The Formula 1 season for 2014 is heading for a climax in Abu Dhabi over the weekend. The Constructors' Championship for the year has already been settled in favour of Mercedes, which has 651 points, followed by Red Bull Racing-Renault and Williams-Mercedes, both quite a distance behind with 373 and 254 points respectively. The defending constructor, Red Bull, will find it impossible to beat Mercedes. Even if its drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastien Vettel, take the first two places at the pretty Yas Marina circuit, they will not win enough points to overtake the leader.

The suspense is about who will be the champion driver of 2014. At the end of the penultimate race of the year in Brazil, the men at the top were separated by just 17 points: Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton has 334 points, while his compatriot Nico Rosberg has 317 points. They are followed by Red Bull's Ricciardo with 214 points.

Hamilton has insisted that his 17-point advantage over Rosberg is not enough to provide him with a margin of safety heading into the Abu Dhabi season finale. Hamilton can afford to finish second to his teammate and title rival at Yas Marina and still clinch a second crown, but the British driver believes that he cannot take his lead over his German teammate for granted, and that securing victory would be his sole aim on Sunday.

Vettel, who has enjoyed an amazing winning streak in recent years, has fallen behind this season with no substantial win in any race. He stands fourth in the drivers' standings with a measly 159 points.

The ticket prices at Abu Dhabi cost $150 to $2,500. But as with most Formula 1 races, which are both sporting as well as social events, tickets for race day had sold out days before the practice runs on Friday. The race starts at 5 pm local time on Sunday and will continue under floodlights on the hybrid track - partly laid and partly street.

The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules that all participants' cars must comply with. There are 11 teams from well-known constructors, each of which has two drivers and two cars racing. The Formula 1 season this year had 19 races in 17 countries. They are raced on specially-laid tracks at racing circuits, with the exception of Monaco, Melbourne, Singapore and Valencia. In these cities, the race takes place on public streets, suitably prepared for speeds of 300 kmph and over. Singapore has the distinction of having the race taking place at night along brightly lit streets. In San Marino, Italy, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, the race is run anti-clockwise, creating a situation for drivers, who find it difficult to adjust their necks to the drive.

According to the scoring system, the first 10 positions earn the drivers 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 6, 4, 2 and 1 points, respectively. The constructor's title is decided by adding the points scored by the two drivers of the team. In case of a tie for the championship places, the driver or constructor with the higher number of superior race results is designated the winner. However, the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) has modified the rules to award double the points in the last race of the reason in an attempt to keep the championships undecided till the very end. This was resorted to after Red Bull dominated the season four years in a row.

FIA says that the extra points would "maximise focus on the championship until the end of the campaign", but critics point out how bad luck in the final race would have a far greater impact on the title outcome than at any other point in the season. Vettel would not have been champion in 2012 had double points been awarded in the last race. Neither would Hamilton have been champion with McLaren in 2008 nor Michael Schumacher with Ferrari in 2003. Brazilian Felipe Massa and Finland's Kimi Raikkonen would have taken the titles instead.

Abu Dhabi brings to a close a season when there were no races in India after three were run at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida between 2011 and 2013. Delhi does not figure in the 2014 and 2015 calendars. Bernie Ecclestone, chief executive of the F1 group, said that the 2014 Indian Grand Prix had to be dropped to tweak the racing calendar. The actual reason is believed to be political: a show of disapproval at the government's unwillingness to relent on taxation issues and the red tape involved.

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Formula 1 heads to Abu Dhabi for a suspenseful finale