Abu Dhabi GP 2015: Rosberg wins as Hamilton's tyre gamble fails

Nico Rosberg won the 2015 season finale at the Yas Marina Circuit from pole position. His Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton finished second, with Kimi Räikkönen third for Ferrari. The race was decided in the second half: Hamilton ran an extremely long second stint so he could attack on fresher tyres at the end. The plan didn't work out, and according to Autosport Rosberg crossed the line 8.271 seconds ahead. You can find all the results and data on our race page for the 2015 Abu Dhabi GP.

According to Wikipedia, Rosberg took his sixth consecutive pole position. Hamilton started alongside him, followed by Räikkönen and Sergio Pérez in the Force India. For Sebastian Vettel, qualifying was already over in Q1. Ferrari judged his first lap on the soft tyres to be enough and had him abort his quicker attempt on supersofts. He then dropped out of the top 15, partly because Jenson Button still pushed him down. Thanks to penalties for other drivers, he started the race 15th. Romain Grosjean also started far back, in 18th, after an unscheduled gearbox change and a five-place penalty.

Rosberg kept the lead at the start. There was a crash in the midfield at the first corner: Fernando Alonso first touched Felipe Nasr and then drove into the Lotus of Pastor Maldonado. Maldonado's race was over on the spot, with the collision given as the official reason for his retirement. Alonso needed a new front wing on the opening lap. He was also handed a drive-through penalty for causing the collision. The McLaren driver eventually finished 17th, two laps down.

Tyre choice came down to soft versus supersoft. Most drivers started on the softer compound, while Vettel and Grosjean started on softs. Rosberg built a lead in the opening phase and made his first tyre change on lap 10. Hamilton stayed out one lap longer, briefly leading on lap 11, and was back behind his teammate after his stop.

The decisive phase began with Rosberg's second stop on lap 31. Hamilton stayed out, took the lead and carried on with used softs. Over the radio he asked whether he could make it to the end on them. The team advised against it. When Hamilton finally pitted on lap 41, he got another set of softs rather than supersofts, according to Autosport. That left him 12.5 seconds behind Rosberg. On the fresher tyres he did close the gap and set the fastest lap of the race, but Rosberg was back in the lead from lap 42 and brought the win home safely.

Vettel produced the strongest comeback of the day. Running the reverse tyre strategy, he extended his first stint until lap 23. He took his second set of tyres on lap 39 and worked his way up to fourth on the supersofts by the end. Räikkönen lost time at his second stop, and Vettel briefly moved up to third. Räikkönen took the position back, though, and secured the podium.

Force India had a strong race: Pérez finished fifth and Nico Hülkenberg seventh. Daniel Ricciardo split them in the Red Bull. Felipe Massa scored points for Williams in eighth. In his last race for Lotus, Grosjean ran an alternative strategy, just as Vettel did, and passed Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat in the closing laps. Kvyat took the final point in tenth, while Sainz came away empty-handed in eleventh for Toro Rosso.

Vettel gained the most places, eleven in total, ahead of Grosjean with nine. Marcus Ericsson made up three places in the Sauber and finished 14th.

The biggest loser was Valtteri Bottas. During the first round of pit stops he was released from his box straight into the path of Button's McLaren. The contact damaged his front wing, and he had to pit again straight away on lap 9. The stewards deemed it an unsafe release and gave him a five-second penalty. From grid position 6, Bottas dropped back to 13th, a lap down and without points.

Max Verstappen lost five places. A lock-up left him with flat-spotted tyres, and he had to pit more often. He left the track while overtaking Button and also received a five-second penalty for it. He finished 16th. Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi at Manor Marussia ended up 18th and 19th.

The world champion had been decided long before the finale. After the race, Hamilton led with 381 points ahead of Rosberg (322) and Vettel (278). Räikkönen reached 150 points and still bumped Bottas (136) from fourth place. In the constructors' standings, Mercedes had 703 points ahead of Ferrari (428) and Williams (257). You can find the full 2015 standings on our site.

Mercedes rounded off a historic season: according to Autosport it was the team's twelfth one-two of the year, a new Formula 1 record. Grandprix.com counted 16 wins from 19 races, with Vettel taking the other three. Rosberg celebrated his sixth win of the season and the 14th of his career. Following his victories at the Mexican GP and the Brazilian GP, it was his third win in a row, so he ended the year with clear momentum. According to Wikipedia, it was also the team's last race under the Lotus name, as Renault confirmed the takeover afterwards.