Lewis wants more thrills in F1 finale

LEWIS Hamilton has called for changes to Formula One’s season-ending fixture after a lacklustre conclusion to his world championship-winning campaign in Abu Dhabi.

Hamilton finished behind his Mercedes team-mate and race winner Valtteri Bottas, while Sebastian Vettel completed the podium places, following a race which will not live long in the memory.

Abu Dhabi has become the stage for Formula One’s season finale, indeed, it pays a premium to do so – and it is one played out against the backdrop of an exotic harbour and thousands of floodlights.

But the 3.3-mile Yas Marina track is notable for its lack of action, and aside from Daniel Ricciardo’s hydraulics failure and Carlos Sainz’s dodgy tyre following a pit-stop error by his team, it was yet another race here to pass off without incident. Last year’s grand prix only came to life after Hamilton defied Mercedes’ team orders and backed up the pack in a fruitless bid to prevent Nico Rosberg from winning the championship. He hustled Bottas yesterday but the Finn’s lead rarely appeared in danger.

“They’ve got to change this track,” said Hamilton. “It’s just impossible to overtake. You have to have a 1.4-second advantage on the car in front. Valtteri and I have got the same car and there’s not 1.4 seconds between us in ability.

“You have the long straights where you can’t even get close enough to utilise them. If there is some way to enable us to remain closer, it is a track which will go up in the rankings, but I don’t know if they can change it. I know there’s money to do it. I have hope for Abu Dhabi to get better.”

Bottas blasted out of the starting blocks and fended off Hamilton on the short drag to the opening turn. With six laps to go, he made a mistake when he got out of shape through turn five, which saw Hamilton move to within half a second of his team-mate, but the newlycrowned four-time champion failed to make a move.

“We Finns don’t show emotion but it doesn’t mean we don’t have any,” Bottas added. “I’m so happy. It is a really important win after a difficult start to the second half of the year.”