Lewis Hamilton officially crowned 2014 world champion in award-laden weekend

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes picked up their respective world championship trophies for 2014 in the FIA’s prize-giving gala in Doha.

A fortnight after clinching his second world title in nearby Abu Dhabi, Hamilton was back in the Middle East to receive the Drivers’ World Championship trophy for the second time in his career on Friday night as the various champions from around the motorsport world were officially crowned.

Hamilton’s Mercedes team also received their Constructors’ Championship trophy, the first time the German marque has won the teams’ prize. Executive director Toto Wolff was on hand to collect the prize after the outfit utterly dominated the 2014 campaign with a record 16 race wins.

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Nico Rosberg also got his hands on silverware for finishing as runner-up to his team-mate in the standings, with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo doing likewise after a stunning year saw him finish third. The Australian’s 2015 team-mate, Daniil Kvyat, took the rookie of the year gong.

Back in London on Sunday night and Hamilton had his hands on yet more silverware with the Briton picking up two of the most prestigious prizes at the Autosport Awards ceremony.

For the third time in his career Hamilton was voted British Racing Driver of the Year, an award presented to him by Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle, with the International Racing Driver trophy following later in the evening.

Mercedes’ all-conquering W05 was unsurprisingly named Racing Car of the Year, with 20-year-old Kvyat doubling up on Rookie of the Year honours.

Speaking in Doha at the FIA ceremony, Hamilton – who also clinched his first world title in 2008 at the final round – said he enjoyed his season-long duel with Rosberg this year and now vowed to use the off-season to come back even stronger for his title defence.

“I don’t think you ever want to have it easy. You always want to have a fight. Easy championships, I don’t know, they’re just not as… you want that climax,” he said.

“Obviously in the last race it was a climax going into the last race, obviously Nico’s car had an issue, so then from halfway through the race the pressure was different to having to defend in the race. But still, throughout the whole year, just trying to keep your cool, stay focused and all those kinds of things. It was great. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to have had the championships I’ve had.

“This one definitely feels sweeter than the first but that’s probably just because I’m older and because of what I’ve gone through to get to this one and the decisions that I’ve taken and all those kinds of things. For the next one – if there is another one – at least in the championships I’m going into I want to fight as high as possible and try to work on and improve on the things that are not strong enough and could be better but overall it’s been an incredible year and I’ve been very blessed to have a great team around me.”