2015 F1 Round 19 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Rosberg ends season with third straight win, Räikkönen seals fourth overall

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 29 ran over 55 laps. Starting from pole, Rosberg won in 1 hour 38 minutes 30.175 seconds, with Hamilton second, 8.271 seconds behind, and Räikkönen third. Rosberg ended the 2015 season with three consecutive victories.

Rosberg held the lead at the start and retained control of the race. Hamilton extended his second stint and made his final pit stop on lap 41, ten laps later than his teammate, hoping to close the gap on fresher soft tyres.

Hamilton emerged from his final stop around 12.5 seconds behind and reduced the deficit to 6.8 seconds with four laps remaining. Traffic then hampered his pursuit, and Rosberg ultimately extended the gap again to 8.271 seconds to claim his sixth win of the season.

Räikkönen finished third and secured fourth place in the drivers’ championship. Vettel climbed from 15th on the grid to fourth. He started on soft tyres, switched to supersofts on lap 39 and used that set to the finish.

Pérez finished fifth, holding off Ricciardo, with Hülkenberg seventh and Massa eighth. Despite a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, Grosjean passed Sainz and Kvyat on supersoft tyres late in the race to take ninth and two points. Kvyat took the final point.

At his first pit stop, Bottas was released from his pit box into Button’s path. His front wing was damaged and had to be replaced, and he also received a five-second penalty, eventually finishing 13th. Verstappen received a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits and a further 20 seconds for ignoring blue flags, dropping him to 16th.

Alonso received a drive-through penalty after contact with Maldonado at the first corner and finished 17th. He said Nasr had hit him before the incident. Maldonado was the only driver to retire, while Stevens and Merhi finished 18th and 19th.

Hamilton ended the season at the top of the drivers’ standings with 381 points, ahead of Rosberg on 322 and Vettel on 278. Mercedes won the constructors’ championship with 703 points, followed by Ferrari on 428 and Williams on 257.