2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Previous←	2014 Brazilian Grand Prix
Round	19 of 2014
Next→	2015 Australian Grand Prix
The Yas Marina Circuit
Race Details
Date	November 23, 2014
Official Name	2014 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Location	Yas Marina Circuit Yas Island, Abu Dhabi
Course	Permanent Racing Facility 5.554 km (3.451 mi)
Distance	55 laps, 305.47 km (189.810 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Nico Rosberg Mercedes
Time	1:40.480
Fastest Lap
Driver	Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:44.496 on lap 50
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton
Second	Felipe Massa
Third	Valtteri Bottas
Lap Leaders

The 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (officially the 2014 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix) was the nineteenth and final round of the 2014 Formula One Season. This was also the first Grand Prix event to be worth double points for the World Championship. It was held between November 21 and November 23, 2014.

The race saw the culmination of the epic title battle between Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, with Hamilton winning the title by 67 points by finishing first in the race after Rosberg dropped to 14th.

British driver Will Stevens made his début at this race for the Caterham team.

Background

Weather Conditions
Practice 1	Sunny
Practice 2	Sunny
Practice 3	Sunny
Qualifying	Sunny
Race	Sunny

Available Tyres
Option	Supersoft
Prime	Soft
Inters	Intermediate
Wets	Wet

In a move that was considered controversial, the race, serving as the final race of the season, awarded double points to all point scorers – meaning the race winner would score 50 points. Considering the closeness of the title battle between Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, this could dramatically affect the title battle.

Caterham, having been in an administration, had announced that they could attend the race. They had missed the previous two races, and had started up a crowdfunding effort to raise £2.35m (US$3.70m, €2.95m, AU$4.23m), which hadn't reached its target as the announcement was made, though the team proceeded to make 230 staff members redundant to help save more costs. Kamui Kobayashi returned to the team alongside Marussia test driver Will Stevens, who replaced Marcus Ericsson, the Swede leaving the team with immediate effect before Caterham confirmed that they would compete in the race. Rubens Barrichello was reported to have signed a deal to drive in the last three races, but nothing came of it; Alice Powell attempted to raise funds for a free practice drive but failed to obtain the drive; and Caterham's reserve driver Roberto Merhi unluckily missed out. Stevens drove the #46 car, since André Lotterer had previously used the other Caterham spare number of #45.

On the other hand, Marussia had folded during the Brazilian Grand Prix, and despite no longer existing, they still attempted to attend to the race, only failing due to a lack of funds.

Romain Grosjean was confirmed to be continuing to drive for Lotus in 2015 in the days preceding the race.

Jules Bianchi's parents released a statement prior to race stating that Bianchi, in his recovery from his accident at the Japanese Grand Prix, was out of a coma, breathing unaided and had been transferred to a hospital in Nice, France.

Free practice drivers

Esteban Ocon, winner of the 2014 European Formula 3 Championship, will drive a Lotus in FP1. Hong Kong driver Adderly Fong will drive a Sauber. Both drivers will be making their first appearances in an F1 car.

Title permutations

The Drivers' Championship will be decided at this race, with Lewis Hamilton seventeen points clear of Nico Rosberg:

• For Hamilton to win his second title:
  • If he finishes ahead of Rosberg, he will win the title
  • If Rosberg wins, Hamilton must finish second
  • If Rosberg finishes second, Hamilton must finish fifth or better
  • If Rosberg finishes third, Hamilton must finish sixth or better
  • If Rosberg finishes fourth, Hamilton must finish eighth or better
  • If Rosberg finishes fifth, Hamilton must finish ninth or better
  • If Rosberg finishes sixth or lower, Hamilton will win the title with any result
• For Rosberg to win his first title:
  • If Rosberg wins, Hamilton must finish third or worse
  • If Rosberg finishes second, Hamilton must finish sixth or worse
  • If Rosberg finishes third, Hamilton must finish seventh or worse
  • If Rosberg finishes fourth, Hamilton must finish ninth or worse
  • If Rosberg finishes fifth, Hamilton must finish tenth or worse
  • If Hamilton fails to score, Rosberg must finish at least fifth

