Lewis Hamilton ends season with race retirement

Sun, Nov 1 07:51 PM

Enlarge Photo McLaren Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain leads Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel of Germany...

McLaren's outgoing world champion Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire for safety reasons from Sunday's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after the Briton had led from pole position.

Hamilton was told of a brake problem after his first scheduled pitstop and then instructed by the team to return to the garages after 20 of the 55 laps.

A McLaren spokesman said they had detected unusual brake pad wear on the right rear and stopped the 24-year-old for safety reasons.

"There was a problem with the brakes, I couldn't stop the car," Hamilton told the BBC. "I was locking and locking and locking and it was harder than ever to drive the car.

"It's a shame as the car felt so good these last couple of days, but we haven't had many brake problems this year so there you go."

Sunday's retirement was only Hamilton's second of the season and the first due to mechanical reasons. The other was a crash in Belgium.

The Briton had said of his Mercedes-powered car after dominating Saturday's qualifying that it was "probably the best it has been all year."

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel led the floodlit race at the glittering new Yas Marina circuit, ahead of Australian team mate Mark Webber, in Hamilton's absence.

Both titles had already been decided before the sport's first day-to-night race, with Britain's Jenson Button and his Brawn GP team taking both crowns in Brazil with a race to spare.

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar and Alison Wildey; To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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