Hamilton wins Abu Dhabi F1 GP; Rosberg wins maiden WDC

Lewis Hamilton won the 2016 Formula 1 season's final Grand Prix at Abu Dhabi, while teammate Nico Rosberg finished second. This result led to Rosberg winning the 2016 World Drivers' Championship - his maiden title. Meanwhile, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel managed to get the third spot on the podium.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix began with Lewis Hamilton on pole position, followed by his teammate and title contender Nico Rosberg. Just after the start, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen managed to pass Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo for third, while Verstappen spun at turn 1 after making contact with Hulkenberg. Meanwhile, Hamilton and Rosberg cleared the pack and were leading the race by a fair margin, until their first pit stops on lap 7 and 8, respectively.

After the first pit stop, Hamilton continued to lead the race, though Verstappen managed to split the two Mercedes cars. Rosberg followed Verstappen without any drama for the next 12 laps, before making a bold move and overtaking him to regain his second spot. He then managed to cut down Hamilton's lead from 5.8 seconds to 3.1 seconds.

Hamilton knew that for him to win the championship, Rosberg needed to finish fourth or below. The British driver slowed down to push back Rosberg into the clutches of the Ferraris and Red Bulls. This brought down the gap between the two Mercedes cars to just 1 second.

Meanwhile, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel passed teammate Kimi Raikkonen on lap 41, Daniel Ricciardo on lap 47 and Max Verstappen on lap 51. After that, both the Mercedes cars and Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari lapped in close proximity, while Mercedes continued to instruct Hamilton to speed up in order to avoid falling in danger. The British driver didn't acknowledge the instructions and continued to push Rosberg back into Vettel. However, the German held off the Ferrari and managed to cross the finish line in second position, thus taking home his first-ever WDC title.

Max Verstappen finished fourth followed by Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Williams' Felipe Massa and McLaren's Fernando Alonso completed the top 10.