Entry list

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
1	Sebastian Vettel	Infiniti Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB10	Renault	Energy F1-2014	P
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Infiniti Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB10	Renault	Energy F1-2014	P
6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	W05 Hybrid	Mercedes	PU106A Hybrid	P
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	W05 Hybrid	Mercedes	PU106A Hybrid	P
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	F14 T	Ferrari	059/3	P
14	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	F14 T	Ferrari	059/3	P
8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	Lotus	E22	Renault	Energy F1-2014	P
13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team	Lotus	E22	Renault	Energy F1-2014	P
20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-29	Mercedes	PU106A Hybrid	P
22	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-29	Mercedes	PU106A Hybrid	P
11	Sergio Pérez	Sahara Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM07	Mercedes	PU106A Hybrid	P
27	Nico Hülkenberg	Sahara Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM07	Mercedes	PU106A Hybrid	P
21	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber F1 Team	Sauber	C33	Ferrari	059/3	P
99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber F1 Team	Sauber	C33	Ferrari	059/3	P
25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR9	Renault	Energy F1-2014	P
26	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR9	Renault	Energy F1-2014	P
19	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing	Williams	FW37	Mercedes	PU106A Hybrid	P
77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini Racing	Williams	FW37	Mercedes	PU106A Hybrid	P
10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham F1 Team	Caterham	CT05	Renault	Energy F1-2014	P
46	Will Stevens	Caterham F1 Team	Caterham	CT05	Renault	Energy F1-2014	P
Free Practice 1 only
31	Esteban Ocon	Lotus F1 Team	Lotus	E22	Renault	Energy F1-2014	P
37	Adderly Fong	Sauber F1 Team	Sauber	C33	Ferrari	059/3	P

Practice Overview

FP1

In FP1, Adderly Fong and Esteban Ocon debuted in an F1 car when they replaced Romain Grosjean and Adrian Sutil respectively. But the main battle happened with Hamilton and Rosberg finishing 1 and 2 in free practice 1.

Practice Results

No	Driver	Team	FP1		FP2		FP3
			Time	Pos	Time	Pos	Time	Pos
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:45.334	4	1:42.959	4	1:42.679	5
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-Renault	1:45.361	5	1:43.183	6	1:42.773	7
6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:43.609	2	1:42.196	2	1:41.424	1
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:46.131	12	1:43.489	7	1:43.038	10
8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	DNP	21 !	1:44.986	17	1:43.778	17
10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	1:47.971	18	1:45.505	18	1:45.044	19
11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:45.983	9	1:43.746	11	1:43.360	13
13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1:46.711	15	1:44.005	12	1:43.718	16
14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:45.184	3	No Time	20	1:42.653	4
19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:46.549	13	1:43.558	10	1:42.429	3
20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:46.049	11	1:42.895	3	1:43.112	11
21	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:46.556	14	1:44.316	15	1:43.643	15
22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:47.235	17	1:43.503	8	1:42.768	6
25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Renault	1:45.718	6	1:44.157	14	1:43.352	12
26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Renault	1:45.835	7	1:43.546	9	1:42.809	9
27	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:46.030	10	1:44.068	13	1:43.501	14
31	Esteban Ocon	Lotus-Renault	1:47.066	16	DNP	21 !	DNP	21 !
37	Adderly Fong	Sauber-Ferrari	1:48.269	19	DNP	22 !	DNP	22 !
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:43.476	1	1:42.113	1	1:41.793	2
46	Will Stevens	Caterham-Renault	1:50.684	20	1:47.057	19	1:45.959	20
77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:45.913	8	1:43.070	5	1:42.794	8
99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	DNP	21 !	1:44.763	16	1:44.022	18

