Going into the race, Rosberg held a 12 point advantage over Hamilton in the Championship race and needed to finish on the podium to secure the 2016 Drivers Championship, while Hamilton could not finish outside of the Top 3 if he wanted any chance of winning the championship.

After securing pole position from a blistering qualifying session, Hamilton was in control of the race from the outset - as the British driver controlled the pace of the race masterfully and was never truly challenged by his team-mate, who wanted to steer clear of any potential racing incidents.

The two Mercedes appeared to be the quickest on track, so Red Bull and Ferrari opted to switch up their tyre strategy to hunt for a podium position - and things looked to get interesting when the Red Bull of Max Verstappen found itself in front of Nico Rosberg after a pit-stop for the German driver.

However, Rosberg handled this with trademark precision and patience - as he eventually found his way through the inside of the Dutch teenager and back into second place behind Hamilton, which was all he needed to secure the world title.

Knowing this, Hamilton chose to slow his pace to allow the trailing Verstappen to catch up to a cautious Rosberg, who wouldn't take the risk of passing his team-mate and potentially crash out.

When team orders came through to Lewis Hamilton to pick up the pace, a defiant Hamilton had words for his team: "I suggest you let us race"

And with that - the race was truly on, as the gap between Verstappen and Rosberg began to dwindle, as Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel joined the mix.

With five laps remaining - there were only four seconds separating the top four drivers, as Vettel surged past Verstappen and into a podium position.

As each lap passed, the group bunched closer and closer together - but Vettel could not find a way past his compatriot, who crossed the chequered flag in second to secure the 2016 World Championship.

This win comes 34 years after Rosberg's father, Keke, won his only World Championship for Williams - and they are only the second father-son pair to win Formula One's top prize, after Graham and Damon Hill.