for the victory while running on the same tyres.
“Honestly, I don’t really understand it, but I came out 11 seconds behind”.
Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz also forced Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat off the track early on.
For Rosberg, the moment is something that he did not want to stop, knowing that he has won the last three races to go with six consecutive poles.
While Kimi Raikkonen of Finland representing Ferrari was at the third position, Force India drivers- Sergio Perez (Mexico) and Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) were at the fifth and seventh position respectively.
Alonso, who was penalized after being caught up in a wreck with Pastor Maldonado and Felipe Nasr, said Formula One was in trouble and the cause was not demonstrating common sense.
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The Venezuelan retired while Alonso, who can not end McLaren’s worst-ever season fast enough, was given a drive-through penalty.
