Lewis Hamilton took ‘winning at the slowest possible speed’ to a whole new level in Abu Dhabi.
Needing two drivers to overtake his team mate before the end of the race, Hamilton lapped over one-and-a-half seconds per laps slower than during last year’s race at times. It had the desired effect of slowing Nico Rosberg down – he only set the ninth-quickest lap of the race – but no one was able to capitalise on his delay to overtake.
This was despite Sebastian Vettel, who finished on Rosberg’s tail, lapping over one-and-a-half seconds quicker than the Mercedes as he closed on the race leaders after making a late final pit stop. Vettel was on super-soft tyres while the others favoured the softs.
2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
| Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’43.729 | 43 | |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’44.495 | 0.766 | 50 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’44.889 | 1.160 | 29 |
| 4 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’44.970 | 1.241 | 45 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’45.137 | 1.408 | 37 |
| 6 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’45.163 | 1.434 | 35 |
| 7 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’45.187 | 1.458 | 36 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’45.249 | 1.520 | 30 |
| 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’45.261 | 1.532 | 33 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’45.675 | 1.946 | 33 |
| 11 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1’45.715 | 1.986 | 46 |
| 12 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas-Ferrari | 1’45.928 | 2.199 | 45 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’45.949 | 2.220 | 31 |
| 14 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor-Mercedes | 1’46.145 | 2.416 | 26 |
| 15 | Esteban Ocon | Manor-Mercedes | 1’46.189 | 2.460 | 46 |
| 16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’46.216 | 2.487 | 40 |
| 17 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’46.287 | 2.558 | 44 |
| 18 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’46.591 | 2.862 | 30 |
| 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’47.837 | 4.108 | 4 |
| 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | 1’48.601 | 4.872 | 4 |
| 21 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1’48.752 | 5.023 | 13 |
| 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1’48.753 | 5.024 | 4 |
2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Lowe refused to give Hamilton a second order to speed up
- 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix driver ratings
- Rosberg’s rivals (and relatives) on his championship win
Hyoko
27th November 2016, 18:59
Vettel claims that Lewis’ tow impeded him to pass Nico. Maybe (sounds like poetic justice to me) but I’d say that in the few final laps the mojo from his tyres (and Max’s also) was already going away
Arnoud van Houwelingen
27th November 2016, 20:44
Even if Vettel would have passed Nico then he would still be WDC
Mick
27th November 2016, 21:12
I am surprised Alonso had the second fastest lap.