EMOTIONAL FAREWELLS IN SEASON FINALE |

MERCEDES have promised a big show now they have clinched another title double while plenty of emotions are expected in Fernando Alonso’s, pictured, last career race at the Formula One season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.

At the same time, especially the big three teams of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, want to make a final statement to bolster their morale for the off-season and the 2019 campaign starting in March.

The three are also involved in a fight for third place in the drivers’ standings which Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen currently occupies 14 points ahead of Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen another three points back.

Lewis Hamilton clinched a fifth career drivers’ title two races ago in Mexico and his Mercedes team then completed a fifth straight title double with the constructors’ crown at the last race in Brazil.

Now it’s showtime, according to Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff, who also hopes that Bottas will make the final podium.

“We want to put on a great show for the fans ... The championship pressure is off, so we can look at this as one race where we can really go for broke,” Wolff said. “Our Silver Arrow has won 10 races so far this season and we all want to add one more to that score – especially Valtteri, who has lost out on wins this season through bad luck and team orders. We know, too, that it will be a tough battle because both Red Bull and Ferrari will have the same target of taking good momentum into the winter.”

While Mercedes retain their drivers, Ferrari will bid farewell to Sauber-bound Raikkonen, the last man to win the title for the Scuderia back in 2007, and Daniel Ricciardo has his last race for Red Bull after five years ahead of a move to Renault.

“I’m yet to get an Abu Dhabi podium, but that would be a pretty awesome way to end my stint with Red Bull and to end the season,” Ricciardo said. “I’m sure it’s going to be emotional afterwards, especially when I cross the line for the last time with the team. But I’m going there guns a-blazing. Hopefully I can spray some fake champagne on Sunday, which would be a fitting farewell.”

The biggest farewell, however, will be Alonso as the 2005 and 2006 world champion leaves the series after 17 years with 32 race wins and 97 podiums.

“Abu Dhabi will certainly be a very emotional race for me, as it will be the end of a long and happy 17 years in Formula One,” the McLaren driver from Spain said.

“I’m fully focussed on this weekend in Abu Dhabi, and making the most of every day – in the car, with the team, and with my friends and family.”

Verstappen meanwhile, will aim to rebound from a crash with backmarker Esteban Ocon which cost him victory in Brazil, and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel also wants a positive result in the form of a first race win since August after losing another title battle against Hamilton.

Vettel and Hamilton boast three victories each in the day-to-night race at the spectacular 5.554-km Yas Marina course, but Mercedes have won the last four and claimed a one-two finish in the last three.

Meanwhile, Hamilton has welcomed news of Robert Kubica’s Formula One comeback next season, not least because it made the world champion feel that little bit younger.

Kubica, who will be 34 next month, was announced at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix yesterday as a Williams driver for 2019. The Pole last raced in Formula One in 2010, before he partially severed his right forearm in a near-fatal rally crash in Italy.

“Is Robert older than me?” was Hamilton’s first question when asked for his reaction to the news.

“Oh, perfect,” continued the 33-year-old Mercedes driver, whose birthday is in January, when that fact was confirmed by reporters.

“I am so happy he’s coming back. Fernando (Alonso) is leaving and I was going to be the second oldest driver but now I can remain the third. I can’t tell you how happy I am about that.”

This leaves Raikkonen as the oldest man on the grid at 39.

On a more serious note, both Hamilton welcomed Kubica’s return as great news for the sport and for a man he rated as one of the best from their previous battles.

“I raced him from karting days so I have known him for a long, long time,” said Hamilton. “He was always one of the most talented drivers that I have had the pleasure of racing. | Reuters