Champion Hamilton finishes in fine style

FORMULA ONE: Abu Dhabi victory rounds off fantastic season

Lewis Hamilton ended his remarkable season in winning fashion by charging to victory in Abu Dhabi, as Nico Hulkenberg escaped injury when he was trapped after his Renault caught fire.

Hamilton’s triumph under the lights of the Yas Marina circuit, aided by a Mercedes tactical masterstroke after they called the British driver in for an early change of tyres, was the 11th victory of his championship-winning year.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel came second, with Red Bull driver Max Verstappen completing the podium.

But the concluding race of the 21-round season will be remembered for Hulkenberg’s opening-lap crash.

The 31-year-old German somersaulted through the air one-and-ahalf times before landing the wrong way up after he collided with the Haas of Romain Grosjean through the righthanded Turn 9.

Hulkenberg was left dangling upside down and unable to slide out of his Renault following the introduction of the halo, Formula One’s three-pronged safety device that sits above the vehicle’s cockpit.

“I’m hanging here like a Hulkenberg said over the radio.

“Get me out. There is a fire. There is a fire.”

British pop star Sam Smith, standing with Spice Girl Geri Horner, watched on cow,” aghast, with Hulkenberg still strapped into his Renault.

The safety marshals were quickly on the scene before the flames went out, but the German was in his car for more than three minutes during the harrowing incident.

He was assisted to the medical centre, where the sport’s governing body, the FIA, reported he was shaken. Hulkenberg was later released, with doctors confident he had escaped the collision unharmed.

The early incident saw the safety car sent out for six laps with pole-sitter Hamilton leading the pack.

Hollywood superstar Will Smith had jokingly taken Hamilton hostage before the race, tying the world champion up, and heading to the Briton’s car in personalised Mercedes overalls.

But when Hamilton took to the machinery, which propelled him to his fifth world championship with two rounds to spare, he made no mistake with a commanding display befitting of his dominant year.

His Mercedes team played their part, too, after they took advantage of a Virtual Safety Car – deployed when Kimi Raikkonen stopped on the main straight with an engine failure in his final race for Ferrari – to allow Hamilton the chance to effectively make a free pit stop.

He returned to the track in fifth, temporarily racing with Verstappen, but when those ahead came in for tyres, with Daniel Ricciardo the last of those pitting on lap 33, Hamilton re-took the lead.

He eventually crossed the line 2.5 seconds clear of Vettel.

Ricciardo, in his final race for Red Bull, took the chequered flag in fourth ahead of Valtteri Bottas.

Vettel said: “Lewis is the champion and he deserves it.

“It has been a tough year. I tried everything until the last lap today. I enjoyed catching him a little bit, but he controlled the race.

“It has been a long year. We will try, and our whole team will try, to come back stronger to give him a harder run next year.”

Picture: Getty Images. Lewis Hamilton celebrates after winning his fifth Formula One World Championship.