Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton clinched the 2014 Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship title after winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The 29-year-old, who started second on the grid behind title rival Nico Rosberg, took the lead at the very first corner.
Hamilton took the lead on the first corner and never looked back
The Brit, who carried a 17-point lead in the championship coming into Abu Dhabi, took control of the race from there on to take home his 11th win of the season. This is Team Mercedes’ record 16th win of the season, and with it Hamilton becomes the first Silver Arrows drivers’ champion since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1955. The 2014 triumph is Hamilton’s second drivers’ world championship, with his previous title coming in 2008.
Car trouble ruined Rosberg’s chances
Title contender and Hamilton’s teammate Rosberg finished fourteenth, after suffering from Energy Recovery System problems all throughout the race. Qualifed on pole, the German complained about power problems on his car from lap 25 onwards, which ultimately handicapped his race, and his championship challenge.
Rosberg eventually limped home to the chequered flag, despite the team telling him to retire the car few laps before the end when it was certain that, a required top five finish, was absolutely out of the cards.
The Williams Racing Team sealed out the remaining two podium places with Felipe Massa taking a strong second place, ahead teammate Valteri Bottas. Massa, who finished just 2.5 seconds behind Hamilton, kept the newly crowned world champion honest all through-out the second half of the race.
This was largely due to the fact that the Mercedes team had powered down the 2014 champion’s car to keep it safe from mechanical unreliability. However, Hamilton always had the race under his control and maintained a safe gap to the Brazilian’s Williams car right till the end.
Daniel Ricciardo – the future of Red Bull
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo finished an impressive 4th after starting from the pitlane, thanks to his gusty overtaking performance during the race. The Australian came home ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button, who took 5th ahead of the Force India pairing of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez.
Last race for Jenson Button?
Button, who may retire after this race if his McLaren contract is not renewed for the 2015 season, had an eventful race as he was involved many wheel to wheel fights. Former world champions, Sebstian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, finished 8th and 9th. Both Alonso and Vettel got points for their respective teams, Ferrari and Red Bull, for one final time before their imminent change of teams for the 2015 season.
Vettel had a difficult final race with Red Bull
The outgoing world champion Vettel, having started from the pits like his teammate, had a difficult race where he had to overtake several cars in order to finish in the points. Alonso had an impressive battle at one point with McLaren man Button, in which the Spaniard came out on top. Kimi Raikkonen took home the final point scoring position in 10th, which was for two points thanks to the double points system being used for the final race of the season.
No surprises in other finishers
McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen finished 11th, while Frenchmen, Jean Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso and Romain Grosjean of Lotus F1 Team, took 12th and 13th respectively. Sauber drivers, Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil, and Caterham debutant Will Stevens, all took the chequered flag, albeit a lap down from the leaders. Kamui Kobayashi, Pastor Maldonado and Russian Daniil Kvyat all retired with mechanical failures during the grand prix.
The race saw many overtaking moves from several drivers, especially from the once who were out of position, thanks to the DRS help on the two long straight. The early degradation of the Pirelli super softs also added to the overall drama and the tension to the teams in general. However, as the race unfolded, it was clear that a two stopper was the ideal strategy.
With his second title, Hamilton joins an exclusive club of double world champions, which consists- Alberto Ascari, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mika Hakkinen and Fernando Alonso.
Race classification of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:
| Final Position | Driver | Constructor-Engine Maker |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes |
| 2 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes |
| 4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault |
| 5 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari |
| 10 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari |
| 11 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes |
| 12 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Renault |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault |
| 14 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes |
| 15 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari |
| 16 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari |
| 17 | Will Stevens | Caterham-Renault |
| DNF | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault |
| DNF DNF | Pastor Maldonado Daniil Kvyat | Lotus-Renault Toro Rosso-Renault |
The 2015 Formula 1 season starts with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on the 15th of March.
