Max Verstappen controlled proceedings as he went onto win the 2020 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The flying Dutchman controlled the race from start to finish as he claimed his tenth career win. Valtteri Bottas finished 16 seconds behind the Red Bull to claim second and Lewis Hamilton came third.

Alex Albon was not far away from Hamilton as the Red Bull driver picked up the pace in the closing stages of the race but ultimately finished in fourth.

An important fifth and sixt-place finishes for the McLaren’s of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz saw the British team clutch third in the Constructor’s Championship.

Daniel Ricciardo pulled off a fantastic first stint on his hard tyres as he switched over to the medium tyre he wasn’t able to catch the two orange cars and ended the race in seventh.

Pierre Gasly drove a solid race and finished in eighth as Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll switched position on the final lap with the Renault driver taking ninth and the Racing Point finished tenth.

It was Sebastian Vettel’s last race for Ferrari and the German was unable to get any points for the Scuderia as he finished 14th. Kevin Magnussen also raced for the last time for Haas as he ended up in 18th and Sergio Perez closed his chapter with Racing Point, but an unfortunate retirement saw Checo out of the race after only ten laps.

As It Happened

The lights went off for the last time in 2020 as Max Verstappen got a good start from pole position. The Red Bull covered off Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas and led the pack away out of turn one.

Pierre Gasly moved ahead of Esteban Ocon as the two Frenchmen squabbled for position, but it was the AlphaTauri who moved ahead and into ninth-place.

After lap five the order looked like this: Verstappen, Bottas, Hamilton, Lando Norris, Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz, Daniil Kvyat, Lance Stroll, Gasly, Ocon.

Sergio Perez started the race on the hard tyre and made his way from 19th to 16th in no time. Last week’s race winner looked to finish his time with Racing Point on a positive note.

Albon moved ahead of Norris into turn nine as the second Red Bull looked to catch the leading pack of Verstappen, Bottas and Hamilton.

Ocon allowed Daniel Ricciardo to go through as the Aussie looked to chase after Gasly in ninth and earn some good points for Renault.

Stroll moved his Racing Point into seventh-place ahead of Kvyat as Perez moved into 14th as the team looked to keep their advantage in the Constructor’s Championship.

The two AlphaTauri’s then switched positions as DRS helped Gasly move ahead of Kvyat and into eighth-place.

Disaster struck for Racing Point on lap ten as Perez retired from the race with a mechanical issue and the Virtual Safety Car was released.

Most of the drivers pitted in for new tyres during the VSC as the full Safety Car was released due to oil being on the track in the final sector.

On lap 14, the drivers returned to green light racing as the Safety Car returned to the pit-lane.

Sainz moved ahead of Charles Leclerc as the Ferrari driver looked to hang onto a top ten place but had to concede this one to the Spaniard as the McLaren moved up to eighth.

Ocon looked to gain positions as the pit-stop cost him some places. He moved up and into 12th place after a simple pass on Antonio Giovinazzi.

Sebastian Vettel defended well from Sainz but the Spaniard was on the move as he breezed past the Ferrari and up into seventh.

Stroll was able to move ahead of Leclerc as the Ferrari driver did not pit during the VSC and lost out on another position as the Candian moved into ninth.

Leclerc lost even more places as Gasly and Ocon pushed the Monegasque into 11th which forced him to pit for new tyres in a bid to revive his race.

At the halfway point, Verstappen had a five second game ahead of Bottas and Hamilton followed in third. Albon was fourth, Ricciardo in fifth, Norris in sixth, Sainz in seventh, Vettel in eighth, Stroll in ninth and Gasly rounded off the top ten.

It wouldn’t take long for Gasly to say enough is enough as he forced his AlphaTauri ahead of Stroll’s Racing Point as the two drivers touched, but it did not stop the Frenchman moving ahead and into ninth.

The overtaking did not finish there for the AlphaTauri as he looked to use the fresher tyre advantage on Vettel. The Frenchman moved into eighth after an easy move on the Ferrari.

Verstappen won the race after a quite underwhelming race in Abu Dhabi as Bottas finished second and Hamilton hung onto third after Albon’s late charge

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