The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was not a winner-take-all event, Lewis Hamilton needed help if he was ever going to wrest the title from his teammate, Nico Rosberg, who held a 12-point lead heading into the season’s final race.
Lewis knew that a podium finish for Rosberg was going to cost him the title and while reliability issues with his own car earlier in the season may have been the reason he was trailing in points; he wasn’t banking on Nico’s car having issues as it has been relatively bullet-proof all season long. Hamilton needed help from the Red Bull or Ferrari cars to win the title and he tried his best to keep Rosberg in the clutches of the competition.
While Lewis Hamilton secured his 53rd race victory and tried his best to back his teammate up into the clutches of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg managed to stay in second place and secure his first world driver’s championship just as his dad had done 34 years ago making him them second father/son champions behind Graham and Damon Hill. Vettel came in third to complete the podium.
Win
A win for Nico Rosberg who secures his first title despite efforts of his teammate to keep him in constant threat from either Red Bull or Ferrari. Nico managed his race and his car to take second and just as he had done all year, he took it a race at a time and played the long game looking for pace, car sympathy, resource management and damage limitation. All metrics a head’s up driver uses to maximize his results. He won the Drivers Championship by five points.
A win for Lewis Hamilton who did everything he could to claw the title away from his teammate. Lewis won the race and aggressively backed his teammate up into competitive traffic where anything can happen and nearly did with a charging Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. Lewis knew he needed help and did the best job he could, even ignoring team directives to pick up the pace, to alter Nico’s race and get him dislodged from the podium.
A win for Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel for their podium result and head’s up performance in strategy and driving from the 4-time world champion. Vettel had the pace but also understood the situation and wasn’t going to ruin the race and title aspirations of his countryman by colliding with him in the waning laps of the race. Had it been Max Verstappen behind Rosberg, perhaps things would have ended differently.
A win for Force India by securing 7th and 8th giving them a massive constructor’s championship points haul which secured 4th in the championship standings. That’s worth millions of dollars in Formula 1 and the team did a fantastic job all season long beating Williams F1.
A win for both Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso by finishing in the points. What better way to end a career than by giving Williams a point finish and closing the chapter on the Felipe Massa era? For Alonso, another points finish in a car that has conspired to work against him all season is yet another sign the Spaniard is still one of the best in the business.
A big win for Sauber who held off the Manor Racing cars to secure 10th in the constructor’s title race which means millions in prize money for a team that desperately needs it.
Fail
A fail for Toro Rosso who had more tire issues this weekend and a dual retirement in the grand prix. Admittedly it was the clouting Carlos Sainz received from Renault’s Jolyon Palmer that ended his race but to be fair, it was a relatively ragged race up to that point anyway.
A fail for McLaren’s Jenson Button who ended his race with a damaged front right wheel suspension after running over the larger orange curbing. Not a successful way to end your career with a DNF but then again, David Coulthard did the same in Brazil and he’s still as loved as Button will be in the coming years.
A fail for Jolyon Palmer who ran up the backside of Carlos Sainz ruining the Spaniards race. Palmer looked good early in the race but drifted backwards over the balance with worn tires finishing last in the official classification.
A fail for Williams F1 and Valtteri Bottas who ended their race early with a suspected rear suspension issue.
WTH
A WTH moment for the Manor drivers who were clashing with each other and others in a race that had a decent amount of attrition and this could have been their chance to score some points to re-claim 10th in the constructors’ championship.
When excited, try not to pick up 83-year-old men…you could break their hip.
It will be interesting to see if anything is said about Lewis Hamilton ignoring team orders to pick the pace up. The team said they would pit Lewis early if they felt he was backing Nico Rosberg. Team boss Toto Wolff didn’t look too pleased after the race and one wonders if that was due to Hamilton’s blatant disregard of team instructions or his missing the world title. Regardless, you would expect Lewis to try every trick in the book and surely his backing Rosberg up couldn’t have been a surprise nor would his ignoring team instruction.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Mercedes and Nico Rosberg for winning both Driver and Constructor titles in 2016.
2016 Season Results:
| POS | DRIVER | CAR |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault |
| 6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda |
| 11 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari |
| 12 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas/Ferrari |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Manor/Mercedes |
| 14 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor/Mercedes |
| 15 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari |
| 16 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari |
| 17 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault |
| – | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Ferrari |
| – | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Ferrari |
| – | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda |
| – | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes |
| – | Kevin Magnussen | Renault |
Final Drivers’ Championship:
| POS | DRIVER | POINTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nico Rosberg | 385 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | 380 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | 256 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | 212 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | 204 |
| 6 | Kimi Raikkonen | 186 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | 101 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | 85 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | 72 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | 54 |
| 11 | Felipe Massa | 53 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz | 46 |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | 29 |
| 14 | Daniil Kvyat | 25 |
| 15 | Jenson Button | 21 |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | 7 |
| 17 | Felipe Nasr | 2 |
| 18 | Jolyon Palmer | 1 |
| 19 | Pascal Wehrlein | 1 |
| 20 | Stoffel Vandoorne | 1 |
| 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | 0 |
| 22 | Marcus Ericsson | 0 |
| 23 | Esteban Ocon | 0 |
| 24 | Rio Haryanto | 0 |
Final Constructors’ Championship:
| POS | CONSTRUCTOR | POINTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercedes | 765 |
| 2 | Red Bull/Renault | 468 |
| 3 | Ferrari | 398 |
| 4 | Force India/Mercedes | 173 |
| 5 | Williams/Mercedes | 138 |
| 6 | McLaren/Honda | 76 |
| 7 | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 63 |
| 8 | Haas/Ferrari | 29 |
| 9 | Renault | 8 |
| 10 | Sauber/Ferrari | 2 |
| 11 | Manor/Mercedes | 1 |
A perfectly executed race from both Mercedes drivers: I’m glad Lewis did not follow team orders and did everything he possibly could to win, this is racing and he is a champion, backing up other drivers is not dirty, it is racing. I’m glad he did not roll over and become Paddy’s lap dog. I was skeptical of Rosberg becoming a deserving champion but today he showed that he has what it takes to pull off a masterclass drive. I don’t know how he managed to keep in second and not torch his tires thru the last few laps while… Read more »
What did Button do?
