With his eleventh victory of the 2014 season, Lewis Hamilton becomes the 16th driver to win multiple World Drivers' Championships. The British driver took the lead of the race from the start, beating his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg into turn one and controled the race from there on out. With Hamilton consistently holding a two-second lead over the German, Rosberg started experiencing problems with his ERS system, dropping him out of contention for the race victory and the world title. Hamilton becomes the first Mercedes driver to win the world title since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1955.
Felipe Massa finished second after making a late charge for the race victory. It is Massa's third podium of the season. His Williams teammate Valtteri Bottas finished third, the first time two Williams car have finished on the podium since Monaco 2005 when Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber finished second and third respectively. Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth despite starting from the pit lane. The Australian scored fastest lap by running a 1:44.496 on lap 50. It is the first fastest lap of Ricciardo's career. Jenson Button rounded out the top five in what could have been his final race with McLaren.
The Force India drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez finished sixth and seventh respectively. It is the first race both Force India cars finished in the points since Japan. Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso finished eighth and ninth, each in their final race for their respective teams. Kimi Räikkönen rounded out the points in tenth place.
Kevin Magnussen finished 11th followed by French drivers Jean-Éric Vergne and Romain Grosjean. The Lotus of Grosjean was the first car a lap down. Rosberg limped home in 14th. The Saubers of Esteban Gutiérrez and Adrian Sutil finished 15th and 16th. Sauber did not score a point in 2014. Will Stevens finished 17th on his Formula One debut driving for Caterham. Like Sauber, Caterham did not score this season.
Three drivers retired from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Kamui Kobayashi's season ended 12 laps early. Pastor Maldonado's race came to an end after a spectacular engine failure at the halfway mark of the race. Rookie Daniil Kvyat's season ended after running only 12 laps in Abu Dhabi.
Lewis Hamilton wins the world championship with 384 points to his name after 11 victories, 16 podiums, 7 pole positions and 7 fastest laps. Nico Rosberg will finished second on 314 points after five wins, 15 podiums, 11 pole positions and five fastest laps, all career-highs for the German.
In his first season with Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo ends with 238 points after scoring three victories, eight podiums and one fastest lap. Ironically, despite scoring eight podiums, Ricciardo never finished second this season. Valtteri Bottas finished fourth with 186 points after scoring six podiums and a fastest lap this season.
Sebastian Vettel rounds out the top five in the championship with 167 points, six ahead of Fernando Alonso. Neither driver won in 2014 with Vettel scoring four podiums, his best finish being second at Singapore and two fastest laps. Alonso had two podiums with his best finish being second at Hungary.
Felipe Massa jumped up to seventh in the world championship with 134 points after his third podium of the season at Abu Dhabi. Massa was the only Mercedes driver to win a pole position this season when he stunned the grid at Austria. Massa also had one fastest lap. Jenson Button finished eighth in the world championship with 126 points. Button's lone podium was at the season opener in Australia.
The Force India drivers of Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez round out the top ten in championship with 96 and 59 points respectively. Kevin Magnussen and Kimi Räikkönen ended level on 55 points with Magnussen finishing 11th in the championship based on his second place finish at Australia. The Finn's best finish in 2014 was fourth at Spa.
Jean-Éric Vergne finishes 13th with 22 points. He is followed by his fellow Frenchman Romain Grosjean, who scored eight points. Daniil Kvyat also ended on eight points with Grosjean getting 14th with more eight place finishes. Kvyat's best finish was ninth on three occasions. Pastor Maldonado and Jules Bianchi both end with two points. Maldonado's lone finish in the points was ninth at Austin while Bianchi finished ninth at Monaco.
Mercedes ends with 701 points as World Constructors' Champions. Red Bull finishes second with 405 points. Williams ends in third with 320 points, 104 points clear of Ferrari. McLaren rounds out the top five with 181 points. Force India ends with 155. Scuderia Toro Rosso ends with 30 points, Lotus with ten and Marussia with two. Sauber and Caterham each failed to score in 2014.
With his victory, Lewis Hamilton jumps Fernando Alonso for fifth all-time in victories with thirty-three.
The 2015 Formula One season opener will be the Australian Grand Prix on March 15th, 112 days away.
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