He didn't need to risk it

Maybe he thought Lewis would bump him off the track

Why would he?????

WDC. If he finishes on the podium.

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Right but if the field was creeping up to him ready to overtake, all he had to do was pass Hamilton then to shake them off.

And what ifLewis forced him off the track? Throws the title away

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I understand Nico not risking the pass, but Mercedes contradicted themselves today.

If they were so concerned about solely getting the win, why was Nico not instructed to attempt to pass Hamilton after he was deliberately slowing down?

They just wanted no drama/controversy.

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and besides that, if Vettel overtook Rosberg, I don't think Verstappen woud have done the same - If hamilton drove slowly to try and help verstappen get past rosberg then there was a good chance Vettel would have won the race, whereas if Hamilton upped the pace to fend off Vettel then the three of them would have left Verstappen behind.

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If Rosberg had tried to pass Hamilton he held all the cards because if they crashed he was champ anyway.

He wasn't slowing down at parts where you could overtake. He was backing up the pack during the tight infield section and then gunning it down the straight into the good passing zones, making sure to keep Rosberg out of the DRS window. With the aerodynamics on these cars, it is simply not possible to follow closely enough in the tight sections to be able to overtake.

Of course it also meant it'd be far harder for Vettel and Verstappen to overtake Rosberg, so it was hardly a flawless plan.

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Rosberg did everything perfectly in Abu Dhabi as is proved by him winning the championship.... Is he the fastest driver on the grid, no definitely not, was Hamilton hindered due to unreliability at crucial points, definitely yes.

Did Rosberg deserve the championship win, of course he did he amassed the most points over the period of a season for whatever reason. Congrats to Rosberg, however if Hamilton is still at Mercedes then I think we might see a special season from him next year assuming the Merc is still the quickest car...Then i think he will leave Merc, Horner has been very very complimentary of Hamilton for most of the season....hmm will we see Hamilton at Redbull in the future? Personally i think once/if he has his 4th world title he will just open himself to the highest bidder and drive for whoever

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was that not in comparison to his quali lap... i think at the beginning of the race , a few laps in he was about 6/7 secs of his quali lap...i maybe wrong tho?

That will hopefully be at least partly fixed next year with the fatter tyres meaning more mechanical grip.

comment by Just Shoot (U10408)
posted 7 hours, 11 minutes ago
This 'drama' of the last race disguises the real problem in F1 today. If it is true that Hamilton's last lap was 9 seconds slower (BBC) and still no one overtook (Rosberg and Vettel) what does this say about modern F1, the circuits, etc?
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Says zilch about the circuits. Vettle was never going to overtake Rosberg. Look where he went for a selfie after the race.... And he has called Hamilton's antics 'dirty tricks'. Do you really think he was going to pass Rosberg?

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Others have said it but he just left it too late. Backing up Rosberg by a second per lap earlier in the race would have made sense - bring others into play and maybe even let them pass in the pitstops. Hamilton with nothing to lose could then pull off a few banzai passes whilst Rosberg would have to be far more cautious.

Backing up the pack by several seconds towards the end was just desperation and wasn't going to work.

comment by Drunken Hobo (U7360)
posted 55 minutes ago
Others have said it but he just left it too late. Backing up Rosberg by a second per lap earlier in the race would have made sense - bring others into play and maybe even let them pass in the pitstops. Hamilton with nothing to lose could then pull off a few banzai passes whilst Rosberg would have to be far more cautious.

Backing up the pack by several seconds towards the end was just desperation and wasn't going to work.
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Not really, Mercedes said before the race publicly that they would then pit Rosberg and undercut Hamilton.

Despite 'the lead car having the call on strategy' system. I think they wanted Nico to win it to be honest, whole season has seemed that way.

For Mercedes to state so openly that they would undercut Hamilton if he backed up Rosberg shows a clear preference. They had nothing to lose, having won the constructors' title and being guaranteed first and second in the drivers'. The only risk was that it made the last race more interesting, which is good for the sport. I understand they are trying to cultivate a corporate image, but what would that be beyond winning? Being boring? The only people who will disagree are those who wanted Rosberg to win. If Rosberg wanted to avoid that, he could have put the car on pole and got track position. He didn't.

You could try and make the argument that both sides of the garage should be allowed to undercut and fight on strategy to try and win, but that is contradicted by their reaction to Hamilton backing up Rosberg and the fact that over the last three years there has been a ban at Mercedes on drivers having different strategies.

I too had the same thought about Vettel when I saw that selfie. It damages the credibility of the sport.

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