Valtteri Bottas won the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2017

Football Full Time   November 26, 2017   Formula 1   Comment  

Valtteri Bottas held off team-mate Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes cruised to a dominant one-two, Sebastian Vettel came home a distant third in the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. 


Lewis Hamilton, who won his fourth Formula 1 world championship two races before the end of the season, appeared quicker in the second part of the race.
But he could not get quite close enough to challenge for the lead in a drab and largely action-free 2017 F1 season finale.


A Bottas masterclass season ending.

It might not have been the best race of what has been a gripping season, but it yielded Bottas the
victory. It was Bottas' third win of the year, but first since July, as the Finn made up for being beaten from pole in Brazil and denied his team-mate a perfect ending to his fourth title-winning campaign, in the end, he led Hamilton home by 3.8s in the most convincing race of his career so far.


The two great rivals fought to the last race.
Sebastian Vettel did not have the chance to go further than the third place to underline the anti-climatic way in which Ferrari have ended a season that had for so long promised so much more.
Hamilton and Vettel had both wanted to end this F1 2017 season with a victory, for different reasons - Hamilton to prevent his former title rival from winning the last two races; Vettel to give Ferrari a moral boost going into the off-season.

Kimi Raikkonen followed his team mate home in fourth, with Max Verstappen keeping the Finn honest throughout as the only Red Bull finisher in fifth, after Daniel Ricciardo became the first retirement on lap 21 with hydraulic problems.
Nico Hulkenberg was sixth, lifting Renault ahead of Toro Rosso to sixth in the final constructor standings, with the Forced Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon next up, as Alonso took ninth in the final race for McLaren Honda. Behind him, Massa celebrated his last Grand Prix with a solid run to 10th and the final point, joining the victorious Mercedes in making happy donuts on his slow-down lap of the Abu Dhabi GP.

The best racing took place way down the field, where Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen brought their Haas cars home 11th and 13th, sandwiching Stoffel Vandoorne’s McLaren. Both the Dane and the Belgian had to come back from early problems, but the other star was Pascal Wehrlein, who dragged his Sauber past Magnussen at one stage only to be blown away on the straight by the Haas. He finished an honourable 14th, only 1.5s off the second Haas, as the vanquished Toro Rossos of Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly led Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber home. Lance Stroll was the final finisher of the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Full race results for the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit.

1.Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport 55 laps, 1hr 34m 14.063s

2.Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport +03.899s

3.Sebastian Vettel GER Scuderia Ferrari +19.330s

4.Kimi Raikkonen FIN Scuderia Ferrari +45.386s

5.Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer +46.269s

6.Nico Hulkenberg GER Renault Sport F1 +1m 25.713s

7.Sergio Perez MEX Sahara Force India-Mercedes +1m 32.062s

8.Esteban Ocon FRA Sahara Force India-Mercedes +1m 38.911s

9.Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda +1 lap

10.Felipe Massa BRA Williams Martini Racing-Mercedes +1 lap

11.Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari +1 lap

12.Stoffel Vandoorne BEL McLaren-Honda +1 lap

13.Kevin Magnussen DEN Haas-Ferrari +1 lap

14.Pascal Wehrlein GER Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap

15.Brendon Hartley NZL Scuderia Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap

16.Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap

17.Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap

18.Lance Stroll CAN Williams Martini Racing-Mercedes +1 lap

DNF

Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Renault Sport F1

Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer.

Driver Standings Top 7

1. Lewis Hamilton GBR. MERCEDES    (363) 2. Sebastian Vettel GER. FERRARI       (317) 3. Valtteri Bottas FIN. MERCEDES (305)
4. Kimi Räikkönen   FIN.   FERRARI     (205)
5. Daniel Ricciardo AUS. RED BULL (200)
6.Max Verstappen    NDE.  RED BULL   (168)
7.Sergio Perez MEX.  FORCE INDIA      (100)

What happens next for the speed circus?

The world of Formula 1 goes into competitive hibernation for just over three months, while the teams work hard on their new cars. The new season starts in Australia on 26 March, 2018.