Hamilton wins the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and is the F1 2014 World Champion

*Hamilton wins the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and is the F1 2014 World Champion and is a double World Champion

This afternoon we saw the F1 2014 Drivers World Champion Lewis Hamilton winning the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of the Williams drivers of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.

With double points on offer in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton only needed to finish second if Nico Rosberg use the advantage of gaining Pole Position in qualifying and converted it to victory. Sadly, this wasn't the case as Rosberg suffered an ERS failure in his car that saw him over the second half of the Grand Prix going further and further backwards and couldn't fight for the championship in the manner he would have liked and finished the race in fourteenth.

I am sure many of the fans would agree with me, we didn't want to see the champion decided like this and wanted to see a straight fight between Hamilton and Rosberg. But this is what happens in Formula One but all I can on behalf of everyone at Driving for Pleasure is that Nico drove a fantastic season and gave it everything he could do and he should be proud to have finished second in the championship.

But Hamilton had a blistering start off the line in one of his greatest starts I have ever seen him do and even during the Grand Prix doing just enough to keep a quick Felipe Massa at bay in the second half of the race and took the championship in style with a brilliant win at the Yas Marina circuit.

This is the first drivers champion for Mercedes Benz since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1955 and is a fantastic achievement. Also, Mercedes have surpassed the record of the most wins in a season from the McLaren team with 16 wins in one season which is just mindblowing.

Both the Williams drivers of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas ended a brilliant season for Williams by taking the final two positions on the podium in second and third place and secure third place in the Constructors Championship. It is absolutely fantastic to see Williams back at the front where they belong and they deserve all the success they have achieved this season.

Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth after a great race that saw him start from the pit lane due to him being disqualified and this result is more than what he could have dreamed of when he woke for the race this morning. In what could be his final race in Formula One (I really hope not), Jenson Button finished the race in fifth place after a great drive through the grid and showing that he deserves to be at McLaren next year and secured fifth place for the team in the Constructors Championship.

The Force India drivers of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez had a cracking race after battling their way through the grid throughout the Grand Prix to finish sixth and seventh places ahead of Sebastian Vettel who in his final race with Red Bull finished in eighth place, Fernando Alonso in his last race for Ferrari finished in ninth place ahead of his team mate Kimi Raikkonen who took the final point in tenth place.

Kevin Magnussen finished the race in a disappointing eleventh place after having some great battles with Raikkonen and Alonso during the race. But Magnussen finished ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne in twelfth place, Romain Grosjean in thirteenth place who was one lap down and Nico Rosberg in fourteenth place who was also one lap down.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, the Sauber drivers of Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil finished in fifteenth and sixteenth places one lap down ahead of Will Stevens who finished in seventeenth place on his F1 debut one lap down. Kamui Kobayashi finished the race in eighteenth place 13 laps down. But Pastor Maldonado and Daniil Kvyat ended their race and their season by retiring from the Grand Prix due to engine failures.

The classification of the race for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is as follows below:-

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1.39.02.619
Felipe Massa Williams- Mercedes 2.5s
Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 28.5s
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 37.2s
Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 60.3s
Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 62.1s
Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 71.0s
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 72.0s
Fernando Alonso Ferrari 85.8s
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 87.8s
Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 90.3s
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 91.9s
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1 lap
Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1 lap
Esteban Guiterrez Sauber-Ferrari 1lap
Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1 lap
Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1 lap
Will Stevens Caterham-Renault 1 lap

Retirements
Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault Engine
Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault Engine
Danill Kvyat Toro Rosso Engine

But finally, all at Driving for Pleasure want to wish a massive congratulations to Lewis Hamilton who is the 2014 Formula One Drivers Champion and double world champion of the sport. You did a great job this year and deserve this success.

It has been full of ups, downs, incidents and controversy throughout the year but we have seen Mercedes dominating the grid this season with a brilliant car in the W05 and saw a great battle between their two drivers until the final race in Abu Dhabi where Hamilton has been crowned this season's world champion. And what a great season 2014 has been and one we will look back on for years to come.

Sarah Jones

Thanks to www.grahamandleigh.co.uk for all this seasons circuits