|
Lewis Hamilton
claimed the second drivers’ championship of his career but his first on
Pirelli tyres after winning the title decider in Abu Dhabi, using a two-stop
strategy. The Mercedes driver started on the P Zero Red supersoft tyre from
second on the grid, but took the lead at the start before completing two
stints on the P Zero Yellow soft.
The 16th win for Mercedes this season has broken the all-time record of 15
previously held by Ferrari and McLaren. Hamilton also becomes the first
Mercedes world champion since Juan Manuel Fangio, having claimed 11
victories in total this year.
During the closing stages of the race, Hamilton was challenged by Williams
driver Felipe Massa, who used a different two-stop strategy to him. Massa
started on the supersoft from fourth on the grid, switched to the soft, and
then ran the final 13 laps on the supersoft again, which was around a second
per lap faster than the soft.
This enabled the Brazilian to close up to less than three seconds behind
Hamilton at the finish, while his Williams team mate Valtteri Bottas
completed the podium. Bottas used a supersoft-soft-soft strategy.
After being excluded from qualifying, both Red Bull drivers started from the
pitlane, adopting a similar soft-soft-supersoft strategy. This helped Daniel
Ricciardo to finish fourth, having risen as high as third, and set the
fastest lap of the race. Ricciardo was also the highest-placed finisher to
start the race on the soft tyre, with all but six drivers beginning the
grand prix on the supersoft.
With falling track and air temperatures, the circuit tended to get faster as
the race progressed, meaning that the teams had to monitor tyre wear and
degradation carefully. Both compounds performed exactly in line with
expectations, allowing drivers and teams to push to the maximum.
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “Congratulations to
Lewis Hamilton for winning the title, and also to Nico Rosberg, who provided
him with fantastic opposition all year. The tyres performed as we expected
them to here, in line with the data we had collected before the race. We saw
a wide variety of interesting strategies at work today, with Massa
showcasing the speed of the supersoft at the end of the race, and Ricciardo
putting in a great performance from the back after starting on the soft.
It’s been a fascinating end to a compelling season, but we’re already
turning our attention to 2015 as we embark on the final test of the season
here next week on Tuesday and Wednesday, where some our new tyres will make
their debut.”
Truth-O-Meter:
We predicted two stops as being the fastest strategy for the 55-lap race,
starting on the supersoft and then changing to the soft on laps eight and
31. Hamilton followed this strategy exactly but went slightly longer than
expected on his first supersoft stint, stopping on laps 10 and 31. |
