Bottas holds off Hamilton to win Abu Dhabi GP

 

 

Valtteri Bottas lead Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton home for a dominant Silver Arrows 1-2 finish at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finishing a distant third.

 

Bottas led the way in an unchangeable few opening corners, with the whole field making a similar run off the line as there were no position changes in the top 12.

 

 

Bottas slowly pulled away in the first stint and built a 2.5-second gap over Hamilton, with the Finn stopping first, while Hamilton remained on track a few laps longer before making his sole pit-stop on lap 24.

 

Hamilton put in a successive run of fast laps as he brought the Bottas’ lead advantage to within half a second, but a lock up forced the Briton wide as he fell 1.7 seconds behind his Mercedes team-mate as the gap hovered.

 

For most of the second stint, the difference between the two Silver Arrows stayed around the one second mark, though a Bottas error after a lock up through turns four and five brought Hamilton a lot closer.

 

However, Bottas rapidly brought his lead back up to two seconds and crossed the line ahead of team-mate Hamilton by 3.899 seconds, the third of his career.

 

“It is a really important win for me,” explained Bottas who last won the Austrian Grand Prix in July. “I had a pretty difficult start to the second half of the year.”

 

“I’ve been working hard on all the issues and getting better and better with everything and this weekend with a pole, a win…I couldn’t be happier to end the season like this.”

 

When asked about Hamilton being right on his heels, Bottas said: “You know, I was really managing the pace and that way in the race I was leading, that was a nice feeling.”

 

“I had one bit of a lock-up when I was approaching the lapped cars, but otherwise no issues and in the last five laps I started to go a bit quicker, I managed to build a gap and I’m really pleased.”

 

“The car was so good and again, for this season, team, thank you very much, I’ve really enjoyed it.” Bottas concluded.

 

As Mercedes dominated the processional race, Vettel completed the top three and nearly 20 seconds behind Hamilton, as Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo retired due to a hydraulics failure on lap 20 after the pit-stop window.

 

Ricciardo was within sight of Vettel before the Australian’s day ended early, promoting Kimi Räikkönen to fourth place and a further 26.056 seconds behind his Ferrari team-mate.

 

The other Red Bull of Max Verstappen took fifth as he remained behind Räikkönen for most of the race with the gap hovering around a few seconds.

 

Renault’s Nico Hülkenberg brushed aside a penalty, leading the midfield as best of the rest with the German clinching sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship for the Enstone-based outfit.

 

The German was hit a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while in a battle with Force India’s Sergio Pérez.

 

However, Hülkenberg served his penalty during the pit-stop window, as he returned to the track ahead of Pérez who came home seventh and the other Force India of Esteban Ocon who was eighth.

 

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso overtook Felipe Massa for ninth after the sole pit-stop window, taking two points on McLaren-Honda’s last race together as Massa finishes his final Grand Prix of his career in 10^th place and claiming the final points place for Williams.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean made the most moves in the race as he recorded an 11^th placed finish and in-front of McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne who claimed 12^th and team-mate Kevin Magnussen who took 13^th.

 

Magnussen fell to the back of the pack after spinning at turn three on the opening lap but recovered down the field.

 

Pascal Wehrlein finished in 14th place and ahead of Toro Rosso duo Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly who took 15^th and 16^th respectively.

 

Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson came home 17th, as Lance Stroll finished at the rear in the other Mercedes-powered Williams FW40.

 

Renault’s Carlos Sainz was the only other retirement after a loose left-front tyre from the pit-stop forced the Spaniard to end his day early on lap 31.

 

2017 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Full Race Results Classification (55 Laps)

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/Retired	Pts
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG F1	55	1:34:14.062	0
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG F1	55	+3.899s	0
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari	55	+19.330s	0
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari	55	+45.386s	0
5	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	55	+46.269s	0
6	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault Sport F1	55	+85.713s	0
7	11	Sergio Perez	Force India F1	55	+92.062s	0
8	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India F1	55	+98.911s	0
9	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda F1	54	+1 Lap	0
10	19	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing	54	+1 Lap	0
11	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Team	54	+1 Lap	0
12	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Honda F1	54	+1 Lap	0
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1 Team	54	+1 Lap	0
14	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber F1 Team	54	+1 Lap	0
15	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso	54	+1 Lap	0
16	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso	54	+1 Lap	0
17	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber F1 Team	54	+1 Lap	0
18	18	Lance Stroll	Williams Martini Racing	54	+1 Lap	0
NC	55	Carlos Sainz	Renault Sport F1	31	DNF	0
NC	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	20	DNF	0

 

2017 World Drivers Championship Standings – Top 10

1. Lewis Hamilton – 363 Points
2. Sebastian Vettel – 317 Points
3. Valtteri Bottas – 305 Points
4. Kimi Räikkönen – 205 Points
5. Daniel Ricciardo – 200 Points
6. Max Verstappen – 168 Points
7. Sergio Pérez – 100 Points
8. Esteban Ocon – 87 Points
9. Carlos Sainz – 54 Points
10. Nico Hülkenberg – 43 Points

 

2017 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG F1 – 668 Points
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 522 Points
3. Red Bull Racing – 368 Points
4. Force India F1 Team – 187 Points
5. Williams Martini Racing – 83 Points
6. Renault Sport F1 – 57 Points
7. Scuderia Toro Rosso – 53 Points
8. Haas F1 Team – 47 Points
9. McLaren-Honda F1 – 30 Points
10. Sauber F1 Team – 5 Points