Valtteri Bottