Abu Dhabi GP 2015

Rosberg Spring Stepping into 2016

Nico Rosberg's stunning end to 2015 was capped off with the first victory hat-trick of his career as he won the Abu Dhabi GP. A habit since winning his third World Championship, Lewis Hamilton came home second behind his team mate. It was another comfortable victory for Rosberg, who has won every race since Hamilton took the title in October. This brilliant run of form at the end of the season has seen Rosberg not only win races, but record six successive pole positions and see his total career wins move onto 14. Most importantly though, his confidence going into 2016 will be high.

Rosberg finished 8.2 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who once again opted for a different strategy to try and find a way past Rosberg, only to fall short again. Rosberg made his second stop on lap 31, which saw Hamilton stay rather than pit a lap later. Hamilton's aim was to try and extend the life of his soft Pirelli tyres, which resulted in an exchange of words between Hamilton and the pitwall over whether or not he could go to the end, not for the first time this season. The resulting decision saw Rosberg close in rapidly, forcing Hamilton to pit for the second time on lap 41. Oddly, Hamilton took on used soft tyres rather than the super-softs, seeing him fall back 12.5 seconds on Rosberg. Hamilton did produce another brief attack on his team mate, but in the end it was for nothing as he finished behind Rosberg again.

Behind the ever dominating Mercedes pair, (scoring a record 12th one-two of the season) Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen finished on the podium for only the third time this season. Brilliantly for Raikkonen, he finished ahead of team mate Sebastian Vettel, who came from 15th on the grid to finish 4th. The Force India pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez finished 5th and 7th, with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo between them in 6th. Felipe Massa came home in 8th, after another average race for the Williams team. In his final race for Lotus before a switch to Hass in 2016, Romain Grosjean came from 19th on the grid to score a 9th place finish. Rounding off the top 10 was Daniil Kvyat for Red Bull.

Impressive Race ends Impressive Season for Many

This season, there have been many impressive performances by so many drivers. This trend continued at the final race in Abu Dhabi. Sebastian Vettel's problems in qualifying saw him start down in 15th. He opted for a different strategy of soft-soft-super-soft which saw him tear his way through the field on his way to fourth. This strategy saw him out of sync with his main rivals, but it still got him into fifth place after his second stop before catching Perez's Force India for fourth with ten laps remaining. Vettel's first season with Ferrari has been brilliant, and he will be hoping for more success in 2016.

Sergio Perez is another who ended an impressive season on a high. Starting on the second row, he couldn't quite match the pace of the Ferrari's over a long distance, but he did manage an impressive fifth place to consolidate a best ever ninth position in the Drivers Championship.

Although nothing compared to 2014, Daniel Ricciardo's run to 6th place capped off a solid campaign. Had the engine in his Red Bull been up to scratch over the season, he would have made a big impact in the championship picture.

He was involved in a frantic opening lap in the midfield pack, but couldn't quite get ahead of team mate Kvyat. Ricciardo drove a solid race whereas Kvyat faded out during the course of the race and faded into 10th place.

Starting his final race for Lotus at the back of the grid, Romain Grosjean opted for a similar tyre strategy to Vettel, which managed to get him into contention for points. He made the most of super-softs in the closing stages and passed both Max Verstappen and Kvyat to finish a superb 9th. After all the problems that Lotus have encountered this season, Romain Grosjean's performances are something that have caught the eye. Hass have a very talented driver coming on board for their 2016 debut.

Stars and Flops of 2015

Every year in Formula 1 there are teams, and drivers, who stand head and shoulders above the rest. This year, without a doubt it has to be the Mercedes team and Lewis Hamilton. The team has went from strength to strength following their dominance in 2014, notching up a record 12 one-two finishes and having an almost bullet proof car. The car they produced helped Lewis Hamilton equal Sir Jackie Stewart's three World Championships and produce some outstanding drives. Most notably his drive in Silverstone, where he overcame the Williams pair of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas and the great British weather to record a famous win.

I could easily pick Sergio Perez and Force India for their fantastic efforts over the season, but Max Verstappen needs a serious mention simply because, at 17 years of age, what he has done this season is nothing short of tremendous. He has driven with the confidence of a multi World Champion and some of the over takes he has performed over the year have been jaw dropping. What sticks out for me is his overtake at Spa at nearly 200mph around the outside of Felipe Massa. A minor blip came at Monaco where he caused an accident on lap 64 with Romain Grosjean at turn 1. Other than that it was a fantastic rookie year. This man will be a World Champion before he is 21, if he is given the proper equipment, whether it is at Red Bull or Ferrari in the years to come.

While there were plenty stars of 2015, there were also flops. None more so than McLaren. I have written so much over this season about how bad that car has been. Tragic would not be an over exaggeration. It has seen Fernando Alonso finish with his lowest ever points tally, and pushed Jenson Button into thinking of retiring. The outrageous notion that the team improved over the season, I think, is ridiculous. At the tracks where engine power was not the defining factor, they faired reasonably well. However too many tracks were engine power focused. This led to many outbursts from Fernando Alonso about the quality of the car even referring to the engine as a "GP2 engine". 2016 surely cannot be any worse? Something has to be done engine wise, or else the team will be further behind. I do not think that Alonso would want to hang around to endure another season like 2015.

