Lewis Hamilton has joined Formula 1’s illustrious ranks of double world champions after race victory in the season-deciding Abu Dhabi GP emphatically clinched him the 2014 drivers’ title.
In a race in which he only needed to finish second, Hamilton pre-race promise to “drive it like I stole it” translated in sensational fashion in the opening seconds of the race as an electric getaway saw him vault past his pole-sitting title rival Rosberg into the lead well before Turn One.
Hamilton immediately set about controlling proceedings and his lead over Rosberg was in excess of two seconds before his team-mate’s Mercedes developed a critical ERS systems failure on lap 25. It effectively settled their tense, compelling season-long battle for supremacy in the Briton’s favour.
With Rosberg losing engine power, the final 30 laps of his year developed into a heartbreaking slide down the order for the season’s long-time championship leader.
While urging his race engineer over the radio to try and get him to the flag in the fifth place he needed to win the title should Hamilton run into terminal trouble, Rosberg’s woes only got worse amid increasing brake wear and he eventually slipped all the way to 14th place and out of the points.
In one final cruel twist, Rosberg and his ailing W05 were then lapped by Hamilton two laps from home. However, after taking the title scrap all the way down to the wire, Rosberg chose to fight on to the chequered flag despite Mercedes suggesting he could retire his broken car if he wanted.
With his sole title rival out of contention, Hamilton could pace himself to the flag over the final 30 laps, although he came under a late challenge for the race victory from Williams’ Felipe Massa as the Brazilian bolted on the quicker supersoft tyres for an aggressive final stint.
However, triumphing over the man who nearly denied him his first title six years ago in rather more dramatic circumstances at Interlagos by 2.5 seconds, Hamilton’s 11th win of his season capped up a career-best campaign.
"This is the greatest day of my life. 2008 was special but the feeling I have now is way past that. It's the greatest feeling I have ever had," a jubliant Hamilton said to Sky F1's Martin Brundle on the podium. "The start was like a rocket and probably the best I've ever had. Going into the race I had different approaches in my mind but the car was fantastic."
While the record books will show that Hamilton ultimately triumphed over Rosberg by a comfortable-looking 67 point margin – the Briton bagging a bumper 50 in the ‘Abu Double’ finale – those who witnessed the scrap for the crown this year will remember one of F1’s most gripping for many a season.
And while his own race may have ended in deep frustration and disappointment, Rosberg put that aside to pay a visit to the podium holding room to give a congratulatory hug to Hamilton, ensuring a rivalry that has boiled over on several occasions this year ended on a fittingly high note.
"Nico put on an incredible fight all year. I'm very sad to know that the car wasn't quick enough so that he could fight but, still, he was a great sport and came up to see me," Hamilton added. "He said 'you drove really well' and the same for him, he drove very well all year, especially in qualifying."
With Hamilton naturally taking all the acclaim on the podium as he became Britain's first double champion since Sir Jackie Stewart, Williams' season of astonishing revival also ended on a high note as Massa and Valtteri Bottas secured the Grove outfit's first double podium in nine years.
At one stage into the closing laps it looked as though Massa, who had profited from a poor start from Bottas to run third behind the Mercedes', might even upstage champion-in-waiting Hamilton for the race win as the Brazilian ran a long middle stint before switching to the red-marked supersofts.
Still, second place represented Massa's best result of his first season at Williams. Bottas, meanwhile, raced back from his poor first lap to finish third - a result which meant it was the Finn who finished fourth in the drivers' standings ahead of multiple world champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.
Meanwhile, in arguably the star performance of the race, Daniel Ricciardo rounded off his stellar first season at F1's top table by racing from the pitlane to fourth for Red Bull. The Australian, who will officially assume team leader responsibilities next year following Vettel's exit to Ferrari, once more showed excellent tyre management to run an impressive two-stop race.
In what could be the final race of his glittering race, Jenson Button finished a fine fifth after earlier winning a wheel-to-wheel duel with the man who could directly replace him at McLaren, Alonso. The growing feeling that the 34-year-old was competing in his final GP after 15 years this weekend was heightened by the fact he completed some crowd-pleasing 'doughnut' spins at the end of the race.
Force India enjoyed a competitive finale to a season which had been threatening to tail off as Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez came through to the pack to finish sixth and seventh respectively, the pair beating Vettel, who couldn't make as much progress from the pitlane as Ricciardo.
Alonso's final race with Ferrari proved a forgettable one in ninth place, although the Spaniard could at least to point to yet another intra-team victory over Kimi Raikkonen, who claimed the final 'double' point.