Hamilton claims 2nd world title after Abu Dhabi victory

Lewis Hamilton bagged his second F1 world championship title after wining the Abu Dhabi GP. Entering the finale with a 17-point lead, Hamilton only needed a second place win to clinch the title despite the widely-criticised double points award for the final race of the season. Although his Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg, secured the pole position during Saturday’s qualifying, energy recovery system (ERS) failure on lap 24 caused the German to trudge to the end for a 14th place finish.

Hamilton dominated most of the race, only losing pace in the middle, but recovered brilliantly to beat Williams’ Felipe Massa, who came in second just 2.5 seconds adrift. His teammate Valtteri Bottas rounded up the podium, giving the team its first double podium finish since 2005 Monaco GP.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who started from the pitlane with his teammate Sebastian Vettel after race officials ruled their cars’ front wings were in breach of regulations, charged ahead with faultless driving to climb 16 places and came in fourth overall.

Looking back on the 2014 season, Hamilton’s did not have a very good start, with engine problems in the very first race. He charged forward in the next four races until the Monaco GP where Rosberg went off at the end of his qualifying lap to prevent Hamilton from taking pole. His low point, he said while talking to BBC Sport, was when the Belgian GP ended with a collision with his teammate.

But any animosity between the two seemed to have been reduced to water under the bridge as Rosberg graciously sought Hamilton out in the pre-podium room to offer his congratulations. “He just come into the room just now, very, very professional...,” Hamilton shared during the post-race media conference. “He said 'you drove really well'. And the same to him, all year long he drove incredibly well, especially in qualifying, so hat off to him.”

Rosberg himself said, while speaking to BBC Sport, "I'm very disappointed but all in all Lewis deserved to win the championship. That's clear."

image: bbc.com