Max Verstappen led every lap en route to victory in the final race of the 2020 season. Bottas came 2nd ahead of Hamilton while McLaren snatched 3rd in the constructors from Racing Point.
Race Start
Verstappen got off the line well and maintained his lead out of turn 1. Bottas was just able to keep 2nd from a charging Hamilton. The top immediately 3 started to pull away from the pack and Albon was now 5th, between the two McLarens.
Gasly performed a superb overtake on Ocon promoting himself into 9th. Following this overtake, the cars started a DRS train, meaning the midfield was incredibly close, but unable to make a move.
After 6 laps of pressuring Norris, Albon finally made a move and took 4th. Norris was able to pull alongside in the second DRS zone, but wasn’t able to take the position back. As it stood, McLaren would leapfrog Racing Point for 3rd in the constructor’s championship. But, on lap 8, Stroll overtook Kvyat for 7th, just behind the two McLarens.
However, Racing Point’s hopes were dashed as Perez had to pull over on lap 10 with a suspected transmission failure. Hero to zero for last week’s race winner. Advantage was now thoroughly in McLaren’s favour.
Safety Car
The Virtual safety car came out and the top 3 pitted immediately, triggering a huge wave of pitstops. Most cars were attempting a 1 stop, but now would have to go slightly longer than expected on their second stint.
The VSC soon turned into a full safety car after oil was reported to have spilled onto the track. This destroyed Verstappen’s lead as the cars bunched up.
Hamilton was voicing numerous concerns with his car, claiming he wasn’t able to turn well into the corners.
Verstappen bolted on the restart creating a 1.2s advantage before the first DRS straight. Strangely, the Ferraris stayed out and both were immediately swamped by the McLarens behind. However, Stroll was not able to make such easy work of Leclerc. His initial overtake only lasted for one straight, before the Monegasque swept back past. As Leclerc’s tyres ran out, he was easily taken by Stroll and Gasly. His tyre struggles eventually demoted him to 12th, before he finally stopped.
As Sainz overtook Vettel for 7th, he was placed under investigation for driving unnecessarily slowly in the pit-lane. After long deliberation, it was announced that the decision would be made after the race.
Despite a healthy 5 second lead, Verstappen started to query the one stop strategy. Hamilton soon mirrored this view leaving strategy calls wide open toward the end of the race.
Gasly performed a forceful overtake on Stroll moving him up to 9th. Racing Point were seeing their grip on P3 fading away. A few laps later, Gasly approached Vettel and launched himself into 8th. Vettel did attempt to fight back, but his worn tyres were no match for the fresher rubber on the Alpha Tauri.
Worn Rubber
Vettel pitted on lap 36, leaving Ricciardo as the only driver still on the set of tyres the started the race on. He took them to lap 40 and bolted on the medium compound. A superb stint had now put him into 7th, just ahead of Gasly.
It was a tense wait to see how the tyres would behave. Despite the top 3 complaining, it appeared that none of them would actually take the 2 stop strategy.
With 5 laps to go, Albon was starting to reel in Hamilton. At times, the Thai driver took a second a lap out of the 7 time champion. Unfortunately, Albon just ran out of laps and had to settle for 4th.
But, having never previously led in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen looked unstoppable as he crossed the line for his second win of 2020. Bottas and Hamilton rounded out the podium. The McLaren duo finished 5th and 6th with Norris in front. This was enough to promote them to 3rd in the constructors, with jubilant scenes on their pit wall.
Perhaps Abu Dhabi did not provide the finale this season deserved, but it was entertainment in a year where there might have been no racing whatsoever. The 2020 Formula Season has provided fans with unique moments, incredible racing and plenty of shock results. It is now that familiar long winter wait now for fans, until F1 returns in March 2021.
Full Race Results:
- Verstappen
- Bottas +15.976
- Hamilton +18.415
- Albon +19.987
- Norris +60.729
- Sainz +65.662
- Ricciardo +73.748
- Gasly +89.718
- Ocon +101.069
- Stroll +102.738
- Kvyat +1Lap
- Raikkonen +1Lap
- Leclerc +1Lap
- Vettel +1Lap
- Russell +1Lap
- Giovinazzi +1Lap
- Latifi +1Lap
- Magnussen +1Lap
- Fittipaldi +2Laps
- Perez RET
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
