The German, also on a streak of six straight pole positions, has now won every round since he gift-wrapped the title to Hamilton at last month’s United States Grand Prix – stark contrast to much of the season in which Hamilton has dominated.
Advertisement
Nico Rosberg extended his streak of pole positions to six when he edged Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Saturday’s qualifying session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Maybe it’s just Rosberg’s will to win and finish the season in style?
But this season has been all about Hamilton and Rosberg.
Mercedes are to investigate why Lewis Hamilton, the fastest Formula One driver of the modern era, is now not even the quickest man in their team.
The closing races of 2015 offered hope for the future but just how much of a pointer they really are remains to be seen. “The tires were still fine at the end, so I honestly felt that I could potentially have taken them to the end”.
“I didn’t finish the year as strong as I started”, he added.
“Of course, it’s too late but I don’t look back”. I am so happy that I found some performance at the end of the season.
“That was a very hard race. I am sure the team will give us a great auto once again”.
The race was preceded by an announcement from the stewards that cleared Ferrari and the American Haas team, which is set to join the grid next year, of any wrong-doing in their joint use of the Ferrari wind-tunnel to prepare cars. I think inevitably with that kind of predictability people get turned off and it needs a re-jig to bring it closer together. “But we are third and it is encouraging for Ferrari”, said Raikkonen.
“Going too long [before the final stop] was probably the wrong thing to do, but we gave it a try and I did the best job I could with it”. “It has obviously been a positive impact on my career so it is not me that needs to make any changes”.
“Since then a lot of time has been lost”.
Sergio Perez ended his impressive season by finishing fifth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull and Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India.
One of the biggest complaints was Ecclestone’s decision to sell a controlling stake of sport’s commercial rights, which he procured in a freaky 100-year-deal from ex-FIA president Max Mosley, to the hedge fund CVC Capital Partners in 2005.
Behind the two silver arrows, the luckless 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. As Bottas was released – unsafely according to the stewards as he was penalized with a five-second time penalty – and as Button cut across into his box, the Finn caught the rear of the Briton.
Advertisement
Will Stevens led Marussia team mate Roberto Merhi home, as Maldonado was the only non-finisher.
