Bottas holds off Hamilton to win F1 season finale at Abu Dhabi

Autosport

Valtteri Bottas held off Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton to win the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina.

Bottas retained the lead from pole at the start and though he lost it briefly when he pitted first, he absorbed pressure from Hamilton to secure his third win of the season.

World champion Hamilton crossed the line 3.8 seconds adrift, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel completing the podium in third.

Once Bottas got through Turn 1 in the lead, he quickly opened up a one-second lead over Hamilton before gradually building it up to two seconds before the stops.

He was the first of the Mercedes drivers to pit, swapping the ultra-softs for super-softs and rejoining in second place.

Hamilton stayed out for three further laps, clocking the fastest lap in the process, but couldn’t make up enough ground and rejoined behind Bottas.

The world champion attacked his team-mate, briefly getting within DRS range, but locked up at Turn 17, running off track before rejoining.

Hamilton kept up the pressure and even got within 0.5s after Bottas had a lock-up of his own, but his team-mate responded by putting the hammer down and pulling away.

The result was Mercedes’ third one-two of the season.

Vettel had a quiet race in a lonely third place ahead of Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was on course to finish fourth, but pulled off track and retired the car with a hydraulic problem shortly before the halfway point.

His team-mate Max Verstappen finished fifth, just 0.8s behind Raikkonen with Nico Hulkenberg sixth to secure sixth place in the constructors’ championship for Renault.

Hulkenberg escaped with a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when battling Sergio Perez on the first lap.

By the time Hulkenberg took the penalty at his pitstop, he had comfortably built enough of an advantage to negate it.

His team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr retired for the fourth time in six races after the team did not attach the front-left tyre properly at his pitstop.

But for the incident, Sainz had been on course to leapfrog Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa into ninth place by running long before pitting.

Perez finished seventh, 6.8s clear of Force India team-mate Esteban Ocon.

Alonso signed off the McLaren-Honda partnership with ninth place, securing the team’s third consecutive points finish.

Massa completed his 269th and final grand prix in the points in 10th and celebrated with a few doughnuts after the chequered flag.

He had been ahead of Alonso in the first stint but the McLaren passed the later-stopping Williams on its out-lap.

Romain Grosjean was involved in the race’s most entertaining battle, squabbling with Lance Stroll over 13th in the first stint and eventually coming out on top after multiple passes and repasses.

The Haas driver finished 11th, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne, with Kevin Magnussen recovering from a first lap spin that dropped him to the back of the field to finish 13th.

Stroll ended up making three pitstops on a day everyone else stopped once and fell to last.

Race result

POSDRIVERCARLAPSGAP
1Valtteri BottasMercedes551h34m14.062s
2Lewis HamiltonMercedes553.899s
3Sebastian VettelFerrari5519.330s
4Kimi RaikkonenFerrari5545.386s
5Max VerstappenRed Bull/Renault5546.269s
6Nico HulkenbergRenault551m25.713s
7Sergio PerezForce India/Mercedes551m32.062s
8Esteban OconForce India/Mercedes551m38.911s
9Fernando AlonsoMcLaren/Honda541 Lap
10Felipe MassaWilliams/Mercedes541 Lap
11Romain GrosjeanHaas/Ferrari541 Lap
12Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren/Honda541 Lap
13Kevin MagnussenHaas/Ferrari541 Lap
14Pascal WehrleinSauber/Ferrari541 Lap
15Brendon HartleyToro Rosso/Renault541 Lap
16Pierre GaslyToro Rosso/Renault541 Lap
17Marcus EricssonSauber/Ferrari541 Lap
18Lance StrollWilliams/Mercedes541 Lap
Carlos SainzRenault31Wheel
Daniel RicciardoRed Bull/Renault20Hydraulics

Drivers’ standings

POSDRIVERPOINTS
1Lewis Hamilton363
2Sebastian Vettel317
3Valtteri Bottas305
4Kimi Raikkonen205
5Daniel Ricciardo200
6Max Verstappen168
7Sergio Perez100
8Esteban Ocon87
9Carlos Sainz54
10Nico Hulkenberg43
11Felipe Massa43
12Lance Stroll40
13Romain Grosjean28
14Kevin Magnussen19
15Fernando Alonso17
16Stoffel Vandoorne13
17Jolyon Palmer8
18Pascal Wehrlein5
19Daniil Kvyat5
20Marcus Ericsson0
21Pierre Gasly0
22Antonio Giovinazzi0
23Brendon Hartley0

Constructors’ standings

POSCONSTRUCTORPOINTS
1Mercedes668
2Ferrari522
3Red Bull/Renault368
4Force India/Mercedes187
5Williams/Mercedes83
6Renault57
7Toro Rosso/Renault53
8Haas/Ferrari47
9McLaren/Honda30
10Sauber/Ferrari5

Bottas holds off Hamilton to win F1 season finale at Abu Dhabi

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