For the first time in Formula One history, double points were awarded at this race for every finishing position. The FIA introduced the rule to maintain championship interest to the final round; commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone had initially proposed it for the last three races, but teams agreed to limit it to one event. Under normal scoring Hamilton would have required only sixth place to secure the title; the double-points rule raised that requirement to a top-two finish. As results fell, however, the change made no difference to the championship outcome. The rule was eliminated for 2015 and was not used again.
Marussia did not contest the race, having collapsed before the Brazilian Grand Prix. Caterham, in a similar financial position, ran a crowdsourcing campaign to fund their attendance and returned for the season finale, raising the grid to twenty cars. With Marcus Ericsson having terminated his contract weeks earlier, Will Stevens — a former Marussia test driver — made his Formula One debut for the team. André Lotterer, who had driven for Caterham at the Belgian Grand Prix, declined the drive. The race was the final Formula One appearance for Caterham, which did not survive to the 2015 season. It was also the last Grand Prix for Jean-Éric Vergne, Adrian Sutil, and Kamui Kobayashi.
Pirelli supplied the yellow-banded soft tyre as the prime compound and the red-banded supersoft as the option — the first time since Pirelli became sole supplier that this combination was used in Abu Dhabi.
Hamilton set the fastest times in Q1 and Q2, posting a lap 0.539 seconds faster than Rosberg in Q2, but twice ran scruffily in Q3. Rosberg took pole with a time of 1:40.480, with Hamilton 0.386 seconds behind. Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo were subsequently excluded from qualifying after their front wings were found to flex under aerodynamic load, constituting an illegal movable device. Both were relegated to the back of the grid, and when Red Bull replaced the illegal wings their parc fermé violation resulted in a further penalty requiring both to start from the pit lane. Romain Grosjean, carrying a twenty-place power unit penalty, was given a pit lane drive-through instead, as the penalty could not be carried to the 2015 season.
Hamilton got ahead of Rosberg at the first corner from second on the grid and built a 2.6-second lead by lap 22. Rosberg's problems began on lap 23 when he locked up and ran wide at turn 17, then on lap 24 reported losing engine power. By lap 25 he was informed his ERS had failed entirely, and he dropped progressively through the field to finish fourteenth. Rosberg acknowledged after the race that the ERS failure had not changed the outcome, as Hamilton would have needed to finish third or lower for Rosberg to win the title under any points system.
With Rosberg out of contention Hamilton lowered his pace to protect the car. Felipe Massa, on fresh supersofts after his final stop, closed to within 11 seconds but Hamilton raised his pace sufficiently to win by 2.5 seconds. Valtteri Bottas completed the podium, giving Williams their first double podium since the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix. Ricciardo recovered from the pit lane to finish fourth and Vettel eighth, having been slowed by traffic during his comeback. Rosberg entered the cooldown room before the podium to congratulate Hamilton on winning the championship.
Hamilton's victory delivered his second Drivers' World Championship. Mercedes set new season records of 701 constructor points and a 296-point winning margin over second-placed Red Bull. The FIA tested its Virtual Safety Car system during the event ahead of its formal introduction in 2015, though the Abu Dhabi version was not the preferred configuration.
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