After a long wait of 6 years, Lewis Hamilton this afternoon was once again crowned Formula 1 world champion, after dominating today's title deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. After what must of felt like the longest race weekend of his life so far, Hamilton can be content tonight knowing he is now a two time F1 world champion.
After Rosberg landed the first blow yesterday by comfortably claiming pole by 0.4 of a second from Hamilton, everything seemed to go his way today from the start. As the lights went out Hamilton made what looked to be his best ever start, as he shot of the line like a bullet whilst Rosberg bogged down and was lucky to keep his 2nd into Turn 1.
Hamilton was quick to open a lead of around 2 seconds in the opening laps, as Rosberg looked settled in 2nd. It wasn't long before pitstops began as Fernando Alonso was the first of the leaders to pit from 5th on lap 5, rejoining well down. A lap later and those around Alonso such as Jenson Button, Daniil Kvyat and Kimi Raikkonen all pitted to cover Alonso.
After his pit stop Alonso was immediately frustrated by the back marker Will Stevens in his F1 debut for the revived Caterham team. Alonso eventually passed him on the back straight, but not before hilariously asking on his team radio "who is he?". By lap 9 the recovering Red Bull duo of Sebastien Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo were making remarkable progress into the fringes of the top 10 after the pit stops.
By lap 10 it was clear Lewis Hamilton was on a mission today as he opened a gap to Rosberg of roughly 2.5 seconds as he looked comfortable out in the lead. At the end of lap 10 Hamilton was the first AMG Mercedes driver to pit, rejoining 3rd. A lap later and it was Rosberg's turn to pit, rejoining behind Hamilton in 3rd.
At this point the attention was focused on a thrilling battle between Jean Eric Vergne in the sister Scuderia Toro Rosso and Daniel Ricciardo in the main Red Bull team. After a few laps Ricciardo was eventually able to pass ex-teammate Vergne as he continued his charge up the order. On lap 13 Felipe Massa in the Williams pitted from the lead, rejoining behind the two AMG Mercedes but well ahead of the rest of the field.
A keen battle was developing at the early stage of the race between Kevin Magnussen in the McLaren, Sebastien Vettel, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso over 7th place, something which sums up the unpredictability of the 2014 season with these distinguished names fighting over 7th. Back at the front Hamilton's lead was at 2.9 seconds now over Rosberg by lap 22.
Vettel was the first of the front runners to pit for a second time on lap 22, although the pivotal moment of the race came in the next few laps as Nico Rosberg slowed his pace slightly from lap 24 onwards. The gap to Hamilton quickly built to 7 seconds, before it was announced Rosberg was suffering from a failed MGU-K engine part. This left him 160 BHP down as he sensed his title hopes slipping away.
A few laps later Felipe Massa demoted Rosberg to 3rd as he continued to struggle with the loss of power. An entertaining battle developed on lap 30 after the second pit stops, as Jenson Button came out just ahead of Alonso, with their battle showing the best of both drivers race craft, before Button out braked himself going into Turn 9 and allowed Alonso past.
With Hamilton looking good for the title, he turned down his engine and subsequently began losing several seconds a lap to Massa behind him. Hamilton pitted for the second time on lap 31, rejoining comfortably 2nd. On lap 33 Valtteri Bottas in the second Williams demoted Rosberg to 4th, before Rosberg pitted for the second time and dropped to 7th a lap later.
Bottas was charging after his second stop to challenge Daniel Ricciardo for 3rd on lap 40. Rosberg's race was just going from bad to worse as he brakes started failing as he was stuck in the lower top 10. After a long stint in the lead Massa pitted for the final time on lap 43, hoping a short stint on the super soft tyres would be enough to challenge Hamilton for the win. Massa began a sterling charge as he set successive fastest laps to close the gap from around 10 second to just 2.5 in the later laps.
Unfortunately for Massa he couldn't quite close Hamilton enough to challenge for the victory as Hamilton cruised home to claim his 11th victory of the year and his second world title, with Felipe Massa close behind in 2nd. His Williams team mate Valtteri Bottas completed the podium to finish off a great day for the resurgent Williams team, who will look to carry their performance over to 2015.
4th was an amazing result for Daniel Ricciardo, arguably the biggest surprise of 2014 as he has out matched team mate Sebastien Vettel all year to claim 3rd in the drivers standings. Jenson Button was a crucial 5th for McLaren in their fight with Sahara-Force India for 5th in the constructors standings. This may well have been Button's last race in F1, although I sincerely hope he can remain in F1 as he seems better than ever in the late stages of the season.
Nico Hulkenberg ended the season with a late super soft charge up the field to finish 6th for Sahara-Force India, with newly confirmed team mate for next year also Sergio Perez behind him in 7th in what is a great result for the team which has struggled in the second half of the season. Reigning champion Sebastien Vettel ended his Red Bull career with a lowly 8th place finish, which is not in any way a fitting end to a partnership which has yielded 4 consecutive world titles, Vettel will be hoping he can win more title with Ferrari from next year.
Fernando Alonso finished his Ferrari career with a 9th place finish, before he is likely to re-join McLaren for next season, with team mate Kimi Raikkonen completing the top 10 in what has been a difficult season for the 2007 world champion. That wrapped up a great season of Formula 1, with a worthy champion and plenty of close racing. Hopefully the talk of financial changes will go through to help the smaller team become more sustainable.
Everyone now has to wait until January next year to get their next fix of F1 after the post-season test in Abu Dhabi tomorrow and Wednesday. So what have your thoughts been on both the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the 2014 F1 season? Please Comment below.
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