F1 2016 Season Review | Nico just nicks it in the end

Well the 2016 F1 season comes to an end and as was expected Nico Rosberg walked away with the Formula One crown. Still Lewis Hamilton did not make it easy for him and the Brits final 5 races really turned up the heat on the German. The final few laps in Abu Dhabi were particularly stressful for Rosberg as Hamilton deliberately slowed his Mercedes car down to bring both Vettel and Verstappen into the mix and possibly overtake Rosberg who was holding onto second. Some would say Lewis played dirty but others say it’s what he had to do.

All Nico needed was third place with Mercedes bosses instructing Lewis to speed up, “leave me to run my own race” was Hamilton’s response. In the end no one could get past Nico so over the line they went one-two. Even with Toto blowing his top after the race, another top team boss Christine Horner defended Lewis saying that it was the right thing to do, we’re sure this will be talked about for a while.

We also said goodbye to two of the most respected drivers in F1. Jenson Button failed to make the finish line in his final race as he hit a kerb a bit heavy and broke the front wishbone, which is a shame for such a remarkable driver and 2009 champion. Still he got a great send off as did Felipe Massa, these two drivers will be missed from F1 as they were great ambassador’s for the sport.

What happened to our man Max Verstappen? Betotg have been praising this young driver all season. Well first he starts sixth on the grid which is a poor position for him, then on the second corner he hits the side of another car and spins which puts him to the back of the field.

To most drivers that would be race over but not Max, the Dutchman starts passing driver after driver and stays out on tyres that are well passed their sell by date. Verstappen ends up running second before he has to pit for new boots before being first passed by Rosberg. Still in our opinion the best drive of the day, we can’t wait to see how he will do next season.

In a remarkable twist to end this season, just 5 days after Rosberg lifted the title he announced he was retiring from the sport. In a video that he posted on social media the German says that he has reached the pinnacle of the sport and his aspirations that he had when he was a boy and now he has achieved this that he wants to focus his time on his family. Very few drivers have driven off into the sunset at the top of their game but you’ve got to hand it to Nico, if you’re going to go out why not do it in style!

2017 will see quite a few changes with some drivers moving teams and some new ones joining F1. With a vacant spot now at Mercedes it will be interesting to see who fills the spot to partner Hamilton. Will Ferrari and Red Bull be able to close the gap to the silver-arrow, we can only hope so. As for some of the raising stars such as Max Verstappen and the home-grown Brit Joel Palmer we hope to see even more improved performance next year.

The start of the F1 2017 season is only 18 weeks away in Melbourne.