F1 2014: Hamilton reaches another level

LEWIS HAMILTON secured a second world title with an 11th win of the season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix yesterday.

Hamilton qualified second behind Mercedes team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg - but made perhaps the best start of his whole career to lead going into the first corner.

It was so good it looked almost as if he had been thrown out of a slingshot and, thanks to regulation pit stops on laps 10 and 31, this was ultimately a pretty straightforward victory.

Coming fully six years after his last world title, Hamilton maybe feared this day would never arrive.

After all, only three previous Britons - Jim Clark, Graham Hill and Sir Jackie Stewart - had gone onto to become multiple world champions, Scotsman Stewart most recently back in 1971.

But Hamilton has now changed all of that on the "greatest day of [his] life".

The 29-year-old added: "2008 was a great year in my life. The feeling I have now is way, way past that. The greatest feeling ever."

For, let there be no doubt, this was a deserved triumph. For the record, Hamilton's 11 wins came in Malaysia, Bahrain, China, Spain, Great Britain, Italy, Singapore, Japan, Russia, the United States, and finally Abu Dhabi.

This was more than twice as many as Rosberg, and thankfully the horrible spectre of double points in Abu Dhabi did not prove decisive.

Instead, Rosberg suffered a series of mechanical failures yesterday to limp home down in 14th.

Still, at least, he was granted the opportunity to finish the race by a team preparing to retire him with just two laps to go.

And, after a title rivalry which had been quite tetchy at times this year, Rosberg was extremely sporting in his concession.

"I'm very disappointed but all in all Lewis deserved to win the championship. That's clear," the German said. "All in all he just did a better job than me, especially in the races."

Yes, for Rosberg, this was perhaps a slight case of what might have been. He out-qualified Hamilton 12 times to seven, and led the Championship by 29 points on two occasions.

But, for the most part, Hamilton acted more decisively in the Grand Prix themselves - and, in a blistering run of form, won six out of the last seven including five in a row.

In the only exception, he finished second in Brazil - and so dropped just seven points from his retirement in Spa onwards.

With the performance of a true champion, Hamilton has at last achieved what his talent had threatened for so long.

He has become only the 16th driver to become a multiple world champion - he has joined the pantheon of Formula One greats.

FORMULA ONE 2014

Date	TV		Pole position	Fastest lap	Winner
16 March	Sky	Australian Grand Prix	Hamilton	Rosberg	Rosberg
30 March	BBC	Malaysian Grand Prix	Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton
6 April	Sky	Bahrain Grand Prix	Rosberg	Rosberg	Hamilton
20 April	Sky	Chinese Grand Prix	Hamilton	Rosberg	Hamilton
11 May	BBC	Spanish Grand Prix	Hamilton	Vettel	Hamilton
25 May	Sky	Monaco Grand Prix	Rosberg	Räikkönen	Rosberg
8 June	BBC	Canadian Grand Prix	Rosberg	Massa	Ricciardo
22 June	Sky	Austrian Grand Prix	Massa	Perez	Rosberg
6 July	BBC	British Grand Prix	Rosberg	Hamilton	Hamilton
20 July	Sky	German Grand Prix	Rosberg	Hamilton	Rosberg
27 July	Sky	Hungarian Grand Prix	Rosberg	Rosberg	Ricciardo
24 August	BBC	Belgian Grand Prix	Rosberg	Rosberg	Ricciardo
7 September	BBC	Italian Grand Prix	Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton
21 September	Sky	Singapore Grand Prix	Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton
5 October	BBC	Japanese Grand Prix	Rosberg	Hamilton	Hamilton
12 October	BBC	Russian Grand Prix	Hamilton	Bottas	Hamilton
2 November	Sky	United States Grand Prix	Rosberg	Vettel	Hamilton
9 November	Sky	Brazilian Grand Prix	Rosberg	Hamilton	Rosberg
23 November	BBC	Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Rosberg	Ricciardo	Hamilton

STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship

P	Driver	Team	Points
01	Lewis Hamilton (Gbr)	Mercedes	384 (11 wins)
02	Nico Rosberg (Ger)	Mercedes	317 (5 wins)
03	Daniel Ricciardo (Aus)	Red Bull-Renault	238 (3 wins)
04	Valtteri Bottas (Fin)	Williams-Mercedes	186
05	Sebastian Vettel (Ger)	Red Bull-Renault	167
06	Fernando Alonso (Spa)	Ferrari	161
07	Felipe Massa (Brz)	Williams-Mercedes	134
08	Jenson Button (Gbr)	McLaren-Mercedes	126
09	Nico Hulkenberg (Ger)	Force India-Mercedes	96
10	Sergio Pérez (Mex)	Force India-Mercedes	59
11	*Kevin Magnussen (Den)	McLaren-Mercedes	55
12	Kimi Räikkönen (Fin)	Ferrari	55
13	Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra)	Toro-Rosso-Renault	22
14	Romain Grosjean (Fra)	Lotus-Renault	8
15	*Daniil Kyvat (Rus)	Toro-Rosso-Renault	8
16	Pastor Maldonado (Ven)	Lotus-Renault	2
17	Jules Bianchi (Fra)	Marussia-Ferrari	2
18	Adrian Sutil (Ger)	Sauber-Ferrari	0
19	*Marcus Ericsson (Swe)	Caterham-Renault	0
20	Esteban Gutiérrez (Mex)	Sauber-Ferrari	0
21	Max Chilton (Gbr)	Marussia-Ferrari	0
22	Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn)	Caterham-Renault	0
23	*Will Stevens (Gbr)	Caterham-Renault	0

*= Debut season in F1

Constructors' Championship

P	Team	Points
01	Mercedes	701 (16 wins)
02	Red Bull-Renault	405 (3 wins)
03	Williams-Mercedes	320
04	Ferrari	216
05	McLaren-Mercedes	181
06	Force India-Mercedes	155
07	Toro Rosso-Renault	30
08	Lotus-Renault	10
09	Marussia-Ferrari	2
10	Sauber-Ferrari	0
11	Caterham-Renault	0