A third win in a row for Rosberg, in the final race of the season. Having secured pole, he was able to remain ahead at the start and went on to win. Hamilton was unable to pass, having lost time due to strategy and was 8.2 seconds down. An impressive drive for Raikkonen saw him finish 3rd and his teammate Vettel, starting 15th, finished in fourth.
A poor start for Hamilton meant he was under pressure from Raikkonen at the first corner. However, he was able to hold onto second position. Further back, Alonso and Maldonado collided, ending Pastor’s race on the first lap once again. Alonso was later penalised with a drive-through penalty, dropping to the back.
Maenwhile, up front, Hamilton was losing to Rosberg as they went into the first round of pit stops. Vettel, starting 15th, stayed out on the primes whilst the rest of the field pitted. Bottas was released too early and hit Button, damaging the front wing on the Williams. This meant that, not only did he have a penalty, he had to pit again. This ruined his race and chances of securing 4th in the championship.
As the second round of stops got closer, Hamilton began to close the 6 second gap to Rosberg, and it was down to about one second when Nico made his stop. Hamilton was told to remain out and didn’t pit until lap 42, having lost 10 seconds to his teammate. He was unable to close this huge gap enoough, so stayed in second.
Further back, Vettel’s strategy paid off and he finished in fourth, behind Raikkonen. Perez had an impressive drive to finish in 5th – ahead of Daniil Kvyat. The two Toro Rosso drivers both showed some amazing overtakes but unfortunately finished outside of the points.
Mercedes
Another dominant performance for Mercedes sees them secure yet another 1-2 finish of the 2015 season. Hamilton was unable to stop Rosberg’s run of wins and the pit strategy didn’t work in his favour. He lost a great deal of time and ended up over 10 seconds behind after his final stop. Rosberg was delighted with his third win in a row and will certainly go into next season with confidence in his performance.
Ferrari
After a mistake in qualifying yesterday, meaning Vettel started 15th, the race was a big improvement. Raikkonen had an excellent race to finish third and this meant he jumped to fourth in the championship, ahead of Bottas. Vettel recovered from his poor grid position and a different strategy allowed him to finish up in fourth position.
Williams
Bottas had a poor start and then his race was ruined in the pits. He was let out alongside Button and then damaged his front wing. He received a 5 second penalty for the incident and also had to pit for a new wing on the following lap. He ended up 13th overall. Massa struggled for pace and finished in 8th.
Red Bull
Ricciardo had a fairly good race and was able to maintain a strong position to pick up 8 points in the race. Kvyat was just able to hang on to the final points-scoring position, finishing just a second ahead of Sainz.
Toro Rosso
Qualifying 11th was disappointing for Verstappen and in the race he pushed as hard as he could to make up for it. However, a lock up resulted in a flat spot, meaning he had to take another stop. He finished 12th, but dropped back with a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits. He was then penalised another 20 seconds for ignoring blue flags and this means he was classified in 16th. His teammate had a better race but just missed out on the points.
Force India
Having qualified in an impressive fourth position yesterday, Perez had an equally good race. He finished in 5th position – staying ahead of Ricciardo in the final laps of the race. His teammate, Hulkenberg, also had a strong race, securing 7th place .
Sauber
After a poor qualifying on Saturday, Sauber struggled in the race and neither driver even made it into the points. Ericsson was 14th, ahead of Nasr in 15th.
Lotus
Hit on the opening lap of the race, Maldonado retired on the opening lap for the 6th time this season. Grosjean was able to recover from starting near the back, after a gearbox penalty, to finish 9th in his final race for the team. They were able to hold on to 6th in the championship due to the fact Toro Rosso failed to score.
McLaren
Alonso had an incredibly tough race, hitting Maldonado on the opening lap. He received a drive-through penalty for this incident and dropped right back. After the race, he said he felt this was an unfair penalty as he had been hit by another car which caused him to lose control of his car and hit the Lotus. Button finished in 12th, remaining in the same position as he started the race in.
Manor
After starting in the pit lane, Merhi was beaten by his teammate Stevens in the race. The driver line up for the 2016 season remains to be decided for Manor, so this may have been their last race for the team.