Rosberg: Pit call earned fourth place

The German was the first driver to come into the pits when the safety car was called out at the end of the first lap, and he says it was that early stop that allowed him to finish ahead of title contenders Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.

"I'm very pleased with fourth place, it's the best that we could have hoped for from my grid position," he said. "Special thanks to Ross [Brawn] and James Vowles for a great strategy today.

"We had a good pace on the hard tyres, just like in qualifying, and I was able to make the most of that performance when it mattered. Thanks to everyone here at the track and back at the factory for all of their hard work this year."

Rosberg added that he hopes Mercedes will improve enough over the winter to join Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren in fighting for the championship next season.

"Although we didn't get the results that we wanted on track, I am sure that we will improve massively for next year and have more fun then. Congratulations to Sebastian today and he deserved the title.

"Next up, we have the test later this week which will be very important to get a headstart on adapting to the new tyres."