The 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 68th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 65th Formula One World Championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars, recognised by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The season commenced in Australia on 16 March and concluded in Abu Dhabi on 23 November. In the nineteen Grands Prix of the season, a total of eleven teams and twenty-four drivers competed for the World Drivers' and World Constructors' championships. The season was the first Formula One season since to see an accident with fatal consequences as Jules Bianchi died on 17 July 2015 after spending nine months in a coma following a crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
In 2014, the championship saw the introduction of a revised engine formula, in which the 2.4-litre V8 engine configuration—previously used between and —was replaced with a new formula specifying a 1.6-litre (97.6 cu in) turbocharged V6 engine that incorporated an energy recovery system into its build. The 2014 calendar featured substantial revisions from the 2013 season; the Russian Grand Prix (held the first time in a century) was held at the Sochi Autodrom, and the Austrian Grand Prix was revived with the race held at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. The Indian Grand Prix was put on hiatus before being removed from the schedule entirely along with the Korean Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel started the season as defending World Drivers' Champion having secured his fourth consecutive Drivers' title the previous season at the 2013 Indian Grand Prix. His team, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, also started the season as defending World Constructors' Champions having secured its fourth consecutive Constructors' title last season at the same Grand Prix in which its lead driver secured his title.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won his second World Drivers' Championship - his first for Mercedes, having previously won his first title in with McLaren and becoming only the second driver to win the title for the Silver Arrows since Juan Manuel Fangio did so in - with 384 points and 11 victories ahead of his teammate, Nico Rosberg with 317 points and 5 victories, ending Red Bull's 4 year championship dominance (which started in 2010). Rosberg also won the inaugural FIA Pole Trophy having amassed a total of 11 pole positions over the course of the season. Mercedes secured their first World Constructors' Championship as a full works constructor in Russia, and finished the season with 701 points, 296 points ahead of Infiniti Red Bull Racing. The season also saw the first three wins of Daniel Ricciardo, who finished third in the championship for Infiniti Red Bull Racing. Meanwhile, Ricciardo's teammate and defending champion Vettel endured a winless season making the German driver the first defending champion since Jacques Villeneuve in 1998 to have this unwanted distinction and last to date, as of .
Teams and drivers The following teams and drivers took part in the 2014 season. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli. EntrantConstructorChassisPower unitNo.Race driversRounds Caterham F1 TeamCaterham-RenaultCT05Renault EnergyF1-20149461045 Marcus Ericsson Will Stevens Kamui Kobayashi André LottererTBA1–16191–11, 13–16, 1912 Scuderia FerrariFerrariF14 TFerrari 059/3714 Kimi Räikkönen Fernando AlonsoAllAll Sahara Force India F1 TeamForce India-MercedesVJM07Mercedes PU106A Hybrid1127 Sergio Pérez Nico HülkenbergAllAll Lotus F1 TeamLotus-RenaultE22Renault EnergyF1-2014813 Romain Grosjean Pastor MaldonadoAllAll Marussia F1 TeamMarussia-FerrariMR03Ferrari 059/34421742 Max Chilton Alexander Rossi Jules Bianchi Alexander Rossi1–16121–1516 McLaren MercedesMcLaren-MercedesMercedes PU106A Hybrid2022 Kevin Magnussen Jenson ButtonAllAll Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 TeamMercedesF1 W05HybridMercedes PU106A Hybrid644 Nico Rosberg Lewis HamiltonAllAll Infiniti Red Bull Racing RenaultRed Bull-RenaultRB10Renault EnergyF1-201413 Sebastian Vettel Daniel RicciardoAllAll Sauber F1 TeamSauber-FerrariC33Ferrari 059/32199 Esteban Gutiérrez Adrian SutilAllAll Scuderia Toro RossoToro Rosso-RenaultSTR9Renault EnergyF1-20142526 Jean-Éric Vergne Daniil KvyatAllAll Williams Martini RacingWilliams-MercedesFW36Mercedes PU106A Hybrid1977 Felipe Massa Valtteri BottasAllAllSources:
This was the final season for Max Chilton, Jean-Éric Vergne, Kamui Kobayashi, Adrian Sutil, and Jules Bianchi, the latter of whom had a test driver contract for 2015, but suffered an accident leading to fatal injuries at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
Free practice drivers 6 teams used free practice drivers over the course of the season.
+ ConstructorPractice driversNo.Driver nameRoundsCaterham-Renault 464545 Robin Frijns Alexander Rossi Roberto Merhi 3, 9713, 15–16Force India-Mercedes 34 Daniel Juncadella9, 13, 18Lotus–Renault 3031 Charles Pic Esteban Ocon1319Sauber-Ferrari 363737 Giedo van der Garde Sergey Sirotkin Adderly Fong3–5, 9–10, 12–131619Toro Rosso-Renault 38 Max Verstappen15, 17–18Williams-Mercedes 4041 Felipe Nasr Susie Wolff3–5, 17–189–10 Source:
Team changes Cosworth elected not to build an engine to fit the 2014 generation of regulations. This decision prompted Marussia, the only team using Cosworth engines during the season, to seek out a new engine supplier. They joined Ferrari's customer programme with Ferrari providing the team with both engine and powertrain for 2014 and beyond. Toro Rosso secured an agreement with Renault for engines in 2014, ending their seven-year arrangement with Ferrari. Williams parted ways with Renault after two seasons, switching to Mercedes power in what the team described as a "long-term deal". The deal came after Renault publicised their intentions to reduce their engine supply to three teams in 2014, before the French manufacturer ultimately settled on supplying four. In 2011, former BAR team principal Craig Pollock announced the formation of Propulsion Universelle et Récuperation d'Énergie—commonly known by its acronym, PURE—and signalled his intentions to enter the sport in 2014 as a customer engine supplier, with the full support of the FIA. However, the engine programme was eventually suspended in July 2012 due to problems regarding funding, and was ultimately unable to secure any clients for the 2014 season.
