Hamilton wins Abu Dhabi GP: F1 Finale as it happened

Thank you for following our live blog. That’s all for tonight from our F1 live. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff: “We’re taking over a nightclub tonight and we’re going to take it to pieces.”

Lewis Hamilton calls his second title victory “the greatest day of my life”.

Rosberg: “Lewis deserved to win the championship today. All in all he just did that little bit better job than me, especially in the races”

Nico Rosberg congratulates teammate Lewis Hamilton after his win at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

British PM David Cameron congratulates Lewis Hamilton on his win.

Congratulations to @LewisHamilton on winning the #AbuDhabiGP and his second #F1 world title. A great day for British motorsport.

— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) November 23, 2014

Hamilton gives Toto Wolff a big hug.

The 2014 World Champion celebrates his win at Abu Dhabi.

Final top ten at the Abu Dhabi GP: 1 Hamilton 2 Massa 3 Bottas 4 Ricciardo 5 Button 6 Hulkenberg 7 Perez 8 Vettel 9 Alonso 10 Raikkonen

Lap 55/55: Lewis Hamilton wins the 2014 Formula 1 world drivers’ championship with victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

FINAL LAP of this World Championship: And Lewis Hamilton takes P1. Britain’s first double world champion since Jackie Stewart.

Fellow Brit and tennis champion Andy Murray congratulates him.

Congrats to Lewis Hamilton on winning another world title, well deserved

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) November 23, 2014

Lap 54/55: Mercedes tells Rosberg to pit. “Too many problems with the car,” he is told. “I want to go to the end,” he replies, and is given permission.

Lap 51/55: Rosberg’s last lap was 21s off the pace of the leaders. A really sad way for a title bid to end. He definitely deserved a better run at the title today.

Lap 48/55: Vettel makes his final pitstop for super-softs from fifth place, so that’s one place back for Rosberg, at least temporarily. Hamilton’s gap is down into single figures. Massa sets another new fastest lap, a 1m44.953s takes the gap down to 9.3s.

@JRobertsF1: Car reliability has always been a part of F1. Shame for Nico but Lewis hasn't made the chequered flag yet... #AbuDhabiGP #f1

— James Roberts (@JRobertsF1) November 23, 2014

Lap 45/55: Ten laps to go and the message over the radio to Hamilton is to “keep the pace up” because it appears Massa is planning to attack. Down the field, it is race over for the Caterham car of Kamui Kobayashi is being rolled off the track.

Lap 44/45 #AbuDhabiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/R8BCUS6XJ9

— Stokoe Cartoons (@mikestokoe) November 23, 2014

Lap 42/55: Rosberg’s car is failing him. “Guys, what’s going on?” he asks on the radio, with an apparent additional brake problem making things even more difficult for the German. We don’t hear what the response is but it’s now only a case of Hamilton getting around the final 13 laps safely.

It's getting worse for Rosberg, the brakes are failing. That's usually an outcome of an ERS failure, so was to be expected #F1

— Motorsport Week (@MotorsportWeek) November 23, 2014

Lap 38/55: Rosberg down in P8.

Lap 38/55: Bottas sets a new fastest lap - the fourth-placed Williams man’s last lap was a 1m46.304s. He gets right behind Ricciardo for third on the straights but thinks better of it.

Lap 36/55: Rosberg is immediately falling away from the Force Indias and will have Vettel behind him soon. “How am I looking for that position I need if Lewis drops out?” Rosberg asks. “It’s not looking good,” he’s told. Rosberg doesn’t take that well: “What the hell does that mean? What can I do?” He’s told to just drive flat-out with what he’s got.

Lap 35/55: Looks like its over for Rosberg’s title aspirations as he pits and comes out in seventh. His only hope now is to finish in the top five and Hamilton to have a failure over the next 20 laps.

Lap33/55: Button is rapidly pulling away from Alonso’s Ferrari in ninth. Raikkonen is pushing his team-mate hard, we could see a prancing horse battle soon.

Lap32/55: Hamilton passes Rosberg for second place with ease.

Lap 31/55: Tweet from Mercedes F1 team.

BOX BOX BOX!!! It's the race leader!! @LewisHamilton in!!! #F1 #AbuDhabiGP #DesertDuel

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) November 23, 2014

Lap 30/55: Button stops and comes out ahead of Alonso…wheel-to-wheel action. Battle for P10 intensifies as Alonso comes out on top.

Tweet from Sarah Holt:

Maldonado's on fire! Actually in a literal sense not in terms of his driving. Oh, OK his car's on fire.... Doused down now... Everyone's OK.

— Sarah Holt (@sarahholtf1) November 23, 2014

Lap 27/55: Massa overtakes Rosberg to take P2. Tweet from the Williams team.

Felipe pounces and claims P2 from Rosberg! #AbuDhabiGP

— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) November 23, 2014

Lap 26/55: Big, big news. Rosberg’s electrical recovery system has failed, like it did in Canada, and Massa is closing on him and Hamilton’s gap has increased to 11 seconds.

