The Report Cards of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

NICO ROSBERG 10

Third pole and victory in a row, and sixth consecutive pole position, obtained among other things with an amazing lap. Nico is decisive at the start, and immediately gets off to a good start, putting a good safety gap between himself and Hamilton. He manages the advantage he gradually accumulates well, and being in the lead he has the right to decide when to pit, always one lap before his rival. He opts for a standard strategy and the choice pays off as in the end he manages to contain his teammate's comeback very well with fresher tyres. He ends the season in the best possible way and can sleep quite peacefully this winter, ready to return to Melbourne more recharged than ever.

LEWIS HAMILTON 9

He follows his teammate at a short distance from the start until the moment of the second pit, when, like a good winner, he tries to do something to take home first position. He tries to extend the second stint on the softs as much as possible, but his teammate behind continues to nibble away second after second. He returns fifteen laps from the end of the race but the team inexplicably puts him on soft tires instead of supersoft ones, extinguishing any possibility of a comeback. Did they want to keep him quiet and avoid diplomatic incidents?

KIMI RAIKKONEN 8

Ferrari calls and Kimi finally answers. For once he takes the place of Sebastian Vettel as Mercedes' designated pursuer. He is in a race of his own, always about ten seconds behind the leaders. No duel and no risk, he took home an important podium which allowed him to overtake Bottas in the drivers' standings and place fourth.

SEBASTIAN VETTEL 9

After the disaster on Saturday, which was not his fault but that of the team, comes the masterpiece on Sunday evening. The real miracle happens in the first stint of the race. Starting with the Soft tyres, the German remained on the track longer than those who started with the softer compound, but even when one would have expected significant degradation, he managed to manage the pace well and practically managed to catch up to a small group of four or five drivers in the time of one pit. Having returned to mount the Supersofts with fifteen laps to go, he only had to easily pass Ricciardo and Perez to get to fourth place.

SERGIO PEREZ 9

Well, well done, encore! On Saturday afternoon he reached fourth place on the grid with a superlative performance. On Sunday he led a respectable race, controlling Ricciardo and, until the final laps, also Sebastian Vettel. It is truly an impressive moment of grace for the Mexican who in this season finale seems to have found motivation that manages to push him beyond his limits.

DANIEL RICCIARDO 7

At the start he lost the position to Hulkenberg's Force India, but after just a few laps, with the modest Renault engine, he managed to overtake the German at the end of the first of the two long straights in Abh Dhabi. From there he continues to push and manages to keep a short distance from Perez, but without being able to get close enough to risk an overtaking. He brings home a good points finish in this season finale.

NICO HULKENBERG 6.5

Well done at the start to immediately get behind his teammate and avoid getting caught up in the group. Just before the pit he was overtaken by Ricciardo and unfortunately with new tires he was unable to keep up with the Red Bull's pace and led the small group made up of him, Kvyat and Massa further back. He remains at the head of this group until the end and achieves a points result, even if seeing his teammate in front once again...

FELIPE MASSA 6

Not the best weekend for the Brazilian, who didn't get higher than eighth position in qualifying, and at the start he lost two positions and found himself tenth. However, already on the second lap he overtook both Kvyat and Bottas and regained the starting position. He follows Hulkenberg, but in the second pit he is passed by Kvyat. In the final laps the showdown arrives, with the Brazilian who overtakes the Russian at the end at the end of the two long forehands. He therefore finishes as he started, eighth, far from the positions in which we would have expected to see him.

ROMAIN GROSJEAN 8

Penalized on the grid, he starts on the soft tires in eighteenth position, and like Vettel he decides to carry out a long first stint, which takes him up to seventh place before putting the soft tires on again and pushing again in eleventh position. About fifteen laps from the end, after having kept Ricciardo's pace in the central part of the race, he returned to fit supersoft tyres, and in these last laps he unleashed himself and passed both Sainz and Kvyat at the last minute, finishing ninth after a worthy comeback of that name.

DANIIL KVYAT 6

A tight enough performance for the Russian who didn't shine at all today, gaining a couple of positions at the start, but suffering the return of Massa and Grosjean at the end. Stuck in traffic he is unable to find the ace to defend himself from Vettel's long-distance comeback. It is clear that this track is not very popular with the Russian, who at times even has difficulty overtaking the Saubers engaged in a different strategy than him.

CARLOS SAINZ JR. 5

Not the best way to end a good debut season. The Spaniard does it with a match that isn't up to par with his talent. The Tororosso doesn't have the pace, is the driver not fast enough? The fact is that after a good start Sainz does nothing but lose and lose positions until he reaches eleventh place, outside the points zone.

MAX VERSTAPPEN 4

Even the Dutchman doesn't express his talent at all on this track, where he makes mistakes, flattening his tires and ruining a good strategy, and he makes mistakes again, earning himself a five-second penalty when overtaking Button. Here Max is just the shadow of the driver who convinced everyone this year. He may be a phenomenon, but sometimes he still has to learn to rein in his eighteen-year-old enthusiasm.

JENSON BUTTON 6

The real satisfaction of the day was having the luxury of fighting with both Tororosso boys with a knife between his teeth despite the obvious inferiority of his vehicle. For the rest it is the usual race for McLaren which aims to achieve the best result by exploiting the misfortunes of others. This time it was the turn of the two Saubers and Bottas to suffer the ignominy of falling behind the Mp4 – 30.

VALTTERI BOTTAS 4

To forget. Race to forget. The team sends him back on track at the first pit just as Button is arriving so that the Finn hits the McLaren and loses part of his front wing and is forced to return for a new pit. From the back of the group he complained of substantial traction problems which prevented him from overtaking the two Saubers. With an alternative strategy he manages to overtake them, but the result is a disastrous fourteenth place.

MARCUS ERICSSON 5 & FELIPE NASR 5

They both always sail in the last positions. They try to differentiate strategies but with questionable results, and with notable drops in the rankings within a few laps. Never really racing, Sauber and its drivers will have a lot to work on in the winter break.

FERNANDO ALONSO 4

The beauty of ending with a bang. If for once Maldonado wasn't to blame for his retirement, this was it. Fernando literally rams him at the first corner and comes out with only some damage to the front wing, the Venezuelan forced to stop. For this reason he gets a drive through in the first laps and immediately exits the race. He only overtakes the two Manors and finishes lapped by two laps.

WILL STEVENS 6 & ROBERTO MERHI 5.5

The usual political votes for the two Manor drivers, who bring home the result without running into accidents or technical problems. But Merhi who ends up one lap less than his partner...

PASTOR MALDONADO sv

He was knocked out after a few meters by a wild Alonso.

Matteo Bramati.