In his post retirement interview he was being arrogant and sarcastic, I mean we get it, McLaren is down this year but have some perspective after your last F1 race in an extensive career. More of the same in Ted’s notebook after the race. Ever since he and Jessica split he has been somewhat of a schmuck.
Yeah especially since his F1 carrer was longer than it had any right to be and his ‘championship’ a fluke. On the other hand, the undeserving are often defensive this is nothing new.
To be fair to JB, he was rather drunk in Ted’s notebook, and is known for his sarcastic responses even when sober, so I think that just came out more, not seen the other bit.
He was having fun so don’t know why some take it so seriously. I thought he was great in both the Sky and BBC post coverage. For what it’s worth, I know this is F1B so I shouldn’t admit to this, but I previously blocked the person making the original comment (probably for good reason) so I won’t take this complain against JB seriously.
Well said. I remember the days when being drunk counted as a legitimate excuse for making a terrible mistake, and benefitted often. I withdraw my objection to JB’s snark. Good point Tom Firth.
Ouch, that will put his ‘class act’ under strain, I wonder if he’ll be resigning from his McLaren ambassador role, as well as the 2018 driver-in-waiting position
Thumb Up: Rosberg – Congratulation on becoming Drivers World Champion 2016.
Thumb down: I’ll never know……..
WTH: Me – Recording 5 hours of dross instead of the race! Wrong Channel – Nooooo!
I really didn’t care who won this year’s drivers title. So, I had absolutely no dog in that fight. It mattered not to me. But, if I was Nico and Lewis was playing the game of backing me into the competition to help in winning the title, then all tactics would have been fair game at that point. I might have even been inclined to pull a Senna on Lewis so he didn’t see the checkered flag. I can certainly see Lewis considering this option if the tables were turned. Sure, backing Nico into the competition was perfectly legal. But,… Read more »
I agree with you that Lewis is an amazing driver, I really admire his ability. I disagree with you that he’s better than what he did today. I think what he did today was cheap and desperate and insecure and pathetic, but consistent with his character.
I disagree with your concept of racing and Lewis’ character but all of that aside it is always a really risky move trying to take someone out, it often backfires.
Decent race, but only because Lewis being coy. I really miss having Brazil be the end of the calendar. I’m gonna write up an autopsy on the NBC broadcast for the year and what they need to change to help F1 grow in the states (prob on my site) but the usual melancholy of realizing I have to wait a few month for another race are replaced by a relief from watching “The NBC presents the Max Verstapen show.” for a bit. Oh and next year my new F1 drinking game is drink every time Lee Diffy says “Story” Story… Read more »
That drinking game would get you drunk before the lights went out, and in the hospital for alcohol poisoning before the first pit stops.
WTH: to FOM for taking viewers away from the race to see Roger Federer and Jorge Lorenzo in the Mercedes garage, a bored and uninterested Rita Ora overdressed for the occasion, the late arrival of Paris Hilton inside the Ferrari garage and the Jenson Button pit lane farewell walk(at least as I saw it on SkySports).
Fail: put another track as the season finale instead of this quasi-street track Yas Marina.
Thumbs up to Vettel indeed who has endured (and created) a lot of negativity this year but had the dignity to respect and protect the validity of the championship. Acted like a man. Excellent.
I have no problem with Lewis ignoring the team orders – what did they think he was going to do? The constructors is over it’s just between them, let them run their races as they choose, endless management of finishes to always get the 1-2 is hurting the brand rather than helping it. However what I cannot deal with is Lewis pouty reaction after the race. Race hard, but if you lose – as he was likely to do, throw down your helmet and celebrate with your rival. Take your loss like a man instead of a child. The whole… Read more »
Even in a car one might say is superior to the McLaren, Massa still can’t beat Alonso. It was an amazing season to see McLaren above Torro Rosso, and Alonso 10th in the driver’s championship!
Personally I wanted Lewis to win because I think he’s faster. While I do think it was unfair that the team tried to team order Lewis with his situation, I have to say it is disappointing that he was not very gracious in ‘defeat’ and simply did not want to genuinely congratulate Nico. They had been racing each other all their lives and both become champions, you would think Hamilton would give Nico some credit. Nico definitely was the more humble one and acted more like a proper champion after the race. Also I’m giving the Matt Bishop award to… Read more »
What a race, being a Ferrari fan I was so rooting for Vettel at the end of the race, but quickly realised that he would never pass Lewis, even if he got Nico… There has been a lot of discussion about Lewis being the faster driver, more deserving, etc, etc (and it is pissing me off more than just a little). To me this is a complete load of bunk, Nico did exactly what he had to do to win the title, and in the same way Lewis ‘backed off’ for the last 3 races in 2015, I don’t think… Read more »