After a decade in Formula 1, Nico Rosberg is finally world champion he's won nine of the 21 races in 2016, beating Lewis Hamilton by five points. The question now floating around is did Nico deserve to win the title? Or was it more down to Hamilton's mechanical misfortunes? The Rosbergs are only the second family in which a father and son have won the F1 world title, after Graham and Damon Hill. Nico Rosberg said he had not decided whether to take the number one on his car as is his right next year or whether to stick with the number six, which he chose as his race number because his father Keke won the 1982 world title with it.
The German driver has been competing in F1 since 2006 and his debut championship, Mercedes’ third consecutive driver's title, was secured in his 204th race. Nico the son of Keke Rosberg, who won the title for Williams in 1982, entered the race with a 12-point advantage over Hamilton, with a possible 25 available at the final meeting.
Slower driving
Hamilton won the Abu Dhabi GP driving slowly in an attempt to bring other drivers into the battle, despite Lewis Hamilton disobeying Mercedes orders not to back his team-mate into rivals. knowing he needed Rosberg to finish below third. Hamilton was repeatedly told to speed up but told the team: "Let us race."
"It's a childhood dream come true," Rosberg, 31, said over the radio.
"Thank you for everything." After the drama of the race, Hamilton congratulated Rosberg on his world championship and the two men embraced and shook hands on the podium. Nico Rosberg admitted that beating his long-term rival Lewis Hamilton to the world championship made his maiden Formula One title triumph all the more satisfying.
Big congratulations to Nico, he has sure proven his worth as the 2016 Formula 1 world champion.
Abu Dhabi GP - Top 10
1. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes 2. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes 3. Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari 4. Max Verstappen - Red Bull 5. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull6. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari 7. Nico Huelkenberg - Force India 8. Sergio Perez - Force India 9. Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes10. Fernando Alonso - McLaren
