Hamilton finishes historic season in style with dominant win in Abu Dhabi; Vettel runner-up, Verstappen P3

Newly minted 5-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton resisted complacency and instead turned in another vintage Hammertime performance to cap off a historically successful 2018 Formula 1 season. Mercedes’ ace lead the race from pole, dominating from the front, and never faced a serious challenge in Sunday’s in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from futuristic Yas Marina, the final race of the year. Hamilton picked up his 11th victory out of 21 contests and scored his record-setting 408th championship point. For as close as the season seemed at just a little over the halfway mark, Hamilton and Mercedes dominated Ferrari down the stretch en route to the team’s fifth Constructors’ title on the trot since the start of the current hybrid formula. Ferrari have got to be hoping that next year’s rule tweaks can slow the German juggernaut down in 2014. The fabled Scuderia were left pondering the ashes of another failed campaign and wondering where exactly they lost their way not long after the summer break. The Prancing Horses seemed poised to take their challenge to Mercedes’ dominance down to the wire after Vettel’s victory at Spa in August. But then Hamilton reeled off 6 wins in the last eight races with Kimi Raikkonen at COTA in the United States the only Ferrari driver standing on the top step during that amazing run. There will have to be a lot of midnight oil burnt at Maranello during the short winter break if Ferrari and Vettel are to have any hope of catching up to what is now officially a dynastic championship run by Hamilton and mighty Mercedes.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The race got off to a scary start on the opening lap when the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg and the Haas of Romain Grosjean touched wheels while fighting for the same piece of real estate, sending Hulkenberg’s car airborne and barrel rolling several time before ending up in the energy-dispersing “Lego” barriers upside down. The helpless Hulkenberg was extracted from the car after some time and emerged unscathed, though the time it took to get him out did bring home the double-edged nature of the Halo system. Things might not have been so positive had his car been on fire during all the time it took to get Hulkenberg out of there safely.

Thankfully, though, the German was unhurt and the race resumed when the Safety Car came in at the end of Lap 4. Hamilton once again vaulted to the lead on the restart, while the Red Bull of Max Verstappen began making up places at a furious pace after software issues at the very start of the race saw the Dutchman drop like a stone from his initial P6 position on the grid. But  he and the team were able to cure the Red Bull’s woes from within the cockpit and true to form Verstappen began carving up the mid-pack in a relentless march towards the front. He was helped immensely when Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari came to an abrupt stop on the front straightaway on Lap 7. While Raikkonen was forced to retire in his last race for the Scuderia, Mercedes gambled with Hamilton’s tire strategy and pitted him under the Virtual Safety Car, switching him to the Super Soft Pirellis, the hardest compound on offer this weekend at low-deg Yas Marina Circuit, and locking in a one-stop strategy with a rather long second stint to manage, which the Englishman did with aplomb.

Between Raikkonen’s retirement and Hamilton’s early pit stop, Verstappen vaulted up the order and into P4. It was his teammate Daniel Ricciardo who saw the biggest gains, however, inheriting the race lead when Vettel pitted on Lap 16 and then Bottas followed suit on Lap 17. Verstappen, the only front runner to start on the Hypersoft tires, came in a lap later for Super Softs, but Riccardo extended his initial stint on Ultra Softs all the way to Lap 33. Surprisingly however, the Red Bull braintrust did not gamble and put Ricciardo on the Hypers for the remainder of this 55-lap contest, despite the fact that Verstappen had run 18 very credible laps on the best performing albeit fastest degrading rubber. Instead Ricciardo emerged on the longer lasting but slower Super Softs behind his teammate Vertsappen and it was fairly clear after couple of fruitless overtaking attempts by the affable Aussie that was where he would be finishing his last race for Red Bull.

Meanwhile, as Hamilton lead comfortably at the front, his Mercedes wingman Valtteri Bottas was having all sorts of issues behind him. The Finnish driver locked up repeatedly with a mysterious rear tire issue, first forfeiting P2 to a hard charging Vettel and then falling into the clutches of both Red Bulls. By Lap 41 Bottas was down to P5 but with a huge gap to P6 behind him so the team decided to call in his Silver Arrow for new rubber and an extra but risk-free pit stop. He emerged in P5, where he would finish, while Hamilton swanned away to victory, Vettel scored another disappointing P2 and Verstappen, the future of the sport, grabbed another podium to finish out a very strong second half of the season. Ricciardo, who will be off to Renault next year, came home a disappointed P4 after a tough luck 2018 and hoping he could have gone finished out his Red Bull career on a higher note and with one last podium and sip of champagne out of his trademark shooey.

Further back in the pack, Carlos Sainz flew the flag for Renault after his teammate’s scary shunt, coming home best of the rest in P6, an excellent result after a lackluster P11 starting position. It was the Spaniard’s last race for Renault, as well, and Sainz will replace his countryman Fernando Alonso at McLaren next year. Alonso, in his last race in F1 for the near future at least, finished just outside the points in P11 but was happily invited to do burnouts with Hamilton and Vettel to farewell his remarkable Formula 1 career in front of the adoring fans. Charles Leclerc, who swaps seats with Raikkonen next season, recovered from an ill-timed early pit stop to bring his Sauber across the line in P7, driving in a steady and determined fashion that bodes well for his career with the big Scuderia. Sergio Perez brought his Force India home in P8, while the two Haas’ of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen both survived to finish P9 and P10 respectively. The young American team finished an impressive fifth in the all important Constructors’ Standings.

Top 10 finishers of the Abu Dhabi GP:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

Final 2018 Drivers’ Standings here.

Final 2018 Constructors’ Standings here.

That wraps it up for another great year in Formula 1 racing. Have a good winter break and see you for all the action in 2019!