Aside from a half-hearted lunge from Charles Leclerc on the opening lap, polesitter Max Verstappen controlled events throughout the Yas Marina season finale to win over the Ferrari by 17.993 seconds.
With Sergio Perez penalised from second to fourth for hitting Lando Norris, George Russell completed the podium 20.328s adrift to narrowly seal the runner-up spot in the constructors’ championship for Mercedes.
Meanwhile, after being eliminated in Q2 to start 11th, Hamilton finished ninth - having lost the rear of the W14 on the final lap to fail in his bid to overtake Yuki Tsunoda.
The downbeat seven-time world champion reckoned the scale of Red Bull’s dominance, given it has not brought a performance upgrade since the Dutch GP in last August, should be a “concern”.
“Not great,” he said of his mood. “I just finished ninth; two really bad races [seventh in Las Vegas].
“Red Bull won by 17 seconds and have not touched the car since August. So, you can pretty much guess where they're going to be next year… I was just slow throughout the race.”
Source: Autosport