Rosberg’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix win over Hamilton makes for intriguing 2016 Formula One season

ABU DHABI // Formula One can often be compared to a television soap opera in terms of a long storyline narrative and the continuing feuds, both on and off the track, that run deep in the sport.

That analogy seemed appropriate on Sunday as the 2015 campaign ended with a cliffhanger at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that will keep fans intrigued until the new season begins in March in Australia next year.

Nico Rosberg’s victory at Yas Marina Circuit in his Mercedes-GP was his third victory in succession, and he ends the year with the momentum over his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, who already had won the world championship prior to the start of the German’s winning streak.

But can Rosberg keep it up? Is this the start of the changing of the tide at Mercedes?

Or are the wins here and in Mexico and Brazil simply consolations and Hamilton will reassert the superiority that saw him triumph in 10 of the first 16 races next season?

Frustratingly, we now have to wait more than three months for the answers to those questions, but Hamilton, who finished second on Sunday, made it clear on Sunday night just where he felt the power in his partnership with Rosberg stood.

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“I think being world champion sounds a lot better than winning the race, so that’s good,” the 30-year-old Briton said.

Rosberg, who is in the form of his life, having never won three races successively before on Sunday, said he was encouraged by how he had finished the year, particularly after he thrown away victory in the United States Grand Prix last month by sliding off the track, a mistake that handed the title to Hamilton.

“Austin was sort of the low point of the season,” he said.

“It was a tough weekend and since then I’ve just come back a lot stronger and I’m very happy about that. I’m excited about how the end of the season went. Next year can come at any moment. It could start tomorrow if it were up to me, no problem. I don’t need holidays.”

The story of Sunday’s race in a front of a sell-out crowd of 60,000, was similar to the past two races that Rosberg had won. The German was the quicker in the early stages, after converting pole position into the lead at the start, on the softer Pirelli tyre compound available, but once both cars had moved onto the harder compound, it was Hamilton who was faster as he pulled back a deficit of 7.1 seconds to 1.3.

Where things went south for Hamilton was the decision, apparently made by his team, for him to stay out slightly longer than Rosberg before he made his final pit stop.

If Hamilton had stayed out a couple of additional laps he would have come out only three or four seconds behind the German, and would have had a chance of getting close again.

Such was his pace, initially, on the ageing rubber that Rosberg was warned by his own race engineer to increase his speed.

But, 10 laps was far too long to stay on that set of tyres.

By the time Hamilton pitted, at the start of Lap 41, Rosberg had made his final stop on Lap 31, and the gap was 12 seconds. Before he came in, Hamilton had been losing up to 1.5 seconds per lap.

Despite a brief flurry of fastest laps, Hamilton was unable to find the second-a-lap speed he needed to catch his teammate, and after getting the gap down to less than seven records, Rosberg actually increased it in the final stages of the 55-lap race.

[LIVE BLOG: All the action from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from our trackside reporters]

Of his 14th career victory, Rosberg said: “We controlled the pace through the race and managed my tyres and used them optimally and pushed all the way through to the end.”

Hamilton was phlegmatic about his failed strategy to get ahead of Rosberg, and he said: “Going too long was probably not the right thing to do but, you know, we gave it a try and did the best job I could with it.”

Rosberg’s renaissance came too late to alter the fate of this year’s title race. Hamilton won when it mattered and that is why is the champion.

But Rosberg has given hope that 2016 will have a closer championship fight. If no one gets near Mercedes on performance, again, perhaps Rosberg can, at least, stay near to Hamilton.

gcaygill@thenational.ae

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