2014 Abu Dhabi F1 GP: Hamilton And Mercedes Take Championship Victory

Lewis Hamilton took a commanding eleventh win of the season and his second world championship. He took the victory after a tense weekend that saw Rosberg's car fail and put him out of contention.

Daniel Ricciardo secured third in the championship with a well-fought fourth place which started a long way back in the pitlane, finishing the season as he had begun, out-racing his illustrious teammate.

Felipe Massa finished Williams' brilliant season with a second place finish while Jenson Button performed a series of what might be farewell donuts.

PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING

As has been the case all year, the two Mercedes drivers battled each other for honours in the three practice sessions and qualifying.

Rosberg came out on top in both Saturday sessions, setting up a front-row battle for the championship and a race Hamilton would have to work for.

Daniel Ricciardo took P5 ahead of Vettel but the two Bulls were sensationally kicked out of qualifying, the FIA taking a dim view of a flexible wing element. 

Raikkonen out-qualified Alonso, but neither would be happy with ninth and tenth respectively, which of course improved by two places with the absence of the Red Bulls.

Romain Grosjean's awful year concluded with being handed a twenty-place grid penalty for exceeding the number of engine components he was allowed to use.

RACE

Hamilton got the complaining in early, reporting on his parade lap that his practice start was rotten. It must have been a good omen, because he streaked off the line while Rosberg got involved with a Bottas.

Maldonado went wide but they otherwise got through in decent shape. At the beginning of the long back straight Magnussen tangled with Hulkenberg and Sutil, but without major drama for any of the combatants. Except, sadly, for Hulkenberg who was later given a five-second stop go for his part in allegedly pushing Mangussen off the track.

Bottas fell back to eight, getting mugged by Kvyat in the Toro Rosso.

Button had got a good start, jumping to fourth with the Ferraris squabbling.

By the time DRS was enabled, Hamilton had 1.6 seconds over his teammate and looked in no mood to coast to the championship at this early stage.

Fellow Finn Raikkonen lost his place to Alonso and then Kvyat as his tyres went away. Further back Ricciardo went on a bombing run, clearing both Sutil and Kobayashi in one move.

Alonso pitted for softs on lap six as the sun dipped below the horizon. Button, Kvyat and Raikkonen pitted together next time around, leaving in the same order despite a super-quick Ferrari stop.

Bottas received some good news over the radio as he was the only one of the front runners - bar the Mercedes - who had pitted and wasn't caught in traffic.

Another driver caught in traffic was Sebastian Vettel. Despite heading Ricciardo out of the pits at the start, he found himself bottled up behind Magnussen.