ABU DHABI: British driver Lewis Hamilton clinched his second Formula One title in style with victory at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday, with title rival Nico Rosberg drifting out of contention after failing to recover from a poor start.

Hamilton, the 2008 F1 champion, entered the race with a 17-point lead over his Mercedes rival Rosberg, needing only a top-two finish to guarantee the title.

Rosberg started from pole position and, with double points on offer, could have taken his first F1 title with a win providing Hamilton finished third.

That dream scenario lasted three seconds — the time it took Hamilton to overtake Rosberg, whose race turned into a nightmare.

Rosberg’s title challenge then petered out when he suffered loss of engine power from the 25th of 55 laps with the German trailing in out of the points.

It was the 11th win in 19 races for the 29-year-old, who took his first title with McLaren and becomes Britain’s first multiple champion since Jackie Stewart in 1971.

“Woooooaaahh world champion, oh my God, can’t believe it, thanks everyone, “Hamilton exclaimed after taking the chequered flag.

One of the first to congratulate him was Britain’s Prince Harry, who said from the Mercedes garage: “Well done Lewis, you are a legend.”

Brazilian driver Felipe Massa finished second for Williams in the race, ahead of his Finnish team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Rosberg, who suffered the ignominy of being lapped by Hamilton, came in 14th. He finished second in the drivers’ race on 317 points, 67 behind Hamilton, with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in third place.

In a floodlit race promising to be the much-vaunted ‘duel in the desert’, Rosberg failed to make the most of pole as he was comprehensively outpaced as Hamilton surged clear to control the race with a well-judged and dominant performance.

He made the worst possible start, seemingly rooted to the spot, while Hamilton showed phenomenal acceleration.

LEWIS Hamilton celebrates on the podium after winning the F1 Drivers Championship at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.—Reuters

“It was a good start, like a rocket,” Hamilton said. “It was probably the best start I’ve ever had. The car was fantastic and we really got it spot on for the race.”

The sublime passing move gave him complete control, and put the onus on Rosberg — his childhood friend and teenage go-karting rival — to match his pre-race fighting talk with some aggressive driving.

After 10 laps, Hamilton was already several seconds ahead and took the opportunity for a first pit stop.

Rosberg’s race went from bad to worse, as he drifted 14 seconds behind with half the race gone and snapped at his team engineers over race radio to “investigate why” he was losing so much speed.

Hamilton came in for his second stop on lap 32 and was still just ahead of Rosberg when he came out, as Massa briefly went in front.

With his hopes fading, Rosberg started to panic, trying to figure out what position would be enough for victory if Hamilton dropped out in the closing stages.

“How am I looking for that position I need in case Lewis drops out?” he asked a race engineer. “It’s not good at the moment,” came the reply.

When the team asked him to pit and retire, Rosberg, the son of 1982 champion Keke, asked to stay out so he could at least end the season on track.

“Sorry it didn’t work out but you drove like a champion,” said Mercedes technical head Paddy Lowe. “We come back next year to have another go.”

Australian Ricciardo was fourth for Red Bull ahead of Briton Jenson Button in what may be his last race with McLaren, Nico Hulkenberg and his Force India team-mate Sergio Perez.

Four-time world outgoing champion Sebastian Vettel finished eighth in his final race with Red Bull, one position ahead of the man he replaces at Ferrari next season, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari.

Final standings: Drivers:

1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 384 points; 2. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 317; 3. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull 238; 4. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams 186; 5. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull 167; 6. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 161; 7. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams 134; 8. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 126; 9. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Force India 96; 10. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India 59; 11. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) McLaren 55; 12. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 55; 13. Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso 22; 14. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus 8; 15. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) Toro Rosso 8; 16. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Lotus 2; 17. Jules Bianchi (France) Marussia 2; 18. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Sauber 0; 19. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Caterham 0; 20. Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) Sauber 0; 21. Max Chilton (Britain) Marussia 0; 22. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Caterham 0; 23. Will Stevens (Britain) Caterham 0.

Constructors:

1. Mercedes 701 points; 2. Red Bull-Renault 405; 3. Williams-Mercedes 320; 4. Ferrari 216; 5. McLaren 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.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2014