Verstappen takes Abu Dhabi victory, Leclerc seals second in championship

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix turned out to be a tyre administration race which Max Verstappen simply managed to take victory and end the season on a excessive. Charles Leclerc made a single-stop technique work and completed second, simply forward of Sergio Perez.

The begin of the race was hectic, no less than behind the Red Bulls who acquired off cleanly and simply maintained their first and second place. Behind them, Leclerc held third whereas Hamilton initially moved as much as fourth previous Sainz. The latter tried to get Hamilton again on the finish of the lengthy again straight nevertheless it instantly resulted in an investigation for forcing Hamilton off-track. No penalties have been handed whereas Hamilton acquired his 4th place again by chopping the nook. Hamilton was although requested to let Sainz previous two laps later, one thing he did instantly regardless of him being almost two seconds forward of the Spaniard by that point.

So that left Sainz in fifth, adopted by Norris who moved up previous Russell in the beginning. Ocon adopted in eighth, then Vettel, Alonso, Tsunoda and Stroll. The greatest begin was realised by Alex Albon, gaining 4 locations from nineteenth to fifteenth.

On lap 6 Hamilton handed Sainz as soon as once more, dropping him proper into the trail of Russell because the Mercedes have been beginning to present what Sainz had anticipated on Saturday already; higher race tempo for the Mercedes. Still, two laps later, Sainz returned to 4th adopted by Hamilton unable to comply with Sainz and getting handed by Russell one lap later. Hamilton complained of energy loss however did not get an evidence.

Meanwhile Ocon maintained eighth whereas Vettel and Alonso behind continued to remain inside DRS vary. Ocon was finally the primary to pit on lap 15, adopted by Tsunoda, Schumacher and Gasly. At the identical time, Alonso complained he was caught, saying “we are so slow”.

The subsequent lap Perez, Russell and Norris pitted to change to onerous tyres. Perez returned to the observe in sixth and handed Vettel on the straight, solely to overshoot Turn 6, get re-passed by Vettel by means of Turn 8 and lose one other lap behind the Aston Martin earlier than re-taking 4th.

Russell’s pitstop in the meantime wasn’t the best and on high of that he would obtain a 5s penalty for an unsafe launch

On lap 20 Verstappen pitted from the lead, bringing Leclerc in the lead. Along with Vettel the Ferrari driver was the one one on the time to nonetheless run on his medium Pirelli tyres from the beginning, previous Pirelli’s predicted first stint size for a two-stopper. Lerclec pitted the subsequent lap and Vettel did so one other 5 laps later after reporting “It’s the worst. We’re getting eaten by everyone”.

Lap 28 marks the tip of Alonso’s stint at Alpine as he retired the automobile with one other technical drawback.

In entrance the gaps remained surprisingly small. As Verstappen led just about by a relentless 2.5s over Perez, Leclerc slowly closed in to Perez, right down to 1.5s on lap 33. Sainz adopted 5s additional down whereas reporting tyre struggles. Russel trailed the second Ferrari by 2.8s with one other 2.5s additional behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton who appeared to have discovered some tempo again after the shocking drop in efficiency spherical about lap 6.

On lap 34 Perez pitted for a contemporary set of onerous tyres, returning to the observe 10s behind Hamilton. At the identical time Verstappen was requested to “increase tyre management” with the crew clearly anxious in regards to the sturdiness of the tyres.

By the time Sainz and Russell pitted concurrently on lap 40, Hamilton had come again beneath the rear wing of Russell, shifting as much as third due to these stops whereas Perez trailed the Mercedes at 3 seconds. Russell notably switched to mediums as Sainz took on contemporary hards.

7 laps from the tip it grew to become a battle of who may make their tyres final the longest. Verstappen did not actually have a lot to fret about with 7s nonetheless in his pocket over Leclerc, however the latter had Perez chasing him on 12 lap newer tyres in their battle for second place in the championship. The hole between them was 6s with 7 laps left. Hamilton in the meantime had equally outdated hards whereas Sainz was 5s behind on 20 laps newer tyres, a state of affairs Hamilton wasn’t significantly keen on after having requested repeatedly to cease a second time.

Three laps from the tip the Mercedes lastly gave up after displaying unbelievable reliabiltiy all through the season. A hydraulic drawback compelled Hamilton to rumble slowly to the pitlane and the tip of a 12 months with a automobile he wasn’t significantly keen on.

With victory sealed the battle for second raged on because the gapbetween LEclerc and Perez ended up being 1.85s as they crossed the end line to start out the ultimate lap. By Turn 6 it was right down to 1.7s however positions did not change, a lot to the enjoyment of Ferrari and Leclerc as this meant second place in the championship for Charles.