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A delighted Lewis Hamilton produced a near-flawless performance on Sunday and then dedicated his spectacular victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to his mother on her birthday.
Hamilton, recovered from the worst lows of a rollercoaster year, took full advantage of the second-turn retirement of double Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel to win with aplomb.
Second was Ferrari’s two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso, eight seconds behind, followed by McLaren’s Jenson Button and Red Bull’s Mark Webber.
The Australian was running third late in the race but had to make a pit stop on the penultimate lap to comply with tyre rules and lost his place to Button.
Driving his McLaren with assurance, the 26-year-old Hamilton claimed his third win of a troubled season and 17th of his career.
It was the Englishman’s first win in eight races and Vettel’s first absence from the points this year. It was the first time in 19 races that a Red Bull driver had not been on the podium.
“It’s my mum’s birthday this weekend,” Hamilton said. “And it’s great to be able to win while she is here. I feel fantastic. It’s one of my best races.
“Being able to hold one of the best drivers in the world [Fernando Alonso] is something that is tough to do. I was looking after tyres and managing the gap. The team did a great job with the stops.”
Hamilton started second, but took the lead within a few hundred metres when Vettel’s Red Bull suffered a puncture to the right-rear tyre and sent him sliding off the Yas Marina circuit.
“At the exit of the first corner, everything seemed fine, but when I turned in (the second corner) I tried to catch the car, but I couldn’t do it any more and I spun off,” the 24-year-old German said.
“On the way back I damaged the suspension badly. I don’t know what happened. We lost pressure all of a sudden out of the exit of Turn One.”
Hamilton streaked by and took a lead he relinquished only twice briefly during the pit stops as he delivered one of the most accomplished performances of his 89 races in Formula One.
It also banished his self-confessed misery at feeling trapped “in a dark place” after splitting from his long-term girlfriend and fiance Nicole Scherzinger last month.
McLaren team chief Martin Whitmarsh said: “I am thrilled for the team, for Lewis, for everyone. We knew we could win the race, Fernando is a phenomenal competitor but Lewis controlled the race and controlled the gap.”
Alonso said: “It was fantastic for me. I had a very good start and the first lap fighting with Jenson. Then we found ourselves second and we were three to five seconds behind Lewis.”
The November 27 season-ender in Brazil will determine second place in the championship between Button, on 255 points, Alonso 245 and Webber 233.
Hamilton is out of contention on 227 and will finish behind a team-mate for the first time in his F1 career despite Sunday’s victory.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa finished fifth in the race followed by the German Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and seven-time champion Michael Schumacher.
Starting from a record-equalling 14th pole position of the season, Vettel made a clean start when the lights went out and pulled clear of Hamilton and into the lead. The field behind him rushed unscathed into racing order behind him.
Having won both previous races Prix held at the Yas Marina circuit, it looked like business as usual for Vettel, but only for a few hundred metres.
The tyre also ended his attempt to match Schumacher’s record of 13 wins for a season; the best he can do now is 12 should he win in Brazil.
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