Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg on 29 November 2015 won the 2015 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix title at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Advertisement
Hamilton was not surprised by second place again, saying “I’ve been struggling with the auto a little all weekend”.
“Next season could start tomorrow for me – I don’t need any holidays”. After making it six poles in a row on Saturday, he dominated the race as once again Hamilton was left questioning the Mercedes team’s strategy as he tried to keep up.
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.
“But the tyre wouldn’t [last] and so it went into the third-best option”. Thanks so much to my team for this unbelievable Silver Arrow – everyone at the factories and the track has done such an incredible job all year.
“Whether the auto has come more towards Nico and away from Lewis, I don’t know”.
“If he was in the team I’m sure he would feel constrained and I’m sure he feels very free at the moment”. “To be that far ahead, I was very chuffed with”.
The strategy offered no obvious benefit over Rosberg and Hamilton admitted after the race he would have rather stayed out longer or switched to super-softs.
“My tires were done at the end of the first stint sitting behind Nico”. The start was pretty good – everyone went to the inside so I stuck to the outside.
It drew down the curtain on a disastrous season for an under performing McLaren team boasting two former world champions.
“In hindsight, once Nico had pitted I probably should have backed off and made my tyres last longer”, Hamilton said.
Meanwhile, Raikkonen was “best of the rest” and third in his Ferrari, 11.2s off Hamilton, and 19.4s off Rosberg.
“I don’t think we’ve ever done either so there’s no reason to change”, replied Hamilton. “It has just been different for a few races now, but I did my best to get around, with the engineers we tried something completely different”, Hamilton explained. Raikkonen took the final spot on the podium, with his teammate Sebastian Vettel finishing fourth. Force India’s Sergio Perez finished the race in fifth place. The tyres were still fine at the end so I honestly felt I could potentially have taken them to the end. We pushed hard to try and beat Vettel today, but he had too much pace on the supersofts and it wasn’t possible to hold him back.
Russian Daniil Kvyat was ninth for Red Bull and Spaniard Carlos Sainz 10th for Toro Rosso.
Advertisement
Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Nasr and Max Verstappen filled positions 14 through to 16. Teammate Fernando Alonso, rumored to be considering a sabbatical, starts a disappointing 17th. Jenson Button finished the race in twelfth position ahead of Valtteri Bottas, who lost his front wing in the pit lane after an early release from his pit box. Will Stevens managed to finish the race ahead of Manor team-mate Roberto Merhi, whilst Pastor Maldonado was the only race retirement.
