Lewis Hamilton is the 2014 world champion, taking it in
style by winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It was a calm assured performance, a
true champion's drive. There was tension throughout the build up with both drivers looking nervous.
Lewis particularly seemed to just keep an icy stare and be unresponsive, his mind obviously focused on the race ahead. He was second on the grid to his title rival and team mate
Nico Rosberg, but got the most perfect immaculate start he could have wished for, Rosberg bogged down slightly, Lewis was in the lead by the first
corner.
There wasn’t a better time to be heading the pack, he had the
control, he knew Nico needed to be in front to have a chance, but Lewis immediately
got a gap and never looked to be under the kind of pressure that actually must
have been weighing on him heavily. Through the first round of pit stops the
status was maintained.
Lewis kept a gap of over two seconds, then the moment came
when he must have allowed himself to relax. It’s fair to say Lewis has had the
most reliability problems this year over qualifying and race time, but on lap
23 Rosberg went wide losing a second. Lap 25 the radio message came on air that
he was losing power.
He’d lost all his Energy Recovery Power, that’s about 160hp
leaving him a sitting duck on the straights. It only got worse as more problems
afflicted him and he could do nothing about holding cars back, especially in
the DRS zones. By lap 52 he’d dropped out of the points and team told him to
pit the car.
It’s a measure of the man that Rosberg said he wanted to go
to the end which he did, finishing down in 14th place. Afterwards he
admitted that perhaps the better driver had won this year, but that he’d work
harder for 2015, he knows he needs to get better at wheel to wheel combat.
I’m tempted to say that this was his one chance for the
title and Lewis will overwhelm him next year, but too many times people have
written him off, against Michael Schumacher, against Lewis Hamilton. But he
took the championship down to the last race, and I have no doubt he will
already be focussing on 2015 and will be back stronger than ever. He has been a
more than worthy opponent.
Hamilton though could not relax as Rosberg for a while hung
on around fifth position, the place that would make him world champion should
the 44 Mercedes retire. As Rosberg then slipped down the field, Lewis took his
foot off the throttle a bit allowing Felipe Massa back into contention in the
Williams.
As Hamilton pitted for the final time on lap 32 of 55, Massa
now in the lead kept going until lap 44 switching to the much quicker super-soft
tyre. He carved into Lewis’ 11 second lead, but Lewis reassured his team he was
controlling the gap, pumping in the odd fastest lap as proof. But Massa kept on
attacking and by the flag was just a couple of seconds behind.
In truth though Hamilton had this entire race in his grasp
from the start, capping a brilliant season. He’s suffered reliability problems,
he’s made mistakes, he’s been out of sorts in qualifying. No one expected
Rosberg to get more pole positions than him but in the races he’s been supreme.
11 victories show just how much of a class act he’s been.
He’s attacked Rosberg for the lead several times over the
year, passing his team mate with clinical precision and on the edge manoeuvres
that have shown just how much he wanted
it this year. There’s a case for other
drivers to be crowned driver of the year, but with the pressure on him in the
best car of the year, fighting a driver who was always there fighting, he didn’t
crack. Even after Brazil where Rosberg held him off, it could have affected his
game this weekend, but he was focused, and always reset his mind to come back stronger.
Ultimately though Hamilton is the fastest guy out there and
quite possibly the best over taker in the business and he’s had ample
opportunity to show it this year on a Sunday afternoon.
Behind Lewis and Massa, Valtteri Bottas took third in the
other Williams, fighting back brilliantly after dropping to eighth at the
start. Both Red Bull’s had been disqualified from qualifying due to overly
flexi front wings and had to start from the pit lane, but Daniel Ricciardo
stormed through the field to finish fourth while in his final race for the team
Sebastian Vettel could only manage eighth. A sad end to his Red Bull career,
but he’ll look forward to reenergising himself at Ferrari next year, although
from the sounds of it, that’s going to be full of difficulties.
Jenson Button in possibly his final driver for McLaren and
in Formula 1 finished in fifth out-classing his team mate, scoring over double
the points of Kevin Magnussen as well as out-qualifying him over the year.
Magnussen could only trail in 11th after a scrappy first lap. Button
looked saddened at the end of the race and I think he deserves another year
although Magnussen has put together a decent first year.
Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez got Force India a double
double points finish getting to the chequered flag in sixth and seventh after
racing an alternate strategy to the majority of the field by running the
super-soft tyres at the end. Hulkenberg was particularly impressive after
suffering an unjust five second penalty for forcing Magnussen off the road.
Fernando Alonso in his last race for Ferrari finished ninth
ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. A disappointing end to the season and to the Spaniard’s
career with the Scuderia after what had promised championship success in 2010.
That after five years they have managed only close second places can only be
seen as failure on the teams part. Alonso looks set to go to McLaren, but his
story seems to be rapidly moving to a career which he’ll see as unfulfilled.
Hamilton though is back on the up, thanks to a crushingly
dominant car and some supreme driving. Today he showed his champion qualities
to become Britain’s first multiple world champion since Jackie Stewart. This
could be the start of a Hamilton era.
all photo's taken from autosport.com
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