
Max Verstappen spun and fell to 19th position after gently touching Nico Hülkenberg's Force India at the start. Kimi Räikkönen gained third position from Daniel Ricciardo, with Vettel, Pérez, Hülkenberg, Alonso, Massa and Bottas completing the top ten positions at the end of the first lap. Lewis Hamilton held the lead from a cautious Nico Rosberg at the first corner of the race.
He finished ninth or lower and Hamilton failed to make the podium. He finished eighth or higher and Hamilton came third or lower. He finished sixth or higher and Hamilton didn't win. He came fourth and Rosberg finished eleventh or lower. He came third and Rosberg finished ninth or lower. He came second and Rosberg finished eighth or lower. He won and Rosberg finished fourth or lower. Lewis Hamilton entered the final race of the season 12 points behind Nico Rosberg, therefore both came into the final race with a possibility of winning the world championship. This was expected to be the final Grand Prix for Jenson Button though he would later deputise for Fernando Alonso at the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix. As well as being Rosberg's last Grand Prix, this would also prove to be the last Grand Prix for Esteban Gutiérrez and Felipe Nasr. This was also the last Grand Prix for the Manor team, as the team folded before the start of the 2017 season, reducing the grid to 20 drivers. Ī week after the Grand Prix, Rosberg announced his retirement from Formula One, making this Grand Prix his last. Sebastian Vettel completed the podium in third. Hamilton started the race from pole and went on to win the race, while Rosberg finished second, securing his maiden World Drivers' Championship title. Rosberg required a podium finish to secure the championship Hamilton required a podium to remain in mathematical contention. Their team, Mercedes, held a lead of two hundred and seventy-six points over Red Bull Racing in the World Constructors' Championship. The previous year's race winner Nico Rosberg entered the round with a twelve-point lead over his teammate Lewis Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship. It marked the eighth running of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the eighth time that the race had been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural race in 2009.
The race was the twenty-first and final round of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship and determined the 2016 World Drivers' Championship. The 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (officially known as the 2016 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 27 November 2016 at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.