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Race Report – Championship Backup
- Updated: November 28, 2016
F12016 Abu Dhabi GP Thursday Press Conference Friday Practice 1 Results Practice 1 Report Practice 2 Results Practice 2 Report Quotes Press Conference Photos Saturday Practice 3 Results Practice 3 Report Qualifying Results Qualifying Report Quotes Press Conference Photos Sunday Race Notes Race Results Race Incidents Race Report Quotes Press Conference Photos Championship Backup
Nico Rosberg, Abu Dhabi GP 2016
© Active Pictures
By Dan Knutson in Abu Dhabi
Nico Rosberg won the 2016 FIA Formula 1 World Championship despite the best efforts of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to back things up so that Rosberg would be pushed out of contention. With Hamilton leading the race, Rosberg needed to finish third or better to insure that he won the title. Hamilton slowed the pace to back Rosberg up, and that allowed Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen to close in. But Rosberg held on to second and the championship.
“That was definitely not the most enjoyable race I’ve ever had,” Rosberg said. “With Max in the beginning and then with those guys coming up in the end, really not very enjoyable those last few laps. Very, very glad it’s over and unbelievably ecstatic.”
Hamilton scored his tenth victory of the season.
“It was relatively easy to get the win in the end,” he said. “Great job by the team throughout the weekend and through the year so big thank you to everyone there. I knew being in the lead I knew I was losing the world championship. I was hoping that Sebastian‚ĶI heard the pace he was on and I knew I could do that pace exactly, so I was hoping that he would close up, but I guess he said his tires were going off towards the end and Nico drove well to not make mistakes.”
Vettel used an alternate tire strategy to finish third and celebrate on the podium for the first time since the Italian Grand Prix.
“The whole team deserves the podium today,” he said. “We have worked so hard. We have had so much criticism this year ‚Äì sometimes right, sometimes not justified ‚Äì but that’s how it goes, it’s a tough game, we’re fighting really tough opponents. It’s been a tough year but it’s nice to finish on a high and I think we take that momentum into next year. There is a lot of work going on back in Maranello, so big thanks also to everyone there.”
The ambient temperature at the start of the 55-lap evening race was 81 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was degrees 84 Fahrenheit (29 degrees Centigrade).
Hamilton started on pole while Rosberg lined up second. Row two of the grid consisted of Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) and Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), while Vettel (Ferrari) and Verstappen (Red Bull) filled row three.
In Turn 1, just after the start in which Hamilton took the lead from Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) and
Verstappen collided. Verstappen spun out but still completed lap 1 already up to 19th place.
Verstappen and Ricciardo started the race on Pirelli’s super soft compound slicks while those drivers around then were all on the ultra soft tires.
The order on lap 5 was: Hamilton by 0.9 of a second over Rosberg, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Vettel, Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez (Force India), Fernando Alonso (McLaren), Valtteri Bottas (Williams) and Felipe Massa (Williams). The two Williams drivers were having a nice duel, but that ended when Bottas pitted at the end of lap 6 with suspension failure and the mechanics pushed the car into the garage.
Massa would go onto finish ninth in his final grand …
