Abu Dhabi: Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg secured his third consecutive win and his seventh victory of the season after seeing off world champion teammate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen at the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.
The podium mimicked the grid starting positions but it was anything but a procession in between however, as thrills and spills enlivened the season-ending event, which might otherwise have been considered a dead rubber with the drivers’ and constructors’ championships already wrapped up.
Hamilton, who was looking to end his championship winning year in style, started slowest and was briefly overtaken by Raikkonen early on only to cling on and regain lost ground before bearing down on his Mercedes rival.
Rosberg had to pit midway through due to tyre problems and Hamilton took the lead until 15 laps to spare when he himself had to go in for a pit stop — after which Rosberg regained control and led until the end to confirm his third straight win after recent victories in Mexico and Brazil.
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. But the opinion from the garage was that it would be too much of a risk and a reluctant Hamilton came in for the change and in doing so, effectively surrendering the victory.
Much could be made of that decision, with one wondering — with nothing to lose and the title long since decided — whether Hamilton could indeed have clung onto his lead.
Despite fighting to regain the lead in the remaining laps, Rosberg began meeting traffic up ahead and that would have proved too difficult for Hamilton to puncture.
All three podium finishers started oblivious to the carnage behind them. The race got off to an incident-packed start when Sauber’s Felipe Nasr slammed into the back of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who then hit Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado and spun off the track with the Venezuelan at the first corner, earning the Spaniard a drive through penalty.
Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz also forced Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat off the track early on. As Williams’ Valterri Bottas was coming out of the pits, he clipped an incoming Jenson Button of McLaren, which saw the Finn get slapped with a five-second penalty for his indiscretion.
All the drama up ahead allowed Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who started from 16th on the grid, to work his way up to second thanks to numerous pit stops. He soon pulled aside to allow teammate Kimi Raikkonen to pass, eventually finishing fourth.
Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Jenson Button ensured the action went right to wire when, with the race petering out into predictability, the pair nearly took each other out in a battle for lower order positions.
