Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes-Benz have ended Red Bull Racing's four-year dominance of Formula One by winning the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships respectively.
A former world champion, Hamilton ended his six-year dry spell and secured his second world title in a calm and composed manner after team mate and title rival, Nico Rosberg, suffered from issues to his Energy Recovery System (ERS) around lap 19 and finished 14th and out of contention for the title.
While Rosberg managed to finish the race, with a power deficit of 160bhp, his aspirations of securing his first world title have been delayed by at least a year. Mercedes' attempt to retire the car was denied by Rosberg, who requested to remain on track and complete the race until the very end.
Taking precautionary actions, Hamilton reacted by turning down his power settings and managed to nurse his car home, which allowed Felipe Massa, in his Mercedes powered Williams, to close in during the final stint of the race.
However, Massa crossed the line 2.5 seconds off the #44 silver arrows while Massa's team mate Valtteri Bottas took the final spot on the podium to round off a resurgent season for Williams. The stellar performance of Williams saw the team comfortably secure third place in the Constructors' title, trailing behind Mercedes and Red Bull by 296 points and 381 points respectively.
Both Red Bulls started from the pit lane, after the front wings they ran during qualifying were deemed illegal. The FIA presumed that the flaps on the Red Bulls' front wings were designed to flex under aerodynamic load in order to gain an advantage, which is a violation under the sport's technical regulations.
Red Bull had to change the wings on both cars overnight, which in turn breaches parc ferme regulations that prohibit changes to the cars between qualifying and the race.
Regardless, rising star Daniel Ricciardo finished an impressive fourth while Ferrari bound Sebastian Vettel finished eighth, ahead of Fernando Alonso, in his final race for the fabled team. Kimi Raikkonen finished two seconds off Alonso to take the final point.
Jenson Button of McLaren finished the race in a remarkable fifth, in what could be the British driver's final race in Formula One as McLaren have once again delayed their 2015 driver lineup announcement. While Alonso is strongly rumoured to return to McLaren - who will be powered by Honda next season - it is unclear if either Button or Magnussen will retain their driver seat. Nico Hulkenberg finished a decent sixth for Force India ahead of team mate Sergio Perez.
The high-octane sporting action returns in Melbourne, Australia, on the 15th of March 2015 - kicking off the 2015 F1 season.