Qualifying

Qualifying Results

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos	Time		Pos	Time		Pos	Time
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes		2	1:41.308		4	1:41.459		1	1:40.480	1
2	44	Lewis Hamilton			1	1:41.207		1	1:40.920		2	1:40.866	2
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes		8	1:42.346		2	1:41.376		3	1:41.025	3
4	19	Felipe Massa			3	1:41.475		3	1:41.144		4	1:41.119	4
EX	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-Renault		6	1:42.204		5	1:41.692		5	1:41.267	20*
EX	1	Sebastian Vettel			12	1:42.495		9	1:42.147		6	1:41.893	19^
7	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Renault		7	1:42.302		8	1:42.082		7	1:41.908	5
8	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes		5	1:42.137		6	1:41.875		8	1:41.964	6
9	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari		10	1:42.439		10	1:42.168		9	1:42.236	7
10	14	Fernando Alonso			13	1:42.467		7	1:41.940		10	1:42.866	8
11	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes		4	1:42.104		11	1:42.198				9
12	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Renault		9	1:42.413		12	1:42.207				10
13	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes		14	1:42.654		13	1:42.239				11
14	27	Nico Hülkenberg			11	1:42.444		14	1:42.384				12
15	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari		15	1:42.746		15	1:43.074				13
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault		16	1:42.768							18†
17	21	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber-Ferrari		17	1:42.819							14
18	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault		18	1:42.860							15
19	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault		19	1:44.540							16
20	46	Will Stevens			20	1:45.095							17

Notes:

• Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel wre excluded for illegal front wing
• ^† Romain Grosjean has 20-place grid penalty for power unit changes and incurs an in-race drive-through penalty in lieu of undropped places

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
		______________
Row 1	______________	1
	2	Nico Rosberg
	Lewis Hamilton	______________
Row 2	______________	3
	4	Valtteri Bottas
	Felipe Massa	______________
Row 3	______________	5
	6	Daniil Kvyat
	Jenson Button	______________
Row 4	______________	7
	8	Kimi Räikkönen
	Fernando Alonso	______________
Row 5	______________	9
	10	Kevin Magnussen
	Jean-Éric Vergne	______________
Row 6	______________	11
	12	Sergio Pérez
	Nico Hülkenberg	______________
Row 7	______________	13
	14	Adrian Sutil
	Esteban Gutiérrez	______________
Row 8	______________	15
	16	Pastor Maldonado
	Kamui Kobayashi	______________
Row 9	______________	17
	18	Will Stevens
	Romain Grosjean†	______________
Row 10	______________	19
	20	Sebastian Vettel^
	Daniel Ricciardo*	______________

Notes:

• * Daniel Ricciardo was excluded for illegal front wing
• ^ Sebastian Vettel was excluded for illegal front wing
• ^† Romain Grosjean has 20-place grid penalty for power unit changes and incurs an in-race drive-through penalty in lieu of undropped places

Race

Report

At the start, Hamilton streaked into the lead as Rosberg trudged off the line and had to defend against Massa and the rest of the pack heading into the first corner. Martin Brundle described Hamilton's start as a "might getaway, he just took off as Rosberg got bogged down and just didn't get off the line."

Through the exit of turn 7, Magnussen sideswiped the left rear of Sutil's car to which David Croft noted "very lucky that Sutil didn't get turned around 180° there."

After fourteen laps, Kvyat was instructed by his engineer to stop the car and pull over after he reported "A loss of power."

Bottas had a poor start, however pitting for fresh tyres saw him rapidly climb through the field. On lap 24, David Croft described the fight as "non existent" between Bottas and Ricciardo for fourth. Ricciardo was informed by his engineer that "It won't help our race if you hold him up." Bottas with his fresher tyres thereafter streamed past Ricciardo with little effort into turn 11.

After 25 laps, Hamilton had extended his lead to 9.520 seconds over title rival, Rosberg, in second place. It was then when Rosberg was informed over the radio that "ERS has failed." Martin Brundle was thereafter quick to note "That's 160 horsepower, we can normally say 60 horsepower is a second a lap. That's what he is losing there without the battery power."

Rosberg, however was attempting to persevere to which he reported "a strange lack of engine power out of turn 14. Anything I can do to keep it going? Anything I can do differenty?". His engineer, however simply stated "We're trying to solve it Nico, at the moment just keep pushing."