Driver changes runner-up Felipe Massa left Ferrari at the end of the 2013 season after eight years racing for the team. He moved to Williams, alongside Valtteri Bottas. Pastor Maldonado, having been replaced at Williams by Massa, moved to Lotus F1, taking the seat vacated by World Champion Kimi Räikkönen. Räikkönen returned to Ferrari, the team he raced for from 2007 to . The partnership of Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso marked the first time since that Ferrari contested a season with two World Drivers' Champions in the team. Mark Webber retired from Formula One after twelve seasons, the last seven with Red Bull Racing. He moved to the FIA World Endurance Championship. Daniel Ricciardo left Scuderia Toro Rosso to fill his seat, becoming the second driver to graduate from the team's young driver programme to their premier racing team. Toro Rosso chose 2013 GP3 Series champion Daniil Kvyat as Ricciardo's replacement. Sergio Pérez left McLaren after a single season with the team. He was replaced by 2013 Formula Renault 3.5 champion and McLaren Young Driver Programme member Kevin Magnussen. Pérez moved to Force India, where he was joined by Nico Hülkenberg, who returned to the team after one year with Sauber. As a result of the Hülkenberg and Pérez deals, Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil lost their seats with the team. Sutil went on to secure Hülkenberg's vacant seat at Sauber, while di Resta left Formula One entirely and returned to the DTM series, the series he competed in prior to joining Formula One. Kamui Kobayashi returned to Formula One with Caterham, after spending the 2013 season competing in the World Endurance Championship. He was partnered with GP2 Series regular Marcus Ericsson, who became the first Swedish driver in Formula One since Stefan Johansson retired from the sport in . The decision left both Giedo van der Garde and Charles Pic without a drive, and both went on to take reserve driver roles with other teams; van der Garde joined Sauber, while Pic moved to Lotus. Susie Wolff joined Williams as a test and reserve driver, with a programme that included participation in selected Free Practice 1 sessions. In doing so, she became the first female driver to take part in a Grand Prix weekend since Giovanna Amati failed to qualify for the 1992 Brazilian Grand Prix. On 3 October 2014, Max Verstappen became the youngest driver to participate in a Formula One Grand Prix weekend (17 years, 3 days), driving in FP1 at the Japanese Grand Prix, deputising in place of Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne.
Mid-season changes
In the week leading up to the , the Caterham F1 Team announced that team owner Tony Fernandes had sold his controlling stake to a consortium of Swiss and Middle Eastern investors. Former Midland and Spyker driver Christijan Albers was appointed as team principal, with the team declaring its intentions to continue competing under the Caterham name. Albers was himself replaced by Manfredi Ravetto, who admitted that the sale was necessary to keep the team on the grid. Ravetto was in turn replaced, this time by Finbarr O'Connell, who was appointed when the team was placed into administration ahead of the United States Grand Prix due to a dispute over the team's ownership. The team was later given a dispensation to miss the United States and Brazilian Grands Prix in order to resolve the dispute. Three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner and 2011 Formula Nippon (now Super Formula) champion André Lotterer made his Formula One debut with Caterham, replacing Kamui Kobayashi at the Belgian Grand Prix. Under the terms of the deal, Kobayashi returned to the team for the Italian Grand Prix, while Lotterer returned to Super Formula. The team had further planned to substitute Kobayashi for Formula One's most experienced driver in history, Rubens Barrichello, in the United States, Brazilian and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix, but were forced to abandon the plan when they entered administration. The team ultimately put together a rescue package ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but with Marcus Ericsson formally leaving the team ahead of a move to Sauber in , Caterham chose debutant Will Stevens as his replacement. Alexander Rossi was entered for the Belgian Grand Prix by Marussia as a replacement for Max Chilton. However, following the first practice session, Chilton was reinstated as the team's racing driver, and Rossi only participated in the practice session. Rossi was later nominated as Jules Bianchi's replacement for the Russian Grand Prix, but the entry was ultimately withdrawn out of respect for the critically injured Bianchi. Jules Bianchi suffered a serious head injury in a crash at the Japanese Grand Prix, remaining hospitalised and in a coma until his death in July 2015. Marussia decided to withdraw their second entry for the Russian Grand Prix, Alexander Rossi, out of respect for the Frenchman. Faced with their own financial problems, the team was also granted a dispensation to miss the United States Grand Prix. One week before the Grand Prix, Marussia followed Caterham into administration.
Calendar
The following nineteen Grands Prix took place in 2014.