Well, we learned that Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) has emulated his father in winning the World Driver’s Championship and his team mate Lewis Hamilton isn’t much of a “mate”.
Abu Dhabi circuit is not the most inspiring, and for the championship to go down to the wire on a circuit that does not promote passing, was an unfortunate roll of the F1 dice. For Rosberg to clinch the championship he had to finish at least third if Hamilton was first, and with the Englishman on pole it was most likely he would sail off into the distance, leaving Rosberg secure in second. However, that was not the scenario as the race wound on.
After the first round of pit stops it became obvious that Hamilton was slowing down, with the result that the pack was catching up with Rosberg and Hamilton, who was dictating the pace.
The Mercedes pit wall could see what Hamilton’s game was – get the Ferrari drivers on to Rosberg’s tail and a bungled pass would seal the title for Hamilton. This produced radio messages as “Lewis, this is Paddy (Lowe, the Mercedes Technical Director), we need you to pick up the pace to win the race.” This fell on deaf ears, resulting in “Lewis, this is Paddy, you need to pick up the pace. This is an instruction.” “You should let us race,” Lewis said, ignoring the instruction.
Even the other drivers could see what Hamilton’s game was. Vettel (Ferrari) saying, “It was a difficult situation in the end with Lewis playing some dirty tricks.”
Afterwards, Toto Wolff (Mercedes team manager) said, “This was where we decided to intervene, he decided to ignore it. There’s just one thing: does this set a precedent for the future?”
One would like to think that our heroes are true sportsmen, role models for future generations, however, Hamilton has shown he is not one of those!
So despite his “dirty tricks” the good guy came second to win the World Driver’s Championship and put his trophy firmly beside that of his father Keke Rosberg.
The rest of the event was in actual fact, rather processional. It was the final race for both Jenson Button and Felipe Massa, whose F1 careers have come to an end. Button (McLaren) has been overshadowed by his team mate Fernando Alonso, but at least has one WDC in his career, while Massa was world champion for 20 seconds in 2008.
Verstappen (Red Bull) did by dint of clever strategy, come from behind to end up 4th, while his team mate Ricciardo ended up 5th.
Now comes the changing chairs event with Hulkenberg moving to Renault for 2017, for example. For his sake, I hope he knows something about Renault that nobody else does. Renault has been a back marker all 2016!
Results
1 L Hamilton Mercedes
2 N Rosberg Mercedes
3 S Vettel Ferrari
4 M Verstappen Red Bull
5 D Ricciardo Red Bull
6 K Raikkonen Ferrari
7 N Hulkenberg Force India
8 S Perez Force India
9 F Massa Williams
10 F Alonso McLaren
11 R Grosjean Haas
12 E Gutierrez Haas
13 E Ocon Manor
14 P Wehrlein Manor
15 M Ericsson Sauber
16 F Nasr Sauber
17 J Palmer Renault
