It was all over on the first lap of the season-ending Formula One race at the Yas Marina track in Abu Dhabi. Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes took the lead at the start and teammate Nico Rosberg gradually fell back farther and farther behind until Lap 24 when a failure of Rosberg’s car’s energy recovery system was identified as the culprit. At that point, Rosberg merely attempted to survive the remainder of the race while Hamilton laid off the throttle at the lead – temporarily allowing Williams’ Felipe Massa to hold the lead for a few laps in mid-race – before finally winning easily in the end with Massa’s Williams’ teammate, Valtteri Bottas, finishing third to capture the final podium spot.
After Hamilton took control early while Rosberg struggled with his car’s lack of power, it was a race of attrition as three cars eventually dropped out – Toro Rosso Daniil Kyvat in Lap 16 followed by Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado in Lap 28 and finally, Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi in Lap 42 – and of the remaining 17 cars, five more were lapped [including, ignominiously, Rosberg] as only 12 cars finished on the lead lap.
In the season point standings, Hamilton won the season championship with 384 points to Rosberg’s 317 followed by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in third with 238 points.
The first race of the 2015 Formula One is the Australian Grand Prix currently scheduled at Melbourne on March 15, 2015.
2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Results
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 55 Winner 2 50
2 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 55 +2.5 secs 4 36
3 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 55 +28.8 secs 3 30
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 55 +37.2 secs 20 24
5 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 55 +60.3 secs 6 20
6 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 55 +62.1 secs 12 16
7 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 55 +71.0 secs 11 12
8 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 55 +72.0 secs 19 8
9 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 55 +85.8 secs 8 4
10 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 55 +87.8 secs 7 2
11 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 55 +90.3 secs 9
12 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 55 +91.9 secs 10
13 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 54 +1 Lap 18
14 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 54 +1 Lap 1
15 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 54 +1 Lap 14
16 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 54 +1 Lap 13
17 46 Will Stevens Caterham-Renault 54 +1 Lap 17
Ret 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 42 +13 Laps 16
Ret 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 26 +29 Laps 15
Ret 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 14 +41 Laps 5