Rosberg: “Lewis was the best”

Nico Rosberg already had little hope of winning the title against Lewis Hamilton at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix when he saw his rival take the lead as the lights went out. But the German knew the duel was over when he suffered mechanical problems, with a breakdown of his energy recovery system greatly penalizing his performance. The pole sitter finally finished out of the points and lost to the double world champion by 67 points with the points doubled at Yas Marina.

However, the second pilot Mercedes showed great maturity by choosing to stay on the track despite his team's proposal to return to the pits, even if it meant losing a lap to his rival. “Either way, Lewis deserved to win the World Championship.”, recognized Nico Rosberg who went to congratulate his teammate after the race. “I am very disappointed, but the problems encountered have not changed anything and there is no point in focusing on that. He was simply a little bit better than me. The positive thing is that I was more competitive in qualifying over the last two seasons. I was very close and it's a shame it didn't work out, but I'm proud to have reached this level with the team. »

Nico Rosberg also showed great combativeness by regularly keeping himself informed about the progress of the race as he slipped down the rankings. The German should have scored a top five even if Lewis Hamilton had finished outside the points. “I believed in it for a long time. There was always a chance that something would happen to his car. I never give up and I constantly stayed on the attack. That's why I wanted to finish the race. The battle was intense but superb. I run for such fights. Lewis has been the best and this season has been a great challenge that has been great fun most of the time. »

Discover the analysis of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 1988 of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow evening in digital version, and from Wednesday on newsstands.