2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (formally known as the 2014 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix)[1] was a Formula One motor race held at the Yas Marina Circuit on 23 November 2014. The race was the nineteenth and final round of the 2014 season, the 916th World Championship race, and marked the sixth running of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Race 19 of 19 in the 2014 Formula One World Championship
Race details[1]
Date 23 November 2014 (2014-11-23)
Official name 2014 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Location Yas Marina Circuit
Yas Island, Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.554 km (3.451 mi)
Distance 55 laps, 305.355 km (189.739 mi)
Weather Clear skies; Air temp: 30 °C (86 °F) during the day, dropping to 24 °C (75.2 °F). Wind speed: 8 km/h (4.9 mph).[2] (Night race)
Attendance 60,000[3][4]
Pole position
Driver
Mercedes
Time 1:40.480
Fastest lap
Driver Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault
Time 1:44.496 on lap 50
Podium
First
Mercedes
Second
Williams-Mercedes
Third
Williams-Mercedes

Double points were awarded for the first time at this race. This change to the points system was not well received in the months leading up to the race, and the implementation of this system turned out to be a one-off. The series would revert to the 25–18–15–12–10–8–6–4–2–1 system in use since 2010 for all races, beginning with the 2015 Australian Grand Prix.

The race determined the World Drivers' Championship between Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, with the latter winning both the race and the title.[5][6] This would prove to be the final Grand Prix for Jean-Éric Vergne, Adrian Sutil and Kamui Kobayashi as well as the last grand prix for the Caterham team, it collapsed before the start of the 2015 season.

Report

Background

Changes to points structure

For the first time in the history of Formula One, teams and drivers scored double the number of points awarded for race finish positions.[7] The FIA implemented this in order to maximise focus on the championship until the end of the season. Originally Bernie Ecclestone wanted double points for the last three races of the season,[8] but the teams ultimately decided to have double points for only the last race of the season. The rule change was negatively received by teams and drivers.[9][10][11][12][13][14]

As a result of the double points offered for the race, Lewis Hamilton needed to finish in the top two to guarantee the championship. Under the regular points structure he would have only needed to finish sixth to guarantee the title.

Team changes

Marussia did not contest the Grand Prix as a bid to save the team from collapsing failed in the week before the Brazilian Grand Prix, forcing the team to close down.[15] They had made a last-minute attempt to race in Abu Dhabi, with rumours that they were being sought after by a potential investor. However, those negotiations fell through, ending their chances of making a return to the grid.[16]

Facing a similar financial situation, Caterham launched a crowdsourcing campaign to attend the race, which ultimately proved successful and the team returned for the season-ending race, bringing the grid up to 20 cars.[17][18] Although Caterham retained Kamui Kobayashi for the race,[19] Marcus Ericsson had terminated his contract with Caterham a week and a half before the race, forcing Caterham to hire another driver.[20] 24 Hours of Le Mans winner André Lotterer, who also drove for Caterham in the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix, was originally linked towards the role, but he turned down the offer.[21] Will Stevens, a former Marussia test driver, took the drive instead and made his Formula One debut.[22] This was also the last race for Caterham as the team collapsed before the start of 2015.

Tyres

For the first time since Pirelli became the sole tyre provider, they supplied the yellow-banded soft tyre as the prime compound, while the red-banded supersoft was the option selection for the event. The previous three seasons saw the medium and soft selections used.

Virtual Safety Car (VSC)

The FIA again tested its Virtual Safety Car system, proposed for the 2015 season, to better deal with race track emergencies following the incident suffered by Jules Bianchi during the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. The version tested in Abu Dhabi, however, was not preferred to that tested at the preceding United States and Brazilian Grands Prix.[23]

Practice

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton topped the first and second practice sessions, while teammate and championship contender Nico Rosberg topped the third and final practice session.[24][25][26]

Qualifying

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in Q1. He set the fastest time again in Q2, posting a time 0.539 seconds faster than championship rival Nico Rosberg after his teammate had scruffy laps. The situation was reversed in Q3, with Hamilton having two scruffy laps, and Rosberg took pole position with a time of 1:40.480, with Hamilton 0.386 seconds behind in second.[27]

Post-qualifying

Red Bull Racing drivers Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo were excluded from qualifying after their cars were found to have front wings that flexed under an aerodynamic load in contravention of the sporting regulations which prohibit movable aerodynamic devices. With their times disallowed, both drivers were relegated to the back of the grid. The team was then forced to change their front wings so as to make their cars legal for the race – a parc fermé violation – and were further penalised, having to start the race from pit lane.[27]

