LEWIS Hamilton (29) drove an excellent race from start to finish in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit last Sunday.
After the race, Hamilton said that this world championship title was more important than the one he won in 2008.
He said that ‘before the race it is normal to have butterflies in one’s stomach but this time I felt completely calm. It was weird’.
Was that a good or bad thing?
Obviously it turned about to be a good thing!
He felt that the race was the greatest of his life and he ended up winning the championship by a very clear margin.
He was thrilled to have Prince Harry congratulate him over the mic from the pits and picked up a Union Jack from someone in the crowd to celebrate the occasion!
Hamilton shot into the lead from his second row slot in a faultless start, taking teammate Nico Rosberg by surprise or did Rosberg’s electronics have a hiccup?
Rosberg was to have further problems later in the race as he lost his Kers and other systems also began to give problems.
To his credit, he was one of the first to congratulate Hamilton on his win and said that ‘Hamilton had been the better driver this year’.
Amid Rosberg’s bad luck it was Williams’ turn to shine and Felipe Massa, in particular, was on top form, coming through to a brilliant second position as he gained on Hamilton all the way to the end.
His teammate Valtteri Bottas also recovered his earlier poor start to make it a second Williams on the podium, the first time this has happened for a long, long time.
Massa had really kept Hamilton on the go, especially towards the end and finished only 2.5 seconds behind him.
Daniel Ricciardo drove another great race for Red Bull, despite starting in the pit lane, and finished fourth, chasing hard after Bottas, while keeping clear of Jenson Button behind him, the fifth place finish a better performance from McLaren.
Nico Hulkenberg produced another good drive in the Force India to claim sixth place, while his teammate Sergio Perez held off Red Bull’s four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel in the fight for seventh position.
Ferrari had a very disappointing race after showing potential after the start, with Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen well up in the field, but they faded as the race went on and eventually finished in ninth and 10th places respectively.
As we sign off for 2014 it is only 110 days to go to the Australian Grand Prix which starts the 2015 season on March 15.
Drivers: 1 Lewis Hamilton 384; 2 Nico Rosberg 317; 3 Daniel Ricciardo 238; 4 Valtteri Bottas 186; 5 Sebastian Vettel 167; 6 Fernando Alonso 161; 7 Felipe Massa 134; 8 Jenson Button 126; 9 Nico Hülkenberg 96; 10 Sergio Pérez 59; 11 Kevin Magnussen 55; 12 Kimi Räikkönen 55; 13 Jean-Éric Vergne 22; 14 Romain Grosjean 8; 15 Daniil Kvyat 8; 16 Pastor Maldonado 2; 17 Jules Bianchi 2.
Constructor: 1 Mercedes 701; 2 Red Bull/Renault 405; 3 Williams/Mercedes 320; 4 Ferrari 216; 5 McLaren/Mercedes 181; 6 Force India/Mercedes 155; 7 Toro Rosso/Renault 30; 8 Lotus/Renault 10; 9 Marussia/Ferrari 2
