F1 season ends with Mercedes record-breaking 12th 1-2 finish in Abu Dhabi

After wins in Mexico and Brazil, Mercedes' Nico Rosberg continued on his winning streak with a win the Yas Marina circuit on November 29, 2015 to secure a hat-trick of victories for the first time in his career. Nico thus recorded six wins in 2015 and 14 in Formula One to date

Lewis Hamilton, the champion of the season had to be content with the second slot. He was 8.2s behind his team mate to secure the Silver Arrows a 12th one-two finish of the year, breaking the single-season record of 11 they set last year. They also broke the single-season points record they set last year by two, despite the fact that double points weren’t on offer like they were in 2014’s finale.

Rosberg incidentally is only the second driver to win from pole in Abu Dhabi, the 30-year-old having recorded his sixth successive P1 start on Saturday. If he scores pole at the first two races next season he’ll equal Ayrton Senna’s all-time record of eight straight poles.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen came in for a third podium finish of the season, and along with it the points he needed to overhaul countryman Valtteri Bottas for fourth in the drivers’ standings. That’s the Finn’s highest championship finish since 2012 when he was third overall.

For Sahara Force India, it was good news as Sergio Perez cemented his best ever championship finish of ninth with a fine drive to fifth place - the seventh time in the final nine races that the Mexican has scored points.

Elsewhere, Daniel Ricciardo finished four places ahead of team mate Daniil Kvyat in sixth, but it wasn’t enough for the Australian to displace the Russian in the final standings, the duo finishing the year in P7 and P8, separated by just three points.

It was a dismal year for McLaren Honda with 16 points and for Fernando Alonso it was even worse as he was out-scored by team mate Jenson Button. Romain Grosjean capped his final race for Lotus with ninth place.

This is the perfect ending to the season for me - something I hoped for so much after a tough year. To finish with six poles and three wins in a row is awesome. I am so happy that I found some performance at the end of the season. I also made my peace with this track after the toughest moment of my career here last year, which is a nice feeling. Today was really a perfect race. The start, the pit stops and the tyre management were all really good and I felt like I had it all under control. Thanks so much to my team for this amazing Silver Arrow - everyone at the factories and the track has done such an incredible job all year. I would love to start the 2016 season tomorrow - but I know that´s not possible. It’s strange, I'm enjoying the moment so much - but I'm thinking already very much of next year what I could change and where I can improve. We will all now have a well-deserved break with our families and I look forward to spending some more time with my wife and my little daughter,” Nico Rosberg said in a press statement.