Romain Grosjean received a cumulative series of penalties for exceeding his quota of power unit components, totalling a twenty-place grid penalty. With Grosjean qualifying sixteenth—before Red Bull were excluded—he was unable to serve the full penalty. However, as the race marked the final Grand Prix of the 2014 season, the stewards were unable to carry the penalty over to the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, and so Grosjean was given a pit lane drive-through penalty in lieu of the remaining grid penalty.[27]

Race

Lewis Hamilton got a good start from second on the grid and got ahead of polesitter and championship rival Nico Rosberg by the first corner. At the end of lap 1 Hamilton had a 1.2 second lead over his teammate, which grew to 2.6 seconds by lap 22. On lap 23 Rosberg's troubles began, as he locked up and ran off the track at turn 17 - rejoining 3.9 seconds behind Hamilton - and the following lap he reported he was losing engine power. On lap 25 Rosberg had dropped to 7.1 seconds behind Hamilton, and he was told over the radio that his ERS had failed. Over the following laps Rosberg dropped down the field. Hamilton began to lower his pace - avoiding kerbs and asking his team to keep the engine turned down - in an effort to avoid suffering the same fate as his teammate. This allowed Felipe Massa to make gains on the race leader over the following laps. As Massa emerged from his final stop - putting on the super-soft tyre - he was 11 seconds behind Hamilton, and with fresh tyres he started to close the gap. However it was ultimately not enough, as Hamilton increased his pace by just enough to keep Massa in check. Hamilton crossed the line 2.5 seconds ahead of second-placed Massa to win the race, and with it his second world championship. Valtteri Bottas took the final podium position, giving Williams their first double podium since the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix.[28] Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel, who had both started the race from the pit lane, finished in 4th and 8th respectively, after Ricciardo managed to pass Kevin Magnussen early on in the race while Vettel got stuck behind him, which had the knock-on effect of causing him to be stuck behind the Force India cars later in the race.

Rosberg ultimately finished down in 14th, as his car situation got even worse in the closing laps. On lap 53 he was advised over the radio to retire the car, as his chances of scoring any points were effectively over and his car had developed too many problems. However, Rosberg responded by saying he would like to go to the end and finish the race, which he ultimately did.[29]

Post-race

Ahead of the podium ceremony, Nico Rosberg entered into the cooldown room to congratulate championship rival Lewis Hamilton on winning the title. Hamilton later paid tribute to Rosberg for his graciousness in defeat.[30]

Although Rosberg suffered an energy recovery system (ERS) failure and dropped out of the points during the race, he acknowledged that his problem did not make a difference to the championship outcome in the end, as Hamilton would have had to finish 3rd or lower for him to have a chance of winning the title anyway.[31]

Mercedes set two new records, the first being 701 total points, the second being the margin of 296 points to second-placed Red Bull-Renault.

Classification

Qualifying
Pos. No. Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 Grid
1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:41.308 1:41.459 1:40.480 1
2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:41.207 1:40.920 1:40.866 2
3 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:42.346 1:41.376 1:41.025 3
4 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:41.475 1:41.144 1:41.119 4
5 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1:42.302 1:42.082 1:41.908 5
6 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:42.137 1:41.875 1:41.964 6
7 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:42.439 1:42.168 1:42.236 7
8 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:42.467 1:41.940 1:42.866 8
9 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:42.104 1:42.198 9
10 25 Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1:42.413 1:42.207 10
11 11 Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes 1:42.654 1:42.239 11
12 27 Nico Hülkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:42.444 1:42.384 12
13 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:42.746 1:43.074 13
14 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:42.768 181
15 21 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:42.819 14
16 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1:42.860 15
17 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1:44.540 16
18 46 Will Stevens Caterham-Renault 1:45.095 17
EX 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:42.495 1:42.147 1:41.893 192
EX 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:42.204 1:41.692 1:41.267 202
107% time: 1:48.291
Source:[32]

Notes:

  • ^1  — Romain Grosjean qualified in sixteenth but was demoted four grid places as part of twenty-place penalty for using his sixth power unit of the season.[27]
  • ^2  — Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel originally qualified in fifth and sixth respectively, but were excluded from the qualifying results and were relegated to the back of the grid for illegal front wings.[27]

