Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 1hr 39m 2.619s
Superb start put the British driver in front and he controlled the race to win his second world title in perfect fashion.
Felipe Massa, Williams +2.576
The Brazilian’s best result of the season and showed the pace of the Williams as he proved the only rival to the Mercedes cars.
Valtteri Bottas, Williams, +28.880
Slow start hurt the Finn as he fell back to eighth, but recovered well to take third and his sixth podium of an impressive year.
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull +37.237
Starting from the pit lane, the Australian showed great pace as a long first stint on harder compound tyres paid off and he leapfrogged the midfield pack to score well.
Jenson Button, McLaren +1:00.334
If this is goodbye to F1 for the 2009 world champion then he leaves with his head held high after a fine drive to complete the top five.
Nico Hulkenberg, Force India +1:02.148
Overcame a five-second pit penalty for coming together with Kevin Magnussen on the first lap to pick up his best finish since Canada in June.
Sergio Perez, Force India +1:11.060
Had predicted stronger race pace than in qualifying and was proved right, but will be disappointed to be beaten by his teammate on pure pace.
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull +1:12.045
Did not have the speed of teammate Ricciardo to charge through the pack from the pit lane as quickly and spent much of the race stuck in traffic.
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:42.866
A low-key ending to the Spaniard’s five-year tenure at Ferrari as his car’s lack of horsepower left him unable to compete with the Mercedes team.
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari +1:27.820
A bit of a non-event as he could not build on running in fifth place on the opening lap and fell down the order to barely finish in the points.
Kevin Magnussen, McLaren +1:30.376
The Dane complained of suspension damage after first-lap contact with Nico Hulkenberg and he finished 2.5 seconds outside the points places.
Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso +1:31.947
An impressive wheel-to-wheel tussle with Ricciardo was one of the highlights of the race, but the Frenchman did not have the pace for a top-10 finish.
Romain Grosjean, Lotus +1 lap
Given he had to take a drive-through penalty at the end of Lap 1 because of an engine penalty enforced pre-race, Grosjean did as well as could be expected.
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes +1 lap
Engine problems wrecked his race and his title hopes. Was running second to Hamilton at the time and could do nothing about falling down the field.
Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber +1 lap
Sauber have struggled for speed all season so it was no surprise Gutierrez was off the pace. The Mexican toiled for speed on the straights.
Adrian Sutil, Sauber +1 lap
Unlikely to be on the grid next season and a forgettable evening’s work where he was beaten by his teammate, which will not help with finding a drive for next year.
Will Stevens, Caterham +1 lap
No disgrace in being the last classified finisher in the slowest car. A solid debut and his speed, compared to his more-experienced teammate Kamui Kobayashi, was good.
DNF – Kamui Kobayashi, Caterham 42 laps
The Japanese driver stopped the car because vibrations were making the chassis undriveable. Had not expected to race here and did all that could be expected of him.
DNF – Pastor Maldonado, Lotus 26 laps
A strong end to the season failed to materialise as his Renault engine failed in a fiery ball as the car was stopped on the inside of the final corner of the track at Turn 21.
DNF – Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso 14 laps
The Russian ran in the top eight early, but he complained of a sudden loss of power and his Toro Rosso came to a standstill on the track.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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