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Hamilton's victory in Abu Dhabi sums up a strange year for Formula One

Who will be watching Azerbaijan when the biggest show in motorsport is running simultaneously? (Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool)
Expert
24th November, 2014
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With a dominant display in Abu Dhabi, Lewis Hamilton closed the door on his teammate’s title aspirations and extinguished any doubt that he is indeed a most deserving world champion.

Hamilton got his car off the line as clean as a whistle and blew past the only other possible threat, however technical issues hampered Nico Rosberg’s drive and the salivating promise of a championship duel going down to the wire were quickly dashed.

“Just get me in the top five or six!” Rosberg pleaded with the team, however the race was lost.

His dedication was most evident when he was asked to retire the car on the final lap, before informing the team, “I’d rather finish the race”.

In a multitude of ways the race summed up the year. Just as 2014 began in Albert Park, the Red Bull drivers were penalised for an illegal race setup – this time for a ‘overly-flexy’ front wing that failed scrutinising and resulted in both cars starting from the rear of the grid.

Just as he has most of the year, Rosberg took pole position (and by a reasonable margin, considering how closely matched the two Mercedes drivers have been on speed), but it was Hamilton who converted on race day taking the maximum amount of points.

Fernando Alonso in ninth place managed to keep his Ferrari ahead of teammate Kimi Raikonnen, who scored the final point in 10th place, but only just and well outside the main battles at the front of the grid. Although he’s not confirmed yet at McLaren his days at Ferrari are over, and this race – like so many others – was one to forget.

Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado’s car dropped its engine and threw out a spectacular fireball behind it. As the marshals extinguished the blaze I’m sure Maldonado was thinking, “Why bother? Let it burn and spread its ashes across the continents”. It’s been a woeful year for Lotus, and Pastor in particular, however Formula One’s financial issues would suggest the sport needs him, and he’ll have a seat somewhere on the grid for quite some time to come.

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Speaking of finances, Caterham managed to clamber back onto the track following a successful crowd funding campaign (at least, if you consider the goal was to get them back up and racing anyway). Young Briton Will Stevens joined Kamui Kobayashi to cruise around at the back of the field for the final round, with the former now able to tell his prospective grandchildren that one day, long, long ago he drove wheel to wheel with champions like Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Alonso.

Daniel Ricciardo and Jenson Button made their teammates look stupid and smashed them on the grid. For those on Australia’s east coast the awkward timezone of the race was worth it as the Australian stormed through the field and nearly made it onto the podium. Considering Hamilton managed to claim third when he attempted the feat earlier this year, and that Ricciardo was only 40 seconds behind the leaders at the end of the race, he threatens to take even more race wins come 2015.

At McLaren it’s believed that the majority of the team have made their decision on which of their drivers to retain, Ron Dennis however is supposedly still mulling over the decision.

Having earmarked Kevin Magnussen as a driver of the future, Dennis may well distract himself with the more pleasant decision of which of his arms he’d rather have amputated. Jenson Button’s recent form and experience makes it a tough decision, the rookie Magnussen has not impressed in the latter half of this year, scoring only 55 points to Jenson’s 126.

Felipe Massa and Valterri Bottas rounded out the podium in the only real anomaly from the race. Not only has Bottas had the wood on the Brazilian, but too often this year Williams squandered their qualifying advantage, with poor strategy to let podiums slip through their fingers. Not so in Abu Dhabi, and the team have turned their third-last performance in the constructor’s title in 2013 into outright third place this year.

So Lewis Hamilton rounds out the year with his sixth win out of seven races, and while the fight for the title went down to the final round, it was a lay-down misere after a few laps. A blow by blow comparison of the Rosberg versus Hamilton skirmish is a tale for another time – meanwhile the champagne (or indeed shampagne) will be flowing in the Hamilton camp.

Scenes of the Mercedes drivers embracing following their year-long spat were heart warming, however for some it only whets their appetite before another Formula One season that can’t come soon enough.

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