Nico Rosberg won a third consecutive Grand Prix for the first time in his career in Abu Dhabi – his sixth victory of 2015 – to end his season in style to defeat his World Champion teammate Lewis Hamilton once again.
Rosberg led from the start, and controlled the race from the front.
Hamilton's main challenge came when he extended his second stint, but he was unable to find the requisite pace on his final set of soft tyres – the team having decided against him gambling on supersofts. Rosberg won by 8.2s.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen finished a distant third, ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel – who charged up from 15th on the grid, and used superior pace on the supersoft in his final stint to seal his position.
Story of the race
From the final grid of the season, poleman Rosberg made a great getaway so Hamilton had to defend from Raikkonen and a quick-starting Sergio Perez (Force India).
The second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg got up to fifth from Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull and then a huge battle behind in which Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull) and Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) touched exiting Turn 6.
Vettel clipped Max Verstappen's STR at high speed on the opening lap, after Verstappen had brushed wheels with Kvyat just a few corners earlier. Vettel ended the first lap in 12th, already 10s off the lead.
Rosberg led Hamilton by 1.4s, with Raikkonen less than a second behind in third.
Sainz up to seventh, ahead of Massa, the spikey Kvyat, Valtteri Bottas and Verstappen.
Massa passed Sainz for seventh at Turn 8 for seventh on lap three, while Kvyat and Bottas swapped ninth through the DRS zones.
Ricciardo passed Hulkenberg for fifth on lap six, with a neat outbraking move before they both pitted to switch to softs.
Hulkenberg only just rejoined ahead of Massa, but well behind Ricciardo. Massa was ninth, ahead of Kvyat.
Rosberg set fastest lap on the seventh tour after reporting "I'm pushing the tyres a bit more now" and pulled 4.7s clear of Hamilton before he pitted at the end of lap nine, the same tour as Raikkonen.
Vettel, who was running a long first stint on the soft tyre from his lowly grid position, was briefly promoted to second when Hamilton pitted on lap 10.
Hamilton retook second from Vettel with a routine pass with DRS on lap 14. By this stage was 7s behind Rosberg, which Hamilton reduced to under 5s by lap 22, then halved it again over the next three laps.
Hamilton's engineer suggested that Rosberg was suffering from right-front graining, the gap closing to 1.3s before Rosberg stopped again at the end of lap 31.
Hamilton responded with a fastest first sector, as he attempted to 'overcut' his teammate by staying out for longer. "We're going to try and extend this stint," his engineer confirmed.
Rosberg's engineer asked him to "pick the pace up and close up to Lewis", to be in a better position to defend if Hamilton switched to the faster supersofts for his final stint.
Rosberg slashed into the 18s post-pitstop gap, getting it down to under 10s with 15 laps to go. Hamilton then considered taking his softs until the end of the race, but the idea was rubbished on his pitwall, and Hamilton pitted for another set of new softs. He rejoined 12s in arrears, and needed to find a second a lap to win the race.
Rosberg's lead continued to dwindle as the laps unwound, with Hamilton lapping up to 1.7s per lap faster.
He was told "flat out until the end" but couldn't quite produce the times he needed, and finished over 8s in arrears.
