2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Results: Rosberg Is Champion
Lewis Hamilton did everything he could to win the Formula One championship in the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but he came up short against teammate Nico Rosberg.
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg battled all season long for the Formula One title, and it all came down to the last race of 2016: the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. And despite some trickery by Hamilton, Nico Rosberg did exactly what he needed to do to become a world champion.
Hamilton, the pole sitter for the final race of the year, needed to win and have Rosberg to finish off the podium in order to claim the championship. Rosberg, meanwhile, just needed to do what his Mercedes team has done in almost every other race – finish in the top three.
A good start was key to both, but even more key for Hamilton was a strong start from competitors at Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. Both Hamilton and Rosberg had strong starts in the race, but somehow the Mercedes duo was unable to get away from the rest of the field.
That was because of some dirty tactics led by Hamilton, who was slowing down to keep the rest of the cars on Rosberg’s rear in order to put the heat on the championship leader. Hamilton did this despite the protests of his team and claims that he was being a dirty driver.
More from Beyond the Flag
Despite Hamilton’s best efforts, Rosberg was up to the task of holding onto a podium spot. The German driver outdueled a hungry threesome of Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel, and Kimi Raikkonen to finish second in the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to Hamilton. That would be enough for Rosberg to claim his first world championship.
Rosberg’s title will be one remembered for the end of the reign of Lewis Hamilton, but continuing the dominance of the Mercedes team in Formula One. Nico joins his father Keke as a world champion, the first father-son duo to win the title since Graham and Damon Hill. His win marks the 12th time the world championship goes to a German driver, only trailing Great Britain in that count.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the title fight, Lewis Hamilton did all he could to win another championship. Some will celebrate the end of a dynasty much like when Sebastian Vettel was finally vanquished at Red Bull Racing. However, some many years down the road, F1 fans will look back and realize the history they witnessed with Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.
Here are the full results for the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:
Of course, the world championship wasn’t the only story coming out of Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Two drivers, Felipe Massa and Jenson Button, ended their F1 careers in the final race of 2016. Meanwhile, other drivers like Pascal Wehrlein, Esteban Gutierrez, and Felipe Nasr are unsure of where their careers will continue in the coming year following Sunday’s show.
If anything was learned throughout the 2016 Formula One season it wasn’t that Mercedes is still the dominant force in the sport. It was that every team can be competitive – and that even more competition can be expected in 2017 as drivers move to new places, and some teams see fresh faces in the new year.
This article originally appeared on 
