YAS ISLAND, Abu Dhabi — Despite a day where his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton scored the season-ending Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix victory, Nico Rosberg did what he needed to do to join his father Keke as a Formula One World Champion on Sunday.
Rosberg started second and ultimately finished second at Yas Marina , but the effort was more than enough to capture the top honors, with the German having only needed a podium finish to secure his first title no matter what Hamilton did.
However, the road was not all rosy. Rosberg found himself trapped in third behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for much of the race’s early stages before making the pass for second on lap 22 of 55.
He then had to hold off a fierce charge from countryman Sebastian Vettel over the closing laps, with Vettel on supersoft tires, before finally coming home a champion in the end.
“That was definitely not the most enjoyable race I’ve ever had,” Rosberg said. “With Max in the beginning and then with those guys coming up in the end, it was really not very enjoyable those last few laps. Very, very glad it’s over and unbelievably ecstatic.”
Meanwhile, Hamilton led from the outset and his lead was never seriously challenged, but he did everything he could to slow the race pace and allow Ferrari and Red Bull to catch and challenge Rosberg for position — all in an effort to claim the title in his own right.
In the end, though, it didn’t matter as Hamilton won his 10th race of the season and 53rd of his career, while the posium finishers were covered by less than a second at the checkered flag.
Hamilton lost the title by a scant five points despite winning the final four races of the season in succession.
“I did everything I could these last four races and that’s really all I could ask of myself,” said Hamilton. “I leave here … I’m going to have a lot of fun tonight, celebrating with the team and everyone.”
“You can’t win them all. Obviously we had a lot of problems this year, and that’s inevitably why I’m in this position, but I’m still grateful for all the success and the ups and downs we had as a team.”
Vettel ended third for Ferrari ahead of Verstappen, who rallied from a spin on the opening lap after contact with Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India to claim fourth in the race and fifth in the drivers’ championship standings.
Daniel Ricciardo completed the top five in the sister Red Bull, followed by Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, the Force Indias of Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez, Williams’ Felipe Massa (in his final F1 start) and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.
A right front suspension failure on lap 12 doomed what was likely Jenson Button’s final Grand Prix start, relegating him to a DNF in 20th after he hit one of the track curbs too hard early on.
“I had a failure on the right-front – and I’m just glad I was able to figure it out before I hit the brakes [for Turn 11]. It’s always been a massive strength of our team that components so rarely fail, but today – of all days – something did, which is just unlucky.”
“Nonetheless, I enjoyed today massively. My race was short, but I loved everything else. I was really emotional before I got in the car – it was such a special atmosphere to have the whole team and all my friends and family cheer me on my way into the garage. I’m just glad I was wearing my sunglasses at that moment. I’m very content with all I’ve achieved in my career. Now, it’s done. I live in the moment, though, and tonight’s going to be a helluva lot of fun!”
The 2017 Formula One season kicks off with the Australian Grand Prix on March 26 in Melbourne.
