Magical Abu Dhabi hosted the season finale, which is already a tradition on the F1 calendar. During the turbo hybrid era Mercedes have always conquered the front row at the Yas Marina Circuit. History repeated itself also this year. As expected, Q2 saw the top three teams opting for the purple-walled ultra-soft compound. More surprising was to see, that Force India, too sent their drivers out on the middle compound. Hamilton set such a benchmark at the beginning of the second session, that he left absolutely no doubt about why he has been crowned world champion this year. Teammate Bottas was massive seven tenths off the pace, not to mention the Ferrari duo of Sebastian and Kimi, who were a whole second off the ultimate pace! Red Bull's Verstappen was only in tame P10 after his first run on the ultra-softs, so the Dutchman had to switch to the softest rubber at the end of the second session, which ruined the tactical advantage for the Dutchman. The second attempt saw Verstappen jumping second in the standings. Sebastian made a second run on the ultra-softs, moving third. But there was no beating Hamilton's incredible benchmark!
Hamilton had not so perfect first run in the decisive Q3. He had a lock-up in the middle sector, and his W09 seemed to suffer from a restless rear end. Despite these imperfections, the world champion took provisional pole by 0.057s to Sebastian. I was hoping, that Sebastian and Kimi would be able to challenge Hamilton for pole. Unfortunately my hopes proved wrong. Hamilton improved his lap time by half a second on his second run, setting another new track record. Teammate Bottas was setting the screens purple in the second sector, but lost a tiny bit of time in the last sector, ending up 0.162s shy of Hamilton's benchmark. Sebastian was left third, the margin being as significant as 0.331s. Kimi completed the second row for the Scuderia. The Red Bull duo locked down the third row, with Ricciardo having an upper hand on his teammate this time. This time it was Haas' Grosjean, who was "the best of the rest", qualifying in P7 alongside Sauber's Leclerc.
Although the Red Bulls were six or seven tenths down on Mercedes in terms of one-lap pace, their race pace was on a different level. The start of the Abu Dhabi GP was emotional for many drivers, as six drivers altogether -Alonso, Vandoorne, Ericsson, Sirotkin, Hartley and Ocon- were starting to their very last F1 race, at least for now. The start was very clean in terms of the top six drivers. Hamilton dived into Turn 1 first, with teammate Bottas at his tail. The Finn was followed by the Scuderia drivers Sebastian and Kimi, who was driving his last race for the Red Team. Verstappen, who had started to the race on the hyper-softs, had an engine issue at the launch, and he dropped down to P9. The opening lap saw a dramatic incident in the midfield, as Haas' Grosjean and Renault's Hulkenberg collided in Turn 9. Grosjean's front-left tyre touched Hulkenberg's rear-right, which made the Renault go air-born. The German's car flipped in the air, landing upside down into the wall. Because of the head-protecting Halo device it was very difficult for Hulkenberg to get out of the car. As if the crash hadn't been enough, there were also flames coming out of the rear end of Hulk's car! It was a scary-looking incident, but luckily the marshals managed to turn the car rapidly back on its wheels, and Hulkenberg got out of his car unharmed. Safety car was deployed due to this incident.
After the re-start Verstappen was having a heart-stopping battle with the Force India duo. Verstappen and Ocon sort of continued where they had left off in Brazil. This time, however, there was no contact, although Verstappen made an extremely audacious move when passing Ocon. Before the race I had really hoped, that Kimi would end his career in the red on a high. My hopes were cruelly deprived of me, as the Iceman was suddenly hit with an electric failure on lap 7, and Kimi's SF71-H stopped on the finish straight! What a disappointing farewell race for Kimi! Virtual safety car was deployed, and Mercedes made a wise tactical call, calling race leader Hamilton in. He switched to the red-marked hardest rubber and re-joined the track in P5.
Once again Red Bull showed excellent tyre management, as Verstappen on the hyper-softs drove a longer first stint than Sebastian and Bottas on the ultra-softs. Ricciardo, on the other hand, didn't pit until on lap 33. All top drivers opted for the red-walled super-soft Pirellis. After the pit stops Hamilton and Bottas were back in the double lead. However, with 20 laps to go, Bottas was suddenly in serious trouble with his tyres. Sebastian had closed the gap to the Finn, lurking for a chance to get past. The German didn't have to wait for long, as Bottas locked up his tyres. Sebastian saw his chance and passed the struggling Finn. In no time also Verstappen and Ricciardo made their own moves on Bottas, making the misery even worse for the Finnish Mercedes driver. P2 had rapidly turned into disappointing P5.
Despite the early pit stop, Hamilton's tyres were still very much alive, and the Briton had everything perfectly under control. He crossed the finish line as the race winner, for the 11th time this season already. Sebastian ended his season on a high, as he finished the runner-up. Verstappen has driven an outstanding last third of the season, scoring podiums one after another. Ricciardo finished fourth, and Bottas was left fifth. Renault's Sainz had the honor of being the "best of the rest", ahead of the future Ferrari driver Leclerc.
At the end of the season it's fair to say, that there's no doubt about who deserved the world championship this year. Hamilton scored 88 points more than Sebastian, which is a huge difference. Mercedes, too have 84 points more than the Red Team. Next year there will be a wind of change, as Leclerc joins Ferrari and Kimi moves to Sauber. I will miss the Iceman in red, but luckily he doesn't disappear anywhere, he's just at the other end of the paddock. He'll always have a special place in tifosi's hearts. He has definitely stolen my heart!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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