NICO ROSBERG, 2ND - MERCEDES MANAGEMENT TONY ROSS - LEWIS HAMILTON, 1ST - SEBASTIAN VETTEL, 3RD
Quite the race for the last of the season and down to the wire for the Championship. Lewis Hamilton won the race and tried to slow the race down so that traffic would interfere with Rosberg enough to keep him from the title. Didn't work, and Rosberg came in second and he also won the Championship. Vettel came in third on the heels of Rosberg. If the race had been a bit longer it would have had a different outcome, in fact, Hamilton may have ended up the Champion. I am happy with the way it worked out. Looking at the podium these guys raced carts together 20 years ago and all three are now world champions. Vettel four times, Hamilton three and Rosberg one. I wasn't wild about the way Hamilton played today, but there have been plenty of drivers in the past who would have done exactly the same. Rosberg's father was a world champ back in 1982 and they are only the second father/son duo to do it. The other was Graham Hill in 1962 and 1968 and his son Damon Hill in 1996.
Now on to my favorites, Nico Hulkenberg ended up in 7th winding up a nice season with Force India. He is moving on to Renault next season. Felipe Massa finished 9th. This is his last race in Formula One....retiring at 35. Everybody likes him and he must be one of the nicest men in the world. The Williams Team gave him the car that he has been racing. A very nice gesture considering they are multi-million dollar cars. Also retiring today was former world champion Jenson Button at age 36, but his car didn't finish the race today. Button was in 305 races and Massa 252.
The American Haas Team finished 11th and 12th today. I think that had a great first season, scoring 29 points. Drivers Grosjean will be with them next season and Gutierrez will be replaced.
All in all I think it was a great season. Next year with some drivers moving around, new car designs and management changes it should be just as interesting. Hopefully Mercedes will not dominate the season again.
photo credit: © 2016 gpupdate.net
video credit: © 2016 BBC
