Nico Rosberg ends the year on a high note with a hat trick over Lewis Hamilton.
The driver of the No. 6 Mercedes AMG Petronas car scored the victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit. It was his sixth win of the season and 14th of his career. He led all but two of the 55 circuits. The reigning world champion, Lewis Hamilton, finished runner-up in his No. 44 Mercedes car. He finishes the season with 10 wins (one less than the year before) and 17 podium finishes (tying Sebastian Vettel’s Formula 1 record for most podium finishes in a season).
Kimi Räikkönen rounded out the podium in his No. 7 Scuderia Ferrari. The 2007 world champion ends the season with just three podium finishes. Vettel came home fourth in his No. 5 Ferrari after a blunder in qualifying relegated him to a 15th-place starting position. The four-time world champion finishes his maiden season with the men of Maranello with three wins and 13 podium finishes. Sergio Pérez rounded out the top-five in his No. 11 Sahara Force India Mercedes. He finishes the season with one podium finish.
Daniel Ricciardo finished in sixth in his No. 3 Infiniti Red Bull Renault. After winning three races in his maiden season with Red Bull in 2014, he finishes the season with a less than stellar two podium finishes. Nico Hülkenberg finished seventh in his No. 27 Force India Mercedes. While his F1 season was uninspired at best, his 2015 motorsports season included scoring the overall victory in the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans. Felipe Massa finished eighth in his No. 19 Williams Martini Racing Mercedes. He ends the season with two podium finishes. Romain Grosjean finished ninth in his No. 8 Lotus F1 Team Mercedes. He finished on the podium once in his last season with the team. He moves over to the Haas-F1 Team based in Kannapolis, N.C. along with Esteban Gutiérrez. Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top-10 in his No. 26 Red Bull. He finishes the season with one podium finish.
Hamilton locked up the world championship at Circuit of the Americas back on Oct. 25. His final total for the season is 381 points (three points short of his 2014 total). Rosberg locked up second in the points with his win at Brazil two weeks ago. His final points total is 322 (besting his 2014 total by five points). Vettel ends up third in the points with 266 (besting his 2014 total). Räikkönen finishes in fourth with 150. Bottas finishes in fifth with 136.
Massa, Kvyat, Ricciardo Peréz and Hülkenberg round out the top-10 in points.
Mercedes locked up the constructors’ title in Sochi. They finish with a grand total of 703 points. According to NBC, they set a new record for the largest percentage of total points possible to accumulate at 86.47 percent. The most points a constructor can amass in a single race is 43. Multiply that by 19 and the most points a team can amass in a season is 813. Take 703, divide it by 813 and you get your result.
That’s all for 2015, but preparations for 2016 begin tomorrow. Some teams will stay at the track to test Pirelli’s new ultrasoft tires. During the winter, late January and early February, the teams will begin preseason testing at the Circuito de Jerez and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Formula 1 starts up its 67th season at Albert Park Lake in Melbourne on March 20 for the Australian Grand Prix. As of the publishing of this piece, the 2016 season will include 21 races, including the return of the European Grand Prix at the new Baku City Circuit in the capital city of Azerbaijan on June 19 and the return of the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring on July 31. The United States Grand Prix remains in its position on the calendar on Oct. 23 at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
