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Abu Dhabi
2016
04
NEWS WRAP
1. XPB Images
The Team
CHARLES BRADLEY
Group Editor
28
ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN
Editor
JONATHAN NOBLE
Editor-at-large
MATTHEW SOMERFIELD
Technical Editor
KAREN CHAN
Creative Designer
JASON MCNEE
Designer
ADAM COOPER
Contributor
KATE WALKER
Contributor
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motorsport.com
2 | GPG A ZE TTE
IN DETAIL
ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN
JONATHAN NOBLE
EDITOR
EDITOR-AT-LARGE
Formula 1 cops its fair share of
criticism about being boring, sterile,
and void of personalities. So I don’t
think we should be jumping down
Lewis Hamilton’s throat for trying to
spice things up in Abu Dhabi.
Realistically, that race could have
gone either of two ways; Hamilton
blazes into the distance, Rosberg
mirrors his strategy from afar, and the
German wraps up the title at the end
of an uninspiring Mercedes cakewalk.
Or, Hamilton employs completely
legal (and in my view sporting enough)
tactics and makes a four-way race of it,
with the title not decided until, quite
literally, the final corner of the season.
Well played Lewis for doing the latter.
For starters, we shouldn’t be
surprised by Hamilton’s ruthless
streak. Would a Senna or a Schumacher
(or even a Vettel) not have done the
same thing?
Secondly, was it really that
unsportsmanlike? He wasn’t weaving
under brakes, preventing Rosberg from
charging past. He wasn’t brake testing
Nico hoping Vettel would charge into
his gearbox.
For me, it was a well-managed game
plan – with some spice of a pitwall
disagreement thrown in for good
measure – which led to a thrilling end
to the season.
Whether you loved or hated the way
that Lewis Hamilton tried to win the
World Championship in Abu Dhabi,
it is hard to escape the fact that he
was in a Catch 22 situation.
On the one side, he could have
stamped his authority on the race,
driven to the max, potentially won
by 20 seconds and lost the World
Championship to Nico Rosberg
at the flag.
Or, as he ultimately chose to, he
could play the tactical game – try to
back Rosberg in to the clutches of
Ferrari and Red Bull and keep his
fingers crossed that some cars would
get in between the pair of them.
It was the racer in Hamilton that
won in the end; that made him go
as slow as he dared; and keep alive
that slim hope of some incident
happening that could turn the title
chase on its head at the last. It was all
Hamilton really had to play with.
And whatever criticisms he has
received, whatever annoyance he
has caused his bosses, what he did
on Sunday shows just how much
the world title means to him and
how much he is going to regroup
and work this winter to ensure he
is never in such a lose-lose situation
like this again.
The 2017 title fight has begun already.
06
RACE ANALYSIS
08 Free Practice | Qualifying | Results
10 Race Analysis
28 How Nico Rosberg finally took the fight
to Lewis Hamilton – and came out on top
36
LAST LAP -
16
TECHNICAL DEBRIEF
16 With Giorgio Piola &
Matthew Somerfield
20
IN PROFILE
22 Daniel Ricciardo speaks exclusively
about his high-profile teammate and his
2017 title chances
GP G AZET T E |
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