Motorsport: An almost conciliatory GP finale
The tension in Abu Dhabi remained until the last meter. Lewis Hamilton played his little game, but was unable to prevent Nico Rosberg from winning the title. Sauber are delighted with their 10th place in the world championship. Never before has Mercedes sporting director Toto Wolff been seen with such an expression after a victory. It was not the usual [...]
Never before has Mercedes' Head of Sport Toto Wolff been seen with such an expression after a victory. It was not the Austrian's usual joy, but annoyance at the behavior of his showpiece. Leading from the start, Lewis Hamilton tried his last chance by driving with the handbrake on to get Nico Rosberg into trouble. "It wouldn't have been sportingly correct to intervene in the championship fight like that," said Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, who was also satisfied with third place, explaining why he didn't seriously attack the car in front of him.
"Lewis did everything he could to win the world championship after all. He could have driven away at the front and shown everyone that he was the faster one. But he decided to let Nico and his pursuers run aground. That was against the agreement, he undermined the team structure. We will think about how to react to this," said Wolff angrily in front of the TV cameras.
Nico Rosberg put a good face on the bad game, ultimately offered Hamilton his hand and was also delighted with the world championship title 34 years after his father Keke Rosberg. "It was very unpleasant at the end and not a race I could enjoy," admitted the Finnish-born German from Wiesbaden. "I'm glad it's over and now I just want to let myself go."
Sauber's lackluster end to the season
The Sauber camp is also happy about the end of the season. The last race with the two Sauber C35-Ferraris was lackluster, with Marcus Ericsson only briefly coming close to the points in eleventh place thanks to the one-stop strategy. As Manor also failed to do so, Sauber remains tenth in the Constructors' Championship thanks to Felipe Nasr's two points in Brazil. This is worth a good 11 million dollars.
At the Abu Dhabi GP, a generation of cars said goodbye. In 2017, new technical regulations will come into force, which provide for racing cars with wider tires and more aerodynamic freedom and are intended to make the premier class more visually attractive and faster on the track.
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