In the final race of the season Nico Rosberg wrapped up a dominant weekend with a seemingly easy victory over team mate Lewis Hamilton at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi is a day/night race but the manner of Rosberg’s victory over his triple world champion status team mate throw’s up one question. Where was Rosberg’s form at the beginning of the season? The other question is, why is Hamilton now suddenly struggling to match and beat his team mate during qualifying? Rosberg scored his sixth pole position in a row at Abu Dhabi and victory at the Yas Marina circuit was his third in succession. Hamilton’s pace isn’t exactly lacking, he was three tenths away from securing pole during qualifying, which doesn’t sound like much but if Rosberg were to replicate that sort of pace during the race then three tenths over 55 laps gives around a 16 seconds advantage. Once again the Mercedes duo locked out the front row of the grid followed by Kimi Raikkonen who finally showed that the old dog still has the pace. His team mate Sebastian Vettel started 16th after running out of time to make a final run in the first part of qualifying. Come race day Hamilton’s only chance of victory was to beat Rosberg into the first corner and control the race from the lead. During the season Rosberg has had the tendency to make poor starts, something Hamilton increasingly relied upon and benefited from on his way to claiming his third drivers title. But none of those factors came into play, indeed as the red lights turned off it was Hamilton who made a relitively poor start which enabled Rosberg to ease into the first corner untroubled. Hamilton was in temporary trouble of loosing position to either Raikkonen or Perez but he managed to hold position and pull away. The race for the lead was by and large undramatic. Most of the best action was to be seen in the mid field with plenty of overtakes and spectacle. At the front Hamilton was relying on plan B, to use the second round pitstops to undercut Rosberg having been unable to get close enough to challenge him for the lead on the circuit. When the second round of pitstops arrived Hamilton opted to stay out some 10 laps later than planned before he came into change his tyres on lap 41, Rosberg having done so 12 laps earlier. Hamilton should have have made his second pitstop right after Rosberg made his, but the strategy to stay out longer played into Rosbergs hands. By staying out longer Hamilton’s tyre performance simply ebbed away as Rosberg, with fresher tyres was beginning to pull away. Rosberg was 12 seconds ahead when Hamilton pitted  for his final pitstop (lap 41 out of 55) within in four laps Hamilton reduced the deficit to just over 6 seconds but traffic in the closing stages meant Rosberg was able to increase his lead. And when the race ended Rosberg was 8 seconds clear of Hamilton, but even if there had been minimal traffic Rosberg still seemed to have more than enough pace to be able to fend off Hamilton. Raikkonen eventually fished in thrid a welcome podium for the Fin after being overshadowed by his team mate all season. Vettel finished an impressive 4th to rubber stamp Ferrari’s impressive return to the top, albeit as the second  fastest team on the grid. For Hamilton the disappointment of finishing second to his team mate for the third race in a row was etched into his eyes. Yes he ended the season with world championship number 3 in the bag but Rosberg seems to have re-discovered his blinding fast form and confidence. For the next season Hamilton will have a real challenge to hold onto his drivers championship because Rosberg will carry the race wining confidence and momentum into the 2016. 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit