2014 F1 Championship Standings

Vettel’s run comes to an end as Hamilton & Mercedes rise to the top

After four straight years of Red Bull domination, which gave the team four Constructors’ Championships in a row, as well as four drivers’ titles for Sebastian Vettel. However, the technical regulations for 2014 provided a new, complex challenge for the teams, as the engine formula was changed, swapping the 2.6-litre V8, naturally aspirated engines, for 1.6-litre turbocharged Power Units with heat and kinetic energy recovery systems.

Several other changes were introduced, such as an eight-speed gearbox and a significant trim on the cars’ downforce, while also forcing the teams to run low noses (they could be only 185mm above the ground). Also, electronic braking systems were allowed for the rear tyres.

During winter testing, it was evident that the complexity of the new engines was a little bit more than Renault could handle, and Red Bull suffered. The Mercedes runners, on the other hand, showed intimidating power on the new, more quiet V6 turbos.

The Mercedes works team showed their superb pace with great outings in the closing days of testing, while Lewis Hamilton put the brand new W05 to good use at Melbourne with Pole Position in the wet, in front of the new Red Bull driver, Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo’s move to Red Bull in place of his fellow Australian Mark Webber, who retired at the end of 2013, was one of the biggest changes of the year, while Felipe Massa’s departure from Ferrari after eight years with the team was big news too. Massa went to the now Mercedes-powered Williams team, as Pastor Maldonado left to join Lotus.

Kimi Raikkonen returned to Ferrari for 2014, alongside Fernando Alonso, and Ferrari had two champions in the team for the first time since 1954 when Giuseppe Farina and Alberto Ascari competed for the team.

McLaren dropped Sergio Pérez after one year with the team, with Danish Kevin Magnussen coming in after winning the 2013 Formula Renault 3.5 Series with DAMS.

Hamilton and Rosberg dominate the early part with a nice atmosphere at Mercedes

Hamilton’s Pole Position at Australia did not work out for him during the race, as he had to retire after just two laps. Rosberg won comfortably ahead of Magnussen, who made his F1 debut with a podium for McLaren, the first rookie to do so since Hamilton did it in 2007.

Ricciardo had finished second in the race and also got up to the podium ceremony, but he was later disqualified for a breach on the fuel flow consumption rule. This disqualification prevented him from becoming the first Australian to achieve a podium in his home Grand Prix during a World Championship round.

Vettel, the reigning four-time champion, had engine trouble too and retired early from the race. Jenson Button finished third for McLaren, while Alonso put his Ferrari in fourth. Six of the ten point-scorers had Mercedes engines, while Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso’s debutant, became the then youngest driver to score points in a GP, at 19 years and 324 days.

For the second round, at Malaysia, Hamilton again dominated the Saturday proceedings, but this time he went on to dominate the GP too, with a 17-second lead over his teammate Rosberg, who still led the championship after two rounds. third in Malaysia was Vettel, followed by Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg, now driving for Force India. Massa finished seventh for Williams, scoring for the first time with the team.

Bahrain was the third round, the 900th World Championship GP in history, and the first time Hamilton did not qualify on Pole in 2014. In the race, Hamilton got past Rosberg off the line and started was what one of the greatest fights for the lead in the history of the sport. After many attempts to overtake Hamilton, Rosberg got past on lap 19, but Hamilton got him again and entered the pits first. 

Their strategies were different and a late Safety Car, caused by Maldonado flipping Sauber’s Mexican driver Esteban Gutiérrez on the air. Rosberg had soft tyres on his car for the late stages of the race, while Hamilton had the slower medium tyre. Still, the German could not get past after various attempts and Hamilton beat him by one second.

The race was very interesting behind the Mercedes too, with the undercut being very strong and creating lots of overtakes, both on the pits and the track. Mercedes-powered teams, Force India and Williams fought for the last spot on the podium. Ultimately, Pérez achieved his first podium since the 2012 Italian Grand Prix with a solid drive. It was Force India’s second podium in their history, after Giancarlo Fisichella’s P2 in the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton achieved two straight wins for the first time since the Turkish and Canadian rounds of 2020, while it was his third win for Mercedes and his 24 overall, matching legendary Juan Manuel Fangio’s tally.

Hamilton won at China and Spain in the following races, winning more than two races in a row for the first time in his career and tying Jim Clark and Niki Lauda with 25 wins at China and surpassing them at Barcelona. 

At Spain, Rosberg finished just six-tenths behind his teammate, who took the WDC lead after the Barcelona round. At China, Alonso gave Ferrari its first podium of the year, while Ricciardo achieved his first career podium at Spain.

Hamilton-Rosberg relationship starts to crack at Monaco, while the German takes a commanding lead

At Monaco, Hamilton’s second run of Q3 got compromised due to a yellow flag caused by Rosberg leaving the track at Turn 5. Hamilton’s attitude after the session was tense towards the action, as it appeared the German did it on purpose to avoid Hamilton completing his second Q3 lap. Tension was high even before the weekend, as it was revealed both drivers had used banned-by-team engine settings (Rosberg did it in Bahrain to try and pass Hamilton and the Englishman did it in Spain to hold his place).

Rosberg’s move was deemed legal by the stewards and he started from Pole Position to lead another Mercedes 1-2, with Hamilton falling back in the late stages of the race due to dirt entering one of his eyes. Ricciardo was third for Red Bull, while the biggest result came from Marussia’s Jules Bianchi, who finished ninth to give the team’s first and only points in history (they scored a point in the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix, but named as Manor).

