This weekend’s FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX 2020 marked the end of the 2020 season. It’s been an unusual, but a full season nonetheless thanks to the efforts of the sport despite the state of the world. It’s been a season full of twists and turns, ups and downs, highs and lows. Most of all, it’s been a season of Mercedes domination, but Max Verstappen was looking to end the season strong with a win after securing pole position in qualifying.
At the start of the race, everyone got away from the grid at about the same pace. This meant that Max Verstappen would hold his race lead at the start. Valtteri Bottas had a loose car in the first corner, but was able to keep his position in front of his teammate.
Sergio Perez was making a decent recovery, having started from the back of the grid after his teammate replaced some power unit components. Nine laps into the race, he had made his way up to P14. But his race came to a premature end ten laps into the race with a mechanical failure.
The virtual safety car was deployed so that the marshals could remove Perez’s car. The majority of the teams took the opportunity for the cheap pit stop, changing to the hard compound tyres to take them to the end. This excluded either Ferrari car, both of which stayed out. Daniel Ricciardo also stayed out, having started the race on the hard tyres.
Carlos Sainz caught the eye of the stewards during his pit stop for “driving unnecessarily slowly” in the pit lane, potentially giving his team a gap for the double stack pit stop. The stewards decided to revisit the issue after the race, which could mean that the championship battle between Racing Point and McLaren for P3 could be decided after the race.
After a lap under the VSC, the regular safety car was deployed, after it was clear that the marshals were having issues recovering Perez’s stricken Racing Point from the side of the track.
The race resumed on lap 14. It was an orderly restart.
Staying out during the safety car period, did not pan out for Charles Leclerc on the medium tyres. He rapidly lost positions to Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. He finally dove into the pit lane on lap 23 for a set of hard compound tyres.
As the race progressed, it became increasingly clear that Mercedes had no answer for the pace shown by Max Verstappen in the leading Red Bull. With the race win in his hand, he brought the seven consecutive winning streak of Mercedes to an end.
Despite a race victory for Verstappen, Bottas’ second place on the podium was enough to secure runner up in the World Drivers’ Championship, giving Mercedes a 1-2 in the championship.
In the World Constructors’ Championship, McLaren did enough to secure third in the championship, as Lance Stroll in the sole Racing Point continued to lose positions on the final lap to Esteban Ocon.
Daniel Ricciardo waited until the final lap of the race to steal the extra point from the race leader for fastest lap.
With the 2020 season now over, the action moves off the track as drivers work to finalize their contracts or scramble to find a seat for the 2021 season in time for the season opener in Australia on March 21.
Above results table does not include any post-race penalties
