After once again proving that they can win on very contrasting circuits (Monza and Singapore), Mercedes went to Japan with a small chance of being constructors champions. Ferrari were keen to regain on Williams, and McLaren wanted to move ahead of Force India.
Caterham were struggling just to make it to Japan, after reports emerged that bailiffs had visited their headquarters in Leafield.
Before FP1, the biggest concern was how Typhoon Phanfone could affect the race weekend, as well as logistics for the Russian GP.
As it turned out, Free Practice was relatively normal, as was Qualifying - although this time Nico Rosberg beat Lewis Hamilton to pole.
Jean Eric Vergne (who missed FP1 so 17 year old Max Verstappen could drive his car) beat Daniil Kvyat (who takes Sebastian Vettel's place at Red Bull in 2015), and Marcus Ericsson was the quickest of the bottom four.
However, Pastor Maldonado used his sixth engine, and because he was in the bottom ten places of the grid (putting him to the back with his penalty), it meant the remainder of his penalty carried over to Russia, where he was also put to the back of the grid.
Turning to the race, it was wet throughout and red flagged twice: once due to the weather and again later on for what turned out to be worse than we first thought.
On the world feed, we had seen Sutil's crash and a recovery vehicle arrive on the scene, but what we failed to spot was Jules Bianchi's Marussia, which had made contact with the recovery vehicle. Sadly we would never see Jules race again, as he later died after a nine month battle with
It was the beginning of the end for the Marussia team in its 2014 form - they went into administration along with Caterham after the Russian GP. Caterham made it to Abu Dhabi with crowdfunding, but Marussia would not return until 2015 as Manor.
As the race did not restart, Mercedes took another 1-2 with Red Bull in third and fourth - this was not enough to clinch the constructors title, but meant it would be straightforward to wrap up in Russia.
A fairly processional inaugural Russian GP saw Mercedes crowned constructors champions, and now only Daniel Ricciardo could stop Mercedes taking the driver's title - however eight more points for Hamilton would give us a Mercedes show down, even with double points in Abu Dhabi.
Heading into the US GP, the biggest story (other than Jules) was the Marussia and Caterham absence, leaving just nine teams for this race and the next in Brazil.
Rosberg duly took pole again for the US GP, but Hamilton turned it around in the race to win a fifth consecutive race. Ricciardo completed the podium for Red Bull, which was now almost guaranteed the Constructors runner up spot. Vettel recovered from the pitlane to 6th, with only Sutil and the Force India pair out.
Brazil saw Rosberg continue his pole run (clinching the pole position trophy), but this time Hamilton couldn't do anything about him in the race - the Brit even made a crucial mistake mid-race at Turn 4 whilst pushing to catch his team mate.
A fairly undramatic race saw a late retirement for Grosjean and a split strategy from Ferrari - with Alonso just ahead of the two-stopping Raikkonen. Massa completed the podium in his home GP, with Button in 4th.
With only the double points finale in Abu Dhabi left, Hamilton was now 17 points ahead of Rosberg. The next close battle was between Vettel, Alonso and Bottas for 4th place.
Rosberg was on pole again in the UAE - his 11th of 2014 - with Hamilton 2nd, followed by the Williams pair. Red Bull were due to start on the third row, but both were excluded due to front wing infringments.
In terms of the title battle, the race turned out to be a damp squib, with Rosberg losing out to Hamilton by Turn 1 and subsequently an ERS failure finishing his title challenge. As Nico was out of the picture, Lewis comfortably won the title but won the race by just 2.5 seconds from Felipe Massa's Williams.
McLaren fended off Force India for 5th in the standings, but with double points it could've been a lot closer. Perez was 10th in the standings (ahead of Magnussen and Raikkonen thanks to double points) and Massa jumped Button for 7th.
Heading into 2015, driver changes were as follows:
Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz replace Jean Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat. The Russian replaces Ferrari-bound Sebastian Vettel, who replaces Fernando Alonso. In turn, the Spaniard replaces Kevin Magnussen. Also, Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr replace Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez, and Marussia (as Manor) eventually announced Will Stevens (who made his debut in Abu Dhabi) and Roberto Merhi.
