Nico Rosberg stormed to his sixth win of the year at the final round in Abu Dhabi. He beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 11 seconds at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Kimi Raikkonen completed the podium for Ferrari, as the 2015 season came to an end. Here's what some of the grid had to say after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg:
"This is the perfect ending to the season for me - something I hoped for so much after a tough year. To finish with six poles and three wins in a row is awesome. I am so happy that I found some performance at the end of the season.
"I also made my peace with this track after the toughest moment of my career here last year, which is a nice feeling. Today was really a perfect race. The start, the pit stops and the tyre management were all really good and I felt like I had it all under control. Thanks so much to my team for this amazing Silver Arrow - everyone at the factories and the track has done such an incredible job all year.
"I would love to start the 2016 season tomorrow - but I know that´s not possible. It's strange, I'm enjoying the moment so much - but I'm thinking already very much of next year what I could change and where I can improve. We will all now have a well-deserved break with our families and I look forward to spending some more time with my wife and my little daughter."
"Top five would have been a bit sweeter, but I couldn’t hold off Seb, whom we expected to get past us more towards the end of the race. I held him off for a lap and then, especially on those options, his pace was so much quicker. I tried to get Perez, but couldn’t get close enough.
"At the start I had a sniff at Hulkenberg and went for it and that paid off. Parts of it were fun. I would have liked more battles though, but it looked quite spread out. It’s a circuit I enjoy fighting on. I have confidence in the big breaking zones here. I think we ended the season well and feel I got the most out of the car, so I’m leaving the season more happy than I was a few races ago.
"Sixth is probably not that representative of how good our weekend was, but I’m pretty pleased. I would love to go racing next weekend but at the same time I’m happy the season is over and I’m optimistic that next year will be better. I think we ended the season with a lot more feeling and confidence in the chassis. This season has made us stronger as a unit and I’m happy to move forward with these guys to be better next year.
Valtteri Bottas:
"Of course that was not the way we wanted to finish the season. But in the end this could be good - it was a proper wake-up call that we really need to raise our game if we want to challenge for the wins next year. We all know the facts, we need to find big gains with the car during the winter, and there are operational things we need to do better.
"Everyone knows it and we are fully motivated to fix these things and have a much better season next year. I need to say a big thank you to everyone in the team because we achieved third place in the constructors' and with this team I managed to be fifth place in the drivers' championship. This season gave me some good things to remember, like a couple of very special podiums, but we want more so none of us are fully satisfied yet."
Sebastian Vettel:
"Obviously I would have loved to get the podium again, but I think today’s result was the best possible one for us as a team. I lost quite a lot of time at the beginning and then kept playing catch up until the end. The pace was good, especially in the first and final stint, the car was also good and I managed to do some overtaking. I was very happy, it was good fun.
"We knew from before that Kimi and I would have crossed path with each other, as we were on very different tire strategies. It was clear that when Kimi would be close enough I would give him way to haunt the Mercedes: unfortunately that was not enough to achieve that, but I did not want to be in his way. I think we can be very happy for this season.
"Of course the last step to catch the Mercedes will also be the hardest one, but if you think about where we were only one year ago, this has been a miracle season. I can’t think of any other team which improved so much over a year. Big smiles are going around in our garage and for next year we want to increase the amount of smiles. I’m very happy to have joined the team in this moment and to have had an opening year with Ferrari like I had. Hopefully we’ll have many more good ones coming."
"This has been a tough and unlucky weekend: I had the puncture in Q1 yesterday, then I had no control at the start today, which pushed me into Pastor. That was it for me: there were no battles in the race, and I was pretty much alone. The race became more of a test session for me – hopefully we got some useful information for the winter, but I still had to save tyres and fuel.
"During the race, I told my engineers, ‘Guys, let’s try to push’, as we wanted to test the supersoft tyre on low fuel, and everything worked fine. My preparations for 2016 start almost immediately: I have a seat-fit and simulator tests at the MTC next week. I’m optimistic that we can make good progress."
Sergio Perez:
"It feels great to end the season with a strong performance and I’m very satisfied with how everything has gone this weekend – both in qualifying and the race. We pushed hard to try and beat Vettel today, but he had too much pace on the supersofts and it wasn’t possible to hold him back. The rest of the race was straightforward for me, with no big dramas, because I was on my own looking after the tyres.
"When I was running fourth I was pushing very hard to stay within Vettel’s pit window, which took a lot from my tyres and meant that Ricciardo was able to get close to me at the end of the race. Fortunately I had enough left to hold him off. I think we got the maximum that was available to us and we can be proud of our performance.
"Looking back on the whole season it’s been my best year in Formula 1 and the most successful year for the team. There is a lot of potential for next season and we will be aiming even higher"
Romain Grosjean:
"It’s been an emotional journey for me and I’m so happy to be able to reward everyone at Enstone with points in my final race for the team. I had to push all the way and it wasn’t always plain sailing as there was a lot to manage on the car.
"The calls from the pit wall were great and my pit stops were fantastic. I owe a lot to this team and it really feels like a family to me. I hope to be back one day in the future. This has been the best season of my career."
"I’d say it’s been a good day and a positive weekend overall after a very tough start. I’m pleased because we managed to overcome all the problems we had on Friday and we put a very good race together to finish in P11 – I think it was the maximum we could do today. It shows that when we don’t suffer any problems we can be there.
"My rookie season ends with a positive feeling because I think we’ve had a good year and overall I’ve definitely learned a lot every race, become a better driver and this will make me stronger. I’d also like to thank the whole team for all their hard work during this year, it’s been great."
Will Stevens:
"I’m really pleased to end my debut season on a positive note with yet another two-car finish. It was also the best possible reward for the team - both here in Abu Dhabi and back at the factory - at the end of a long hard season. I’ve been feeling really comfortable in the car all weekend and thankfully I was able to carry that confidence through to the race today.
"On the whole, I’m pretty satisfied with how things have gone for me in my debut season. I gave it everything I have and I definitely feel like I’m just getting started, so fingers crossed this is just the beginning. I would like to thank everyone in the team for their support, but in particular John and Graeme, who we say goodbye to here today."
Felipe Nasr:
"I was unlucky with my start to the race. I was in the sandwich between two cars, which caused damage to my front wing. Because of this, I had to make an early pit stop, which cost time. After that, it was all about catching up with the drivers in front of me. Finishing in this position was not the way we wanted to end the season.
"However, overall it’s been a good season for me. I am pleased we were able to keep the eighth position in the constructors’ championship, as well as holding onto my 13th in the drivers’ championship. It shows that everyone in the team put a lot of effort into this season throughout the year. I want to thank everyone for the dedicated work. Now we will focus on 2016."
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