Mercedes-AMG has won the 2015 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship after Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was given a 30-second penalty for causing a collision with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas.
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Raikkonen hit Bottas’s Williams while challenging for third place on the final lap, after both had passed Sergio Perez’s Force India as its tyres faded.
Raikkonen had been adamant he did not deserve a penalty for the move, but Bottas put the blame squarely on the Ferrari driver.
Almost two hours after Russian president Vladimir Putin had handed Lewis Hamilton the winner’s trophy, stewards finally produced a ruling that allowed Mercedes to celebrate their second successive title.
“It just feels special to be a part of it and to have contributed to a team success”, said Hamilton, who will emulate his idol Ayrton Senna with three world titles if he outscores Vettel by nine points and team-mate Rosberg by two at the next race in Texas. But that did not dampen the team’s celebrations with Queen’s We Are The Champions blaring from the Mercedes garage and empty bottles of champagne being carted through the paddock.
– How many disappointments can Nico Rosberg take?
“I overtook him there once before and I wasn’t too far back so I thought I would try again”. It is very unfortunate for the team.
Rosberg had led from pole, holding off Hamilton through the opening corners, but was forced to retire in the pits on the seventh of 53 laps.
The race also featured two safety vehicle deployments, a bunch of notable DNF’s (Rosberg, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Grosjean) as well as a surprise from McLaren as Jenson Button finished P9.
Raikkonen said: “For me it was a racing incident”. While damaged, Raikkonen managed to get his auto to the line to finish P5 on the track.
“One lap before the end it seemed like everything went away from us”. It is a bit of a worry especially as the pedal was coming more and more in my direction and in the end I had to lift my complete leg off the pedal to come off the throttle.
“I did plenty of laps with my tyres and had massive degradation”.
– Another really strong drive from Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen as he made his way from the back of the field to finishing 10th – though aided by Alonso’s penalty.
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Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) – P4: “I’m not entirely happy: I think that qualifying was close and third place was possible”.