At Montreal, Rosberg grabbed Pole in front of Hamilton, but reliability hindered their race. Hamilton got past Rosberg after the second round of pit stops, only for his brakes to fail and cause him to retire. Rosberg was leading, but lost his MGU-K and was overtaken by Ricciardo, who went on to win a race for the first time in his F1 career.

Vettel finished third, while a crash between Massa and Pérez on the final laps helped Hulkenberg and Button reach fourth and fifth, respectively.

In the following weekend, at Austria, Mercedes did not qualify on Pole for the first time of the year, as Hamilton failed to complete a Q3 lap and Rosberg only managed to reach P3, behind the Williams cars of Massa and Bottas. Massa started on Pole for the first time since the epic 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix and it was the last Pole of his career.

During the race, great pace by Rosberg, a passive strategy by Williams and a great start from Hamilton turned the GP into a Mercedes 1-2, with Rosberg winning to extend his lead to 29 points, with reliability on his side at that point and Hamilton suffering slow pit stops during the race. Third was Bottas for Williams, giving the team its first podium since the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix and his first career podium.

Bottas would finish on the podium in the next two races, finishing second at Silverstone and Hockenheim. Hamilton won at Silverstone after starting sixth due to entering the pits early during Q3 as he thought the damped track would not dry enough for others to improve their times. Pole-sitter Rosberg retired from the race when being caught by Hamilton for the lead with gearbox trouble. The win cut Rosberg’s lead in the WDC to four points, though he had one less DNF than Hamilton, who matched Jackie Stewart’s win tally with his 27th career success.

Third at Silverstone was Ricciardo, while the race was memorable for Vettel and Alonso’s tremendous fight for position. The German ultimately finished fifth, ahead of the Spaniard.

At Germany, Rosberg won in front of Bottas and Hamilton, who started from 20th place due to a right front brake disk failure during qualifying.

Ricciardo takes two straight triumphs as Hamilton and Rosberg continue their heated fight

At Hungary, Hamilton again suffered mechanical issues in qualifying (his engine blew up shortly after leaving the pits for Q1) and he started the race from the pits.

Rosberg started from Pole, but a wet track and many incidents damaged his race. Ricciardo won for Red Bull after overtaking Hamilton and Alonso for the lead in the late stages. Rosberg finished fourth, after Hamilton refused to let him through to help him with strategy and Hamilton himself defending hard his position on the final lap.

At Spa, for the start of the second half of the year, Rosberg qualified on Pole ahead of Hamilton, but the British driver got past at the start. Trying to recover P1, Rosberg crashed into Hamilton’s right rear trye and caused a puncture, while damaging his front wing. Hamilton’s car had damage in the floor also and his race was totally wrecked. 

Ricciardo won from Rosberg and Bottas.

The contact between Hamilton (who did not score) and Rosberg was controversial and caused tension between the team, as the 1-2 was clearly possible without much trouble. 

Rosberg’s lead was extended to 29 points with seven races remaining.  

Hamilton finds his stride as reliability gets solved on his car

The British, desperate for a good result, qualified on Pole at Italy and won the race despite a bad start. Rosberg commited a couple of mistakes at Turn 1 while in the lead which cost him the win. Third at Monza was Massa for Williams. The win put Hamilton ahead of Stewart in the all-time wins standings, with his 28th win.

Having cut Rosberg’s lead to 22 points, Hamilton went to Singapore and edged his teammate for Pole Position by seven thousands of a second. Hamilton won the race after a tremendous stint before his final stop and overtaking Vettel for the lead. Ricciardo finished third.

Rosberg had a wiring issue in his steering which forced him to start from the pit-lane, but he retired from the race. Hamilton took the championship lead by three points.

For the next race, at Suzuka, Rosberg qualified on Pole ahead of Hamilton, who crashed in FP3 but managed to take part of qualifying. In a wet race, Hamilton overtook Rosberg with a nice move into Turn 1 and won the race, which was cut short after Bianchi’s tragic crash into a crane recovering Adrian Sutil’s Sauber, which had crashed at the same site moments before. Bianchi would tragically die in July 2015 after sustaining head injuries.

Hamilton dominated the next race, the inaugural GP at Russia, securing Mercedes’ Constructors’ Championship, and won for the second time in three years at Austin. His five-race winning streak put him ahead of Rosberg by 24 points with two races left and also put him as the British driver with most wins in history, surpassing Nigel Mansell. 

By this point of the year, it was know that Vettel would be leaving Red Bull to join Ferrari in place of Alonso for 2015. Also, McLaren had announced that they would be running Honda engines from 2015, dropping the then all-conquering Mercedes’ Power Units and Marussia and Caterham were collapsing due to financial trouble.

Hamilton seals the deal

Rosberg qualified in front at Brazil and won the race ahead of Hamilton, despite the Englishman pressuring him until the final lap, as Massa finished third in his home country.

Hamilton’s lead was reduced to 17 points, but double-points for the finale at Abu Dhabi meant the title fight was wide open, despite Hamilton having the upper hand on pace throughout the year.

For the finale, Rosberg qualified on Pole, but lost that luxury at the start after Hamilton got off the line faster.

Hamilton dictated the pace in front, before Rosberg suffered mechanical issues in his PU (ERS failure).

Hamilton won the race and achieved his second Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship, after his 2008 triumph with McLaren. It was Mercedes’ first WDC title since Fangio’s in 1955.

At this point, Hamilton had 33 victories, 38 Pole Positions and 70 podiums in 148 World Championship races, which already were tremendous numbers for a 29 -year-old driver with just eight seasons in the sport.

The start of a story of domination and legendary results.