Nico Rosberg is crowned world champion by finishing second in Abu Dhabi. Hamilton did all he could to prevent this from happening, almost succeeding in backing Rosberg into Vettel and Verstappen. Despite team orders to speed up, Lewis continued at the slow pace, allowing their rivals to close in. But it wasn’t quite enough…
The race started with drama, with Verstappen being spun round at the start and dropping to the back. Despite this, the Dutchman fought back through the pack, making numerous passes on his way back to the front.
Hamilton led from pole, with Mercedes opting to pit their drivers after just a few laps. Rosberg, meanwhile, was stuck behind Verstappen after the stop – despite the Red Bull driver coming from the back. On lap 22, he finally made it past and was back on the hunt.
A late stop for Vettel onto supersofts put him in contention for the win. 20 seconds down, he was lapping 1.5 seconds quicker than the leaders with over 15 laps to go. Hamilton began to back Rosberg up into the Red Bulls and Vettel, in the hope they could pass his championship rival.
However, despite Vettel coming to within two tenths, neither driver could quite make it past in time. This means that Rosberg is crowned world champion, finishing in second behind Hamilton.
In his final race, Button was disappointed to retire after just 12 laps – with a suspension problem. Massa had a good result in his final race, picking up two more points for his team.