Abu Dhabi GP: Massa 8th for Williams Martini

The Williams Martini team would see their drivers start the fifty five 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from sixth and eighth, with Valtteri Bottas ahead of Felipe Massa. For Valtteri his aim for this race was to finish ahead of Raikkonen in the drivers championship, with the pair separated by a single point. On pole was Rosberg with Hamilton second. Third was Raikkonen followed by Perez, Ricciardo, Valtteri, Hulkenberg, Felipe, Kvyat, and Sainz in tenth. All would start the race on the super soft tyre. Back in fifteenth was Vettel who would start on the soft tyre along with Ericsson and Grosjean and the two Manor cars. the cars would complete their formation lap and would form up and with the lights going out it would be Rosberg who would make the best start to lead Hamilton. For Williams Valtteri had a poor first lap being down in tenth. But Felipe had a better lap running in eighth. Alonso and
Maldonado would both pit with the McLaren suffering a puncture to his front right after a clash with Maldonado at Turn one. The Lotus would retire with broken suspension.

Lap three and Rosberg was leading by 1.4 seconds over Hamilton with Raikkonen third. Felipe would pass Sainz for seventh while Valtteri was stuck behind Kvyat. Vettel was in twelfth on what would be a longer run. Kvyat would pit on lap seven as Alonso would get a drive through penalty for causing the collision with Maldonado. Perez would pit from fourth on lap eight with Felipe also come in. Everyone was changing to the soft tyres while Valtteri was up in sixth. Rosberg was now leading by 2.8 seconds with Raikkonen third as Hulkenberg and Sainz also pitted. This would see Valtteri move up to fourth while Felipe was down in thirteenth behind Hulkenberg. Vettel was now fifth as Valtteri pitted on lap ten but his race would be ruined when Valtteri would hit the rear of Button's McLaren as he came into his pit box.

Valtteri would lose part of his front wing as he left the pits in the tunnel. Valtteri was released as Button came in and the front of Valtteri's car would make contact with the rear of the McLaren. Valtteri would be forced to pit again on lap eleven seeing him drop to eighteenth. Rosberg would pit on lap twelve joined by Raikkonen. Hamilton was now leading with Rosberg second and Vettel third. A five second penalty was given for Valtteri for unsafe release. Rosberg was again leading after Hamilton made his pit stop. Vettel was now second with Hamilton third. Raikkonen was now fourth followed by Perez, Grosjean, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Ericsson, and Felipe. But Felipe would get past the Sauber to be ninth. The whole field was now on the soft tyre but some had started the race on this tyre.

Hamilton would get past Vettel for second. While for Williams Valtteri was down in seventeenth. Vettel and Grosjean had yet to pit while after sixteen laps Rosberg was leading by 7.1 seconds over Hamilton. Valtteri had moved up to sixteenth as Vettel let Raikkonen past for third with the Ferrari pair on different strategies. Felipe was now 1.2 seconds behind Hulkenberg while Valtteri was 3.4 seconds behind Ericsson. Sainz was told to let Verstappen past for eleventh position. Lap twenty and Rosberg was now leading by 5.8 seconds over his team-mate. But Verstappen would have to pit after flat spotting his front tyres. He would pit on lap twenty three taking on a new set of soft tyres. At the front Hamilton was closing the gap to Rosberg with it down to 3.8 seconds after lap twenty four. Vettel would pit on lap twenty five taking on a set of soft tyres. Vettel would come back out in sixth ahead of Hulkenberg. Hulkenberg would pit on lap twenty five as Hamilton continued to close the gap to Rosberg. Grosjean had also pitted taking on soft tyres and was currently ninth.

Lap twenty six and Rosberg's lead was down to 1.6 seconds as Felipe pitted taking on soft tyres in what was a slow 4.2 second stop. Perez would pit from fourth on lap twenty nine taking on new soft tyres. Valtteri would complain about a lack of traction and he would be told to pit which he did on lap thirty one. He would also serve his five second penalty. Rosberg would pit on lap thirty three seeing Hamilton now leading. Raikkonen was in second with Rosberg third. Raikkonen would pit on lap thirty four but there would be a problem with the right front delaying him. For Williams Felipe was now tenth and Valtteri sixteenth and a lap behind. Hamilton was leading Rosberg by 19.1 seconds while Vettel was now third and Raikkonen fourth. Perez was fifth followed by Ricciardo, Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Kvyat and Felipe.

Rosberg was closing into onto Hamilton with Hamilton yet to pit. The gap was 14.2 seconds after lap thirty eight. Felipe was closing in onto Kvyat who was in ninth. He would get within DRS range as on lap forty one Vettel would pit from fourth. He would come back out on the super soft tyre in what would be his final stop. Vettel would return in sixth while Hamilton would ask his engineer as to whether he could get to the finish on his current set of soft tyres. But Hamilton would be told that he must pit and he would come on in on lap forty three again taking on the soft tyre. Now it was down to whether he could close the gap to Rosberg who was on older soft tyres. Vettel was now fifth ahead of Ricciardo in sixth. Hamilton was now 12.5 seconds behind Rosberg with twelve laps remaining. Grosjean would make his final stop on lap forty five taking on the option tyre.

Hamilton was catching Rosberg but was it fast enough. Vettel would get past Vettel for fourth using his DRS. Felipe was now in ninth while at the front Hamilton was 8.6 seconds behind after lap forty seven of fifty five laps. But Rosberg was able to keep the gap fairly static while Felipe would get past Kvyat for eighth. Verstappen would get a five second penalty for having got past Button by going off the track. But he was over six seconds ahead of Button so it would not change his place. Hamilton would get the gap down to 6.7 seconds but there was only five laps remaining. Felipe was told his "tyres are in good shape and we can push to the end." Sainz was now tenth behind Kvyat. Grosjean would get past Sainz for tenth.

Hamilton would get caught up in traffic and as the final laps counted down Grosjean would get past Kvyat. Rosberg was able to hold his lead and would finish to take victory in the 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix despite complaining of a big vibration in the rear. Raikkonen would finish in third followed by Vettel, Perez, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Felipe, Grosjean and Kvyat. Valtteri would finish in a disappointing fourteenth. Valtteri would see his fourth place in the championship go to Raikkonen, not the way to end his year. Felipe would thank the Williams team for their hard work during the season. Rob Smedley would say to Valtteri that they "would do a better job next year and come back stronger."