Talking Points from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The 2015 Season is over. Nico Rosberg, who has maintained an excellent run of form, is now the 4 Winner at the Yas Marina Circuit, having won the season finale in 2015. Now, with the sport breaking for the winter, it’s time for the teams to relax before they began their R&D and car development for 2016.

Talking points from the Season Finale in Abu Dhabi are

1. Rosberg really ought to be more consistent in 2016

For 2 years, Rosberg has been the only person that was capable of challenging Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ championship. Yet he was unable to hold his nerve during critical moments over the 2014 and 15 seasons. However, surprisingly, after Lewis took victory at Austin to seal the championship he was the better driver and for the first time in his career, he has won 3 races in a row, and qualified pole in 5 consecutive races.

If he really wants to prove his credentials, he needs to fight right from the start in 2016 and string together victories right from the start, if he is to have any hope of winning the Championship

2. Mercedes are just setting more and more records

Ferrari managed to bridge the gap to Mercedes but others lost ground, and the Silver Arrows retained their dominance. 12 times their drivers finished 1-2 on the podium ( a new record), and for all but 3 races, were both drivers not present on the podium.

They also beat their last year’s point tally by securing 703 constructor points, surpassing their 2014 tally by 2 points. This just shows the utter domination of the team, and it’s likely they will have a size-able advantage even in 2016.

3. Ferrari made a good strategic call

It was a disaster for the team when a miscommunication meant Vettel was not able to set a fast enough time in Qualifying, starting 15 (after other grid penalties were adjusted). Kimi was the better positioned driver to try and catch the Silver Arrows. Vettel started on a different strategy, by going for a longer first stint by choosing the Soft Tyres.

He also did not hold up Kimi, allowing the team to have at least one driver on 3. His last stint on the super softs allowed him to pass Ricardo and Perez to take 4, a pretty good run for the team especially with his 15 place start.

4. Poor Pastor Maldonado

Maldonado’s 2015 season has been one to forget. Nearly half the races have seen him retire (9 total, and in 4 of them he did not even complete a lap). And in all honesty, he was not always responsible, with the car being unreliable, both for him and Grosjean. He was also taken out in a few races and was once again, out by the first lap after Fernando Alonso crashed into him at Turn 1 in the Grand Prix.

Now, he will just be looking forward to knowing if his team will even be compete next season, and if not he better start looking for a new drive elsewhere.

5. Red Bull have a competitive driver line up — they just need a good car

For the second consecutive season, the new Red Bull Driver has beaten the established driver. Daniil Kvyat outscored Ricciardo (last year 3 in the drivers championship) by 3 points. This indicates how close the two are to each other, which will be a good thing for the team. However, they are going to need a really good car with a strong power unit next year, as Daniil was struggling in the battle for the final few points at Abu Dhabi.

6. Grosjean will be missed by Lotus

Romain Grosjean has only raced with Lotus F1 since he made his debut back in 2012. However, in the Turbo Era he has struggled to get the best out of the car, despite some strong performances. He has, however, managed to string together some solid performances in 2015, including a podium finish at Belgium.

At Abu Dhabi, he was 16, but he would gamble on a strategy similar to Vettel and was able to battle in the middle of the pack, even running 5 at some points of the race. He would finish 9, after being locked in battle with Hulkenberg, Massa and Kvyat, to claim 2 points.

With him joining Haas, his experience and ability to at least pull the best out of the car in tough situations, will be missed by the team.