Hamilton held off by Bottas in final GP
VALTTERI Bottas survived several laps of high-speed pressure from his Mercedes teammate and world champion Lewis Hamilton to claim a memorable victory in Sunday’s seasonending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The 28-year-old Finn, who started from pole position, led from the lights to the flag apart from a spell following his first pit stop when the four-time champion Briton was in control.
It was Bottas’s third career victory, all of them recorded since he joined Mercedes to partner the 32-year-old Hamilton in January following the unexpected exit of 2016 champion German Nico Rosberg.
“This is a really important win for me after having a pretty difficult start to the second half of the year,” said Bottas.
“We Finns don’t show much emotion, but it doesn’t mean we don’t have any. I am so happy. There has been so much support. I can’t show it too much but I feel good.”
Hamilton came home four seconds behind Bottas, having eased off in the closing laps.
The Briton racing legend scored points in every race of the season, underlining his dominance this year.
The four-time former champion Sebastian Vettel finished a lonely third for Ferrari, as the two Mercedes men delivered celebratory doughnuts for the crowd.
It was Vettel’s 99th career podium and his 13th of the season.
Kimi Raikkonen was fourth in the second Ferrari ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull and Nico Hulkenberg for Renault, whose sixth-place finish assured Renault of sixth in the constructors’ championship ahead of Toro Rosso.
Sergio Perez came home seventh ahead of his Force India teammate Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso of McLaren Honda and Felipe Massa, in his last F1 race before retirement, for Williams.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who was fourth on the grid, failed to finish his Red Bull for the third time in four outings.