However Rosberg continued to struggle and two laps later, Massa's Williams had driven right past him down the back straight. A lap later there was worse mechanical trouble down the road as Maldonado's Lotus burst into flame. He immediately reported that it was the "engine" to which he pulled over near the entrance to the pits.

On lap 33, Rosberg had dropped down to fourth as Bottas had now overtaken him to put the two Williams cars in the podium positions. Massa continued to put in a "sensational drive" as Martin Brundle called it to which by the end of the race he was only 2.5 seconds behind the winning Mercedes of Hamilton.

Hamilton, winning the race was crowned the 2014 Formula One World Champion. He stopped by some of the congratulating marshalls to pick up a Union Jack to which he proudly waved throughout his parade lap. Over the team radio he exclaimed "Woohoo! World Champion! Oh my God! Can't believe it! Thankyou so much guys!".

On the podium, a relieved Hamilton stood relaxed as Toto Wolff and the two Williams drivers' Massa and Bottas poured the contents of their champagne bottle all over him.

Results

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	55	1:39:02.619	2	50
2	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	55	+2.576	4	36
3	77	Valtteri Bottas		55	+28.880	3	30
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-Renault	55	+37.237	20	24
5	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	55	+1:00.334	6	20
6	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	55	+1:02.148	12	16
7	11	Sergio Pérez		55	+1:11.060	11	12
8	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	55	+1:12.045	19	8
9	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	55	+1:25.813	8	4
10	7	Kimi Räikkönen		55	+1:27.820	7	2
11	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	55	+1:30.376	9
12	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Renault	55	+1:31.947	10
13	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	54	+1 Lap	18
14	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	54	+1 Lap	1
15	21	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber-Ferrari	54	+1 Lap	14
16	99	Adrian Sutil		54	+1 Lap	13
17	46	Will Stevens	Caterham-Renault	54	+1 Lap	17
Ret	10	Kamui Kobayashi		42	Driveshaft	16
Ret	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	26	Engine	15
Ret	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Renault	14	Driveshaft	5

Milestones

• The first and only (so far) Grand Prix event to be worth double points toward the World Championship.
• Nico Rosberg's 15th pole position.
• Lewis Hamilton won his 33rd race and clinched his second World Drivers' Championship.
  • Hamilton's 33rd win placed him third on the all-time list ahead of Alonso.
• Last race for the McLaren-Mercedes partnership until the 2021 Formula One Season.
• Last races for Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull and for Fernando Alonso at Ferrari.
• Daniel Ricciardo's first fastest lap.
• Will Stevens' first race.
• Final races for Jean-Éric Vergne, Kamui Kobayashi, Adrian Sutil.
• By scoring 66 points, Williams scored the most points ever scored at a single race.

Standings after race

Drivers' World Championship Pos. Driver Pts +/- 1 Lewis Hamilton 384 — 2 Nico Rosberg 317 — 3 Daniel Ricciardo 238 — 4 Valtteri Bottas 186 ▲2 5 Sebastian Vettel 167 ▼1 6 Fernando Alonso 161 ▼1 7 Felipe Massa 106 ▲1 8 Jenson Button 98 ▼1 9 Nico Hülkenberg 96 — 10 Sergio Pérez 59 ▲2 11 Kevin Magnussen 55 ▼1 12 Kimi Räikkönen 55 ▼1 13 Jean-Éric Vergne 22 — 14 Romain Grosjean 8 — 15 Daniil Kvyat 8 — 16 Pastor Maldonado 2 — 17 Jules Bianchi 2 — 18 Adrian Sutil 0 — 19 Marcus Ericsson 0 — 20 Esteban Gutiérrez 0 — 21 Max Chilton 0 — 22 Kamui Kobayashi 0 — 23 Will Stevens 0 ▲1 24 André Lotterer 0 ▼1

Constructors' World Championship Pos. Team Pts +/- 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 — 10 Sauber-Ferrari 0 — 11 Caterham-Renault 0 —

External links

• Race highlights

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