Bottas ends F1 season on a high after winning Abu Dhabi GP
ABU DHABI: Valtteri Bottas won the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday, beating his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton as Formula One’s season finale petered out into a procession.
The Finnish driver comfortably secured the third win of his F1 career, all this season since joining from Williams. It was his 22nd career podium and 13th with Mercedes.
With his fourth world title already secure, Hamilton had no need to chase the win. He finished 4 seconds behind and did not get close enough to attack.
The race started at 5 p.m. local time with the sun setting on the desert setting of the Yas Marina circuit and finished under floodlights. Bottas started from pole for the fourth time this season and assuredly held the position into the first corner.
Sebastian Vettel, who won the last race in Brazil, finished 20 seconds behind him in third place. Vettel’s Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen was fourth and also moved up to fourth in the standings, behind Bottas and second-place Vettel.
Hamilton clinched the world title — his third with Mercedes — in Mexico two races ago when he ended Vettel’s fading hopes.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen finished fifth while teammate Daniel Ricciardo retired, dropping from fourth to fifth in the standings.
Veteran Brazilian driver Felipe Massa, the 2008 F1 runner-up to Hamilton, finished 10th in his last race before retiring.