Lap 25/55: Nico Rosberg says he is losing engine power. If they cannot get the engine up and running his drivers’ title is at stake.

Lap 24/55: Big lock-up for Rosberg and he runs very wide. Gap at 4 seconds now as Hamilton leads.

Tweet from the Mercedes Factory:

This is the scene in the factory race bays right now! How does everyone look so calm?! #AbuDhabiGP #F1 #DesertDuel pic.twitter.com/6ySF8JWcnX

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) November 23, 2014

Lap 23/55: Hamilton is maintaining his gap over teammate Rosberg and the British driver is very much in control. However Rosberg has posted the fastest lap – 1:46.869 on lap 17

Lap 22/55: Sebastian Vettel, who had said his rear tyres were “going off” has pitted along with Kevin Magnussen but Vettel’s stop is a little slow. Ricciardo is now the only driver not to make a stop.

Lap 18/55: Live timing sheet.

Lap 16/55: Daniel Kvyat is out of the race. Marshals are pushing Kvyat’s Toro Rosso away, seems like he was parked across an escape road.

Lap 15/55: Lead order:

1 Hamilton 2 Rosberg 3 Massa 4 Hulkenberg (hasn’t pitted) 5 Ricciardo (hasn’t pitted) 6 Bottas 7 Magnussen 8 Vettel

Lap 14/55: Hamilton sets the fastest lap of the race and Hamilton responds by going even faster. Hamilton still on course to being world champion again, leads from Rosberg by 2.4 s.

Tweet from RedBull India:

Flawless stop for Rosberg. 2.6 second stationary. 0.1s faster than Hamilton. But the German needs a lot more than 0.1s. #RaceCommentweeter

— Red Bull India (@redbullindia) November 23, 2014

Lap 11/55: Hamilton is in the pits, and comes out in third with Rosberg about to make his stop on the next lap. Massa, yet to make his stop, is up to second.

Lap 10/55: As it stands after ten laps.

1 Lewis Hamilton

2 Nico Rosberg

3 Felipe Massa

Lap 9/55: Alonso asks who he was racing. “It’s the new boy [Stevens>,” Ferrari replies. “A lot to learn!” Alonso shouts back. Meanwhile, Rosberg is told he will go for another three laps before making his first stop.

Lap 8/55: Hamilton now leads by 2.4 seconds from Rosberg at the front, and is told “it may be very soon. We’re just waiting for the window to clear”.

Lap 7/55: Good lap for Hamilton, who boosts his advantage to 1.7s over Rosberg.

Lap 6/55: Alonso comes in after just 6 laps. Soft tires for the Ferrari driver. Rejoins in 17th place.

18:39: Lap 3/55

.@LewisHamilton has a 1.4-second lead after two laps. Nailed fastest lap on second lap too. He's going for it... but a long way to go....

— Sarah Holt (@sarahholtf1) November 23, 2014

18:35: Lap 1/55 order

1 Hamilton 2 Rosberg 3 Massa 4 Button 5 Raikkonen 6 Alonso 7 Kvyat 8 Bottas 9 Hulkenberg 10 Perez

18:34: Its lights out and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is underway.

18.20: Less than ten minutes until the Hamilton/Rosberg title showdown gets under way in Abu Dhabi.

18:04 Here are the different ways the title race could go down.

Rosberg wins the title if: * He finishes first and Hamilton does not finish second * He finishes second and Hamilton is outside the top five * He finishes third and Hamilton is outside the top six * He finishes fourth and Hamilton is outside the top eight * He finishes fifth and Hamilton is outside the top nine

Hamilton wins the title if: * He finishes first or second * He finishes third, fourth or fifth and Rosberg doesn’t win * He finishes sixth and Rosberg is outside the top three * He finishes eighth and Rosberg is outside the top four * He finish ninth or worse and Rosberg is outside the top five

We’re 40 minutes from lights out in the #AbuDhabiGP. Will it be Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg who will take home the title today?

This could be the last time we see Jenson Button in an F1 car. The McLaren Mercedes himself isn’t ruling out Abu Double being his final race: “It’s the last race of the year and possibly the last of my F1 career. It’s mixed emotions, but I have my family here which helps a lot but also makes it a bit more emotional. Hopefully we’ll put on a good show and then go hard tonight!”

Tweet from the Sauber F1 team:

The pit lane is currently full of people. Less than hour to go until it will be filled with cars #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/ea6rRNqLOF

— Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber (@stakef1team_ks) November 23, 2014

Hello and welcome to race day coverage for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. We’re getting closer to the world championship decider here on FirstPost Live.

Preview: Nico Rosberg has pole position for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Now he just needs someone to get in the way of title rival Lewis Hamilton.

The Formula One world championship will go to one of the two Mercedes rivals on Sunday, and Rosberg put himself in a competitive position by edging a nervy-looking Hamilton in Saturday’s qualifying to secure a third straight pole and fourth in the past five races.

Hamilton, however, still holds the advantage.

Reuters