Abu Dhabi sums up the F1 season
We had a real endofterm atmosphere across the paddock in Abu Dhabi this season. Both World Championships were already settled, and without the tension of a title battle, the longestever season headed to the 21st and final hurrah of 201■ with the teams and drivers all feeling a bit more relaxed — and tired — than on some previous occasions.
The race itself wasn’t a classic, but there were various points in the results that were particularly symbolic. Having Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen on the podium was a nice way to end the season as I do think that they will be the three main title contenders next year. Seeing Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc score points underlined Renault and Sauber’s progress this season and their quality as drivers, while the reliability issues for drivers throughout the Abu Dhabi weekend showed just how close to the edge the engines were being pushed to make it through the 21 races.
The Ferrari threat
Looking back across the season, we had seen a titanic battle between Vettel and Hamilton
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix itself wasn’t a classic, but there were various points in the race results that were particularly symbolic of the 2018 season.
in the first half of the year. Last year, Ferrari looked like strong challengers to Mercedes and they arrived at preseason testing this year with an even more competitive package underneath them. At the opening round in Melbourne, however, Hamilton and Mercedes stamped their authority on the field with a dominant pole position. But a pit stop time miscalculation under the safety car meant that they gifted Vettel victory.
Once we got to Bahrain, however, it was game on. With every race that passed, the battle seemed closer than ever before and it seemed like we were in for the best seasonlong battle in this current V6 hybrid era that’s been dominated by Mercedes since 2014. Ferrari genuinely looked like they had a car that was a match for Mercedes in every condition and their high power modes in qualifying seemed very potent. This was always an area where the Mercedespowered cars had an edge until 201■, and all of sudden we had some fascinating catandmouse games going on, with neither team wanting to show their hand until we got to the final part of qualifying.
The championship lead ebbed and flowed