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Caterham were struggling just to make it to Japan, after reports emerged that bailiffs had visited their headquarters in Leafield.
Before FP1, the biggest concern was how Typhoon Phanfone could affect the race weekend, as well as logistics for the Russian GP.
As it turned out, Free Practice was relatively normal, as was Qualifying - although this time Nico Rosberg beat Lewis Hamilton to pole.
Jean Eric Vergne (who missed FP1 so 17 year old Max Verstappen could drive his car) beat Daniil Kvyat (who takes Sebastian Vettel's place at Red Bull in 2015), and Marcus Ericsson was the quickest of the bottom four.
However, Pastor Maldonado used his sixth engine, and because he was in the bottom ten places of the grid (putting him to the back with his penalty), it meant the remainder of his penalty carried over to Russia, where he was also put to the back of the grid.
Turning to the race, it was wet throughout and red flagged twice: once due to the weather and again later on for what turned out to be worse than we first thought.
On the world feed, we had seen Sutil's crash and a recovery vehicle arrive on the scene, but what we failed to spot was Jules Bianchi's Marussia, which had made contact with the recovery vehicle. Sadly we would never see Jules race again, as he later died after a nine month battle with
It was the beginning of the end for the Marussia team in its 2014 form - they went into administration along with Caterham after the Russian GP. Caterham made it to Abu Dhabi with crowdfunding, but Marussia would not return until 2015 as Manor.
As the race did not restart, Mercedes took another 1-2 with Red Bull in third and fourth - this was not enough to clinch the constructors title, but meant it would be straightforward to wrap up in Russia.
A fairly processional inaugural Russian GP saw Mercedes crowned constructors champions, and now only Daniel Ricciardo could stop Mercedes taking the driver's title - however eight more points for Hamilton would give us a Mercedes show down, even with double points in Abu Dhabi.
Heading into the US GP, the biggest story (other than Jules) was the Marussia and Caterham absence, leaving just nine teams for this race and the next in Brazil.
Rosberg duly took pole again for the US GP, but Hamilton turned it around in the race to win a fifth consecutive race. Ricciardo completed the podium for Red Bull, which was now almost guaranteed the Constructors runner up spot. Vettel recovered from the pitlane to 6th, with only Sutil and the Force India pair out.
Brazil saw Rosberg continue his pole run (clinching the pole position trophy), but this time Hamilton couldn't do anything about him in the race - the Brit even made a crucial mistake mid-race at Turn 4 whilst pushing to catch his team mate.
A fairly undramatic race saw a late retirement for Grosjean and a split strategy from Ferrari - with Alonso just ahead of the two-stopping Raikkonen. Massa completed the podium in his home GP, with Button in 4th.
With only the double points finale in Abu Dhabi left, Hamilton was now 17 points ahead of Rosberg. The next close battle was between Vettel, Alonso and Bottas for 4th place.
Rosberg was on pole again in the UAE - his 11th of 2014 - with Hamilton 2nd, followed by the Williams pair. Red Bull were due to start on the third row, but both were excluded due to front wing infringments.
In terms of the title battle, the race turned out to be a damp squib, with Rosberg losing out to Hamilton by Turn 1 and subsequently an ERS failure finishing his title challenge. As Nico was out of the picture, Lewis comfortably won the title but won the race by just 2.5 seconds from Felipe Massa's Williams.
McLaren fended off Force India for 5th in the standings, but with double points it could've been a lot closer. Perez was 10th in the standings (ahead of Magnussen and Raikkonen thanks to double points) and Massa jumped Button for 7th.
Heading into 2015, driver changes were as follows:
Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz replace Jean Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat. The Russian replaces Ferrari-bound Sebastian Vettel, who replaces Fernando Alonso. In turn, the Spaniard replaces Kevin Magnussen. Also, Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr replace Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez, and Marussia (as Manor) eventually announced Will Stevens (who made his debut in Abu Dhabi) and Roberto Merhi.
