After 8 months of racing, the 2018 Formula One season came to a close under the lights in Abu Dhabi at the FORMULA 1 2018 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX. The race was, at one point, threatened by rain. It was a race plagued with retirements, including a spectacular crash in the opening lap.
The two Mercedes drivers got off the line good, creating a decent gap to the Ferrari drivers behind. Max Verstappen had a poor start, with the car appearing to kick into an anti-stall mode of some sort. He dropped back to P10 quickly.
The race started with some drama on the opening lap with a big rollover crash for Nico Hülkenberg in turn 9. Romain Grosjean was battling into the corner and was on the inside of the Renault. Hülkenberg turned in, perhaps because Grosjean was in his blind spot, and made contact with Grosjean, tumbling into the barriers and coming to rest upside down. The marshals had to flip the car over before Hülkenberg was able to get out of the car. Grosjean was able to continue the race with minor damage to his front wing. The safety car was deployed for the incident.
When the race resumed, Verstappen had a good scrap with Esteban Ocon, perhaps fueled by the incident just two weeks ago in Brazil. Verstappen got by Ocon in the turn 7 hairpin, making minor contact with the Force India. Ocon was able to take the position back down the low straight, but Verstappen was able to secure the position in the turn 11 braking zone.
Kimi Räikkönen’s final race for Ferrari came to a disappointing end on the seventh lap of the race, cruising to a stop on the start/finish straight after his car completely shut down. The car stopped in a difficult place for the marshals to remove it, requiring the virtual safety car.
Race leader Lewis Hamilton took advantage of the VSC, making his pit stop for some fresh tyres, in hopes of making it to the end. Charles Leclerc did the same, pitting from P4.
When the race resumed, Hamilton got by Verstappen, but the Red Bull was able to take the position back down the straight between turn 9 and 11. Hamilton was able to fight back for the position and pull away to chase down the race leader.
On lap 16, Sebastian Vettel made a pit stop to undercut Valtteri Bottas. It didn’t work out though, thanks to an issue changing the right rear tyre. Vettel came out of the pits behind the Force India cars, although he was able to get by rather quickly. Bottas responded to the attempted undercut the following lap, pitting for tyres and confirming that Ferrari’s undercut attempt did not work.
Verstappen pitted a couple of laps later, but his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who was leading the race at this point, stayed out. He stayed out in the race with no sign of stopping, appearing to wait for the predicted rainfall to arrive at the circuit. He was able to maintain the gap to Hamilton. Some light rain greeted the circuit, but it was not nearly enough to justify a change to the intermediate tyres and Ricciardo’s pace began to plummet as the tyres degraded.
On lap 31, there was a battle between Esteban Ocon, Stoffel Vandoorne and Romain Grosjean. The trio were three abreast into the turn 11 breaking zone, having jockeyed for position down the two straights. Grosjean eventually dropped off from the battle, leaving Ocon and Vandoorne to battle for position. Ocon got some attention from the stewards for running wide in turn 17, earning himself a penalty.
Ricciardo finally pitted on lap 34, coming out well behind his teammate. Vettel was able to take second position in the race after Bottas locked up in turn 5, struggled through turn 6 and got a horrible exit out of turn 7. Just a few laps later, the two Red Bull cars were right on the gearbox of Bottas. Verstappen was able to get by, despite Bottas having put up a fight. Verstappen made contact with Bottas as he made his overtake in the turn 13 chicane. Ricciardo was able to get by Bottas the following lap, with a much more conventional overtake into the turn 11 braking zone. Rapidly falling down the order, Bottas pitted for fresh tyres.
The race claimed some more retirements near the closing stages of the race. Ocon’s car began leaking oil and was called into the pit lane to retire. He didn’t make it all the way though, losing power in the middle of the pit entrance and having to be cleared away by the marshals. Pierre Gasly retired a lap later after smoke began pouring from his Honda power unit. He was able to pull into a safe area at the side of the track to retire.
Fernando Alonso earned himself a parting gift from the race stewards, in the form of the time penalty for repeated corner cutting while chasing down what could have been his final point in his Formula One career.
Hamilton cruised across the line to take his 11th race victory of the season, having won more than half of the race in this 21-race season. The fans were entertained with some donuts from Hamilton and Vettel before they cruised back to the main straight in formation with Alonso. The three drivers put on a stunning triple donut show on the main straight for the fans.
Above results table does not include any post-race penalties
