Lewis Hamilton wins Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Mercedes Nico Rosberg is the 2016 World Champion, emulating his father Nico’s achievement after a tense 2016 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in which he finished a pig in the middle second as winning team mate Lewis Hamilton attempted to back him up as much as possible into the clutches of Ferrari Sebastian Vettel and Red Bulls Max Verstappen in an enforced but finely judged master class of race craft.

Less than two seconds covered the top four at the chequered flag as Hamilton ignored instructions from the Mercedes pit wall to up his pace in the closing laps. Daniel Ricciardo followed his Red Bull team mate home, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen taking sixth ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Williams’ Felipe Massa and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso completed the top ten.

The start saw the two Mercedes lead off the line, with Hamilton heading Rosberg, as Raikkonen passed Ricciardo for third. Things got worse for Red Bull as Verstappen, in sixth, ran out of room exiting Turn 1 and spun after making light contact with Hulkenberg. Hamilton and Rosberg moved clear until their first pit stops, respectively on the seventh and eighth laps, after which Hamilton led again but with Verstappen having risen to second ahead of Rosberg.

Hulkenberg took a fine seventh for Force India, and with team mate Sergio Perez eighth Force India easily secured their fourth position in the constructors’ stakes. But Perez only just got home ahead of the fighting Williams of Felipe Massa, who signed off on his F1 career by maintaining his record of scoring points in each Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in which he has competed, and Fernando Alonso, who took the final point for McLaren.

Lewis Hamilton wins Brazil Grand Prix

After two red flag stoppages and several safety car periods, it was Lewis Hamilton who rode out the Sao Paulo storm to win Formula 1 Grande Premio de Brazil 2016 from Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg, thus taking their championship battle down to the wire in Abu Dhabi. The other star was Red Bull Max Verstappen, whose stunning late race charge hauled him onto the Interlagos podium in the dying laps.

Hamilton’s first victory in the home of hero Ayrton Senna came after he led all the way at a sodden Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in a race which was punctuated by big crashes for the likes of Sauber Marcus Ericsson, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Williams’ Felipe Massa - and which witnessed some amazing racing in its closing stages, when conditions finally became truly drivable.

Force India’s Sergio Perez took fourth place ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, with Toro Rosso Carlos Sainz equaling his career-best finish in sixth. Nico Hulkenberg was seventh in the second Force India, followed by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. Felipe Nasr finished ninth for Sauber first points of the year, lifting them above Manor at the bottom of the table, while Fernando Alonso completed the top ten for McLaren.

While Hamilton had to fight only the conditions for the bulk of the race, points leader Rosberg was at one stage overtaken by Verstappen, survived a near-spin in the very slippery final corner and his distant second place was enough to take him to the showdown in Abu Dhabi with a 12-point lead and the need if necessary just to follow Hamilton home again if the Silver Arrows continue their one-two domination. Besides Hamilton, Rosberg was upstaged by superb fighting performances by Verstappen, Nasr, Alonso and Manor’s Esteban Ocon.

MotoGP 2016: Grand Prix of Valencia

Jorge Lorenzo of Spain won the season-ending Valencia Moto Grand Prix ending a 12 race winless streak in his final event before switching from Yamaha to rival Ducati. Lorenzo won from pole position, finishing ahead of champion Marc Marquez, Andrea Iannone and Valentino Rossi. The three-time champion, who hadn't won since the Italian GP in May, will be joining Ducati next year after nine seasons with Yamaha.

Marquez, who was crowned world champion two races ago, finished only a second behind Lorenzo after recovering from a poor start that dropped him from second to seventh by the first turn at the Valencia track in southern Spain. Dani Pedrosa fell out of contention after losing control of his bike and falling while running seventh early in the race. Johann Zarco won the Moto2 finale, while Brad Binder rallied from 22nd to secure victory in the season-ending event in Moto3. Zarco and Binder had already secured the titles in their respective series.

Lorenzo nailed the holeshot on the factory Yamaha to lead the 21-rider field into the first turn to begin the season-ending 30-lap Grand Prix of Valencia, in front of a massive crowd under soft autumn sunshine. Andrea Iannone and Maverick Vinales followed. Marc Marquez got swamped in the first turn and fell back a number of positions coming out of the first couple of turns. A couple of laps in and Lorenzo held a half-second lead on Iannone. Vinales was still holding third, but was coming under pressure from Valentino Rossi and Marquez. Yonny Hernandez was the first to crash out.

On lap nine Rossi once again got by only to be repassed by Iannone again. The two swapped second place a couple of times over the next few laps with Marquez and Vinales closing up, enjoying the best view of the great battle. Ten laps in and Marquez and Iannone began going back and forth giving Rossi just a bit of breathing room. With all this battling going on Dovizioso quietly moved his way up to join the fray just behind Vinales. With 13 laps to go Cal Crutchlow crashed out on the final turn.