Races F1 Wouldn't Miss

2014 looks set to be the longest season in the history of the sport with a record breaking 21 races scheduled. This could be increased even further with the news that the Grand Prix of America, in New Jersey, could yet to be added to the calendar, making a very heavy 22 race season. Teams have made no secret of their desire to have a calendar of 20 races or less, with McLaren team principle Martin Whitmarsh being very vocal about the issue; especially with more in season testing scheduled next year. Contrasting opinions are coming out of Torro Rosso, with team principle Franz Tost saying he would like to see less testing and more races, something I agree with. The extra races along with in-season testing will put extra financial strain on the smaller teams. The turbo engines will also set the teams back extra millions per season. So if Bernie Ecclestone wants to broaden F1’s horizons further and further and with the teams reluctant to go past 20 races, what races could be dropped without any real shame? India has already bitten the bullet for next year, but where else could be dropped? Here are the top three I would drop to accommodate a smaller race calendar.

Bahrain

In the 10 years that the Bahrain GP has been on the calendar (exclude 2011 when the race was cancelled), I can genuinely not remember one entertaining or exciting race here. It held its first race in 2004 and was the first Middle Eastern country to hold an F1 race. Possibly the first mistake with Bahrain is that the track was designed by Hermann Tike, who has designed countless boring F1 tracks. Its long straights and slow twisty corners mean there is little over taking or excitement. The circuit is located in the middle of the desert causing a logistical problem for the teams and making it difficult for any fans actually turn up. All of this begs the question: why is the race still there? The answer is simple. Money. The amount of revenue that this race builds for F1 is so vast, that Bernie wouldn’t dream of dropping the race. The 2010 race was so dull; it was nick-named by many as the “Bore-rain Grand Prix”. If a race is deemed that uneventful, I personally wouldn’t want this race on the calendar. However the sport is channelled by money and Bahrain gives a lot of money. Even severe political unrest in the kingdom leading to the cancellation of the grand prix didn’t stop the race from coming back in 2012. It is one of the races that I actually find hard to watch because, I know unless something extreme happens; which is unlikely due to the massive run off areas (making it the safest racing circuit in the world) it will ultimately be a dull 90 minutes.            

Korea

The Korean GP can be described in one word: ridiculous. A track designed, again, by Hermann Tike, built three hours away from the nearest major city was a recipe for disaster. In my opinion that is exactly what the whole Korean GP experiment is, a disaster. When the inaugural event only gets the go ahead two weeks before it’s scheduled, something isn’t right. I remember getting up early on race day and waiting hours for the race to start because of rain. I have seen races go ahead with a lot more rain on the circuit, yet Korea was different. Apparently the concrete was only laid a few short days before F1 arrived in Korea meaning when the rain came down, it just rested on the circuit instead of seeping into track, leaving the circuit like an ice rink. At least the rain made the race exciting to watch, but it was the only reason. To add to the fact that it is in the middle of nowhere, the race looked like it was being staged around a construction site.

None of the hospitality facilities or road links were there and it looked horrendous on the television. When the race came round in 2011 I thought it would be a different story. How wrong I was. The place still looked like a building site with barely any grand stands or anything. Without the rain, it was a shockingly boring race as was the one in 2012. On a positive note, Korea is still subject to approval for 2014, so fingers crossed!

Abu Dhabi

In superficial terms, the grand prix in Abu Dhabi is absolutely fantastic. The facilities around the track are to be envied by any other country who builds a grand prix circuit. It made history by becoming the first twilight race in F1. Sounds fantastic right? The problem with the circuit is yet again Hermann Tike. The mixture of long straights and tight intersections make for tedious viewing. In its debut season, it was given the honour of hosting the final race. 2009 was personally my favourite season that I have ever witnessed. Each race had something going on to keep you on the edge of your seat. Fair enough, the title was already wrapped up so there wasn’t much to play for. This was obvious in the way the race panned out. However, 2010 should have been different. It was the last race of the season again and four drivers could have taken the title. A crash on lap 1 involving Michael Schumacher and Tonio Liuzzi meant a safety car was needed. After this, there was no major drama in what should have been an action packed race for the title. Instead, Vettel ran away with the race and secured the title. Fernando Alonso, who probably should have won the title, languished in seventh as there are no proper overtaking opportunities on the track. Yes, if you are going for a world title, you make the overtakes, regardless what track you are on. However if a driver of Alonso's quality and skill can’t put an overtake on Vitaly Petrov, who had an awful debut season for Renault, then what does that say about the track? It lost its honour of holding the last race in 2011 where Lewis Hamilton won and last year where a few crashes and some famous Kimi phrases made for good viewing. Despite last year’s race, I still think that this is a race on the calendar purely for financial reasons. The big Ferrari world theme park next door and the massive off track entertainment ensure lots of revenue. This is another race however that, despite its faults will be on the calendar for a few years yet.