Race
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 Williams-Mercedes 55 +28.880 3 30
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 55 +37.237 PL3 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 Force India-Mercedes 55 +1:11.060 11 12
8 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 55 +1:12.045 PL3 8
9 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 55 +1:25.813 8 4
10 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 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 Sauber-Ferrari 54 +1 Lap 13
17 46 Will Stevens Caterham-Renault 54 +1 Lap 17
Ret 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 42 Vibration 16
Ret 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 26 Engine 15
Ret 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 14 Driveshaft 5
Source:[27]

Notes:

  • ^3  — Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo were further penalised for having their front wings replaced after qualifying, which violated parc fermé regulations even though the wings were deemed illegal, and were forced to start from the pit lane instead of the back of the grid.

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
  • Bold text indicates the 2014 World Champions.
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References
  1. "Race Preview 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix" (PDF). FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 19 November 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 January 2016.
  2. "Weather information - Abu Dhabi GP". wunderground.com. Weather Underground. 23 November 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  3. "Biggest ever audience cheer Lewis Hamilton to F1 victory in Abu Dhabi as curtain falls on exhilarating weekend". WAM.ae. WAM (Emirates News Agency). 23 November 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  4. "60,000 tickets sold out for Abu Dhabi Grand Prix". Hit967. Arabian Radio Network. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  5. Johnson, Daniel (23 November 2014). "Lewis Hamilton claims the 2014 F1 world drivers' title with win at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  6. Benson, Andrew (23 November 2014). "Lewis Hamilton wins World Championship in Abu Dhabi". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  7. "Double points for season finale among 2014 changes". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. 9 December 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-12-12. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  8. Benson, Andrew (29 January 2014). "Bernie Ecclestone wants double points for last three races". BBC Sport. BBC. Archived from the original on 2016-01-19. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  9. Noble, Jonathan (20 December 2013). "Formula 1's double points finale rule too artificial, says Ferrari". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  10. Noble, Jonathan (22 January 2014). "F1 double points rule a 'fake fix', says Caterham's Tony Fernandes". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  11. Hope-Frost, Henry; Straw, Edd (18 February 2014). "Red Bull's Adrian Newey says double points will cheapen Formula 1". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  12. Straw, Edd; Anderson, Ben (22 July 2014). "Formula 1 double points rule is unfair says Mercedes' Toto Wolff". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  13. Anderson, Ben (14 August 2014). "Force India boss Mallya says double points illogical for F1". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  14. Johnson, Daniel (30 October 2014). "United States Grand Prix 2014: Lewis Hamilton speaks out against double-points GP finale in Abu Dhabi". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  15. Noble, Jonathan (7 November 2014). "Marussia Formula 1 team closes doors, staff made redundant". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  16. "Marussia to miss Abu Dhabi GP after last-ditch talks fall through". Sky Sports. BSkyB. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  17. Doell, Zach (9 November 2014). "Caterham F1 Team Raises $1.7 Million Through Crowdfunding". Boldride. Archived from the original on 10 November 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  18. "Caterham will race in F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix thanks to fans' cash". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Press Association. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  19. "Abu Dhabi GP: Caterham retain Kobayashi for season finale". BBC Sport. BBC. 16 November 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  20. "Caterham: Marcus Ericsson terminates deal". BBC Sport. BBC. 12 November 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  21. Watkins, Gary (16 November 2014). "Andre Lotterer turns down Caterham F1 team's Abu Dhabi GP offer". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  22. "Caterham sign Britain's Will Stevens for Abu Dhabi Grand Prix". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  23. Noble, Jonathan (2 December 2014). "F1's virtual safety car system gets green light for 2015 debut". Autosport.
  24. "2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Practice 1 results". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 3 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2014-11-23.
  25. "2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Practice 2 results". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 3 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2014-11-23.
  26. "2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Practice 3 results". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 3 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2014-11-24.
  27. "2014 FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX Provisional Results". Archived from the original on 2014-11-24. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  28. "Williams double podium caps phenomenal comeback season". Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  29. "Abu Dhabi GP as it happened". Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  30. "Lewis Hamilton pays tribute to gracious Nico Rosberg for way he handled title defeat". Sky Sports. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  31. "The best man won the title - Rosberg". ESPN. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  32. "2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Qualifying results". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 23 November 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-11-24.
  33. "Abu Dhabi 2014 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
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