Nico Rosberg
2015 was a year of domination for Mercedes AMG Petronas, who won both the 2014 and 2015 Formula One seasons, as did their primary driver, Lewis Hamilton, with no team able to truly catch them up.
Other teams simply scrambled to catch up – quite unsuccessfully, and each acknowledged they could not.
This year, teams have shown a far more competitive grid than we have seen in a number of years, with nearly every engine quicker and more reliable than the 2015 season. Despite this, Mercedes dominated the first race of the season – the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, Melbourne – but this time, it was Nico Rosberg – who took a late march towards the end of 2015 – who took top honours.
In fact, Ferrari could have won the race but eventually lost out on tyre strategy, perhaps down to the crew and team rather than the drivers.
In the much-ridiculed new qualifying format, it was Mercedes who again locked out the front row in qualifying - with Hamilton on pole and Rosberg in second, but with Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel taking the lead, Hamilton would fall back.
Vettel held the lead for the majority of the race – which had till then been Ferrari’s to lose – and lost time after a pitstop with Rosberg, who both times pitted just before Vettel, taking the lead and holding on to it.
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