Nico Rosberg won his first Formula 1 world title despite Lewis Hamilton disobeying Mercedes orders not to back his team-mate into rivals.
Hamilton won the Abu Dhabi GP driving slowly in an attempt to bring other drivers into the battle, knowing he needed Rosberg to finish below third.
Hamilton was repeatedly told to speed up but told the team: “Let us race.”
Rosberg came under pressure from Sebastian Vettel but managed to hold the Ferrari driver to finish second.
Rows over the radio
Hamilton controlled the race from the front but was under instruction from Mercedes management not to try any strategic games to delay Rosberg.
However, he disregarded message after message to speed up and prevent Vettel and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen from closing on Rosberg.
The German in turn complained on the radio to the team to “consider doing something” and the tense title battle will do nothing to improve the cool relationship between the two drivers.
At one point, as Vettel homed in on Rosberg in the closing laps, Mercedes executive director (technical) Paddy Lowe, who rarely speaks to the drivers on the radio, told Hamilton: “Lewis, this is Paddy. We need you to pick up the pace to win this race.”
Hamilton replied: “I’m in the lead right now. I’m quite comfortable where I am.”
But his tactics were not enough and Rosberg whooped with delight as he crossed the line and after his wife Viviane congratulated him over the radio, did doughnut spins on the pit straight before climbing on to the nose of the car to take the cheers from the crowd.
“It’s a childhood dream come true,” Rosberg said over the radio. “Thank you for everything.”
After the drama of the race, Hamilton congratulated Rosberg on his world championship and the two men embraced and shook hands on the podium.
A very tense race
Rosberg started the race 12 points ahead of Hamilton and knew a finish on the podium would be enough to secure the championship regardless of what Hamilton did.
Initially looked like he would be able to cruise to an easy climax to the best season of his career, but it did not take long for the tension to mount.
Hamilton and Rosberg both made good starts to convert first and second places on the grid into a one-two from the start.
But the difficult moments for Rosberg began when he came out from his first pit stop behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
After a spin at the first corner of the race, the Red Bull driver recovered ground quickly and, running a long first stint as a prelude to a one-stop race, ended up in second place behind Hamilton after the leaders had finished their first pit stops.
Rosberg came out right behind Verstappen, and was also under pressure from behind from Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Ricciardo attacked Raikkonen intermittently, without managing a pass, but Rosberg was able to stay out of the Ferrari’s reach and the Finn never got close enough to try the same to the Mercedes.
