F1: Rosberg wins in Abu Dhabi

The 2015 F1 season has come to a close! Nico Rosberg closed off the season the way his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton started it, by dominating and winning the race. He had an absolutely brilliant start, pulling away from the rest of the pack, not dissimilar to what his teammate pulled out 365 days ago. As this is the last race, and that the bulk of the cars will never see professional racing duties again, drivers have become incredibly aggressive, with some pushing the envelope a little too far. I’m talking about the McLaren of Fernando Alonso here. He tried a little too hard to make up places at the start, which caused him to hit the Sauber of Nasr, before losing control and collecting the Lotus of Pastor Maldonado. Off the line, and barring Rosberg, Perez got the best start of the top 5, but had nowhere to go as Hamilton and Raikkonen covered off the inside and outside respectively.

OneShift Editorial Team

30 Nov 2015

When it came to the first round of pitstops, the prime starting Vettel benefitted, going up as high as P3 at one stage. Raikkonen, who came out behind Vettel on fresher rubber, was let by, as Raikkonen was the lead Ferrari driver in Abu Dhabi. He was released in a bid to close down Hamilton, who appeared to struggle for pace at certain points of the Grand Prix.

The Mercedes team appeared divided on strategy. Rosberg was clearly on a 2 stopper from the very beginning, whereas Hamilton’s side was going for an ambitious, but not impossible 1 stopper. However, it soon dawned upon them that the risks far outweighed the potential gain, and a half-hearted stop was called and he was put on a new set of primes for the charge at the end. With 3 laps to go, Vettel, who was the only one on options at that moment, produced excellent pace to get up to P4. Mercedes then gave both their cars full power for the last 3 laps, ensuring an even greater margin of victory for the Silver Arrows.

The 2015 season is over, and Mercedes has broken yet more records, which includes the highest win percentage, highest percentage of points scored, most victories and most 1-2s in a season. Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, the W06 Hybrid will go down in history as one of the most dominant race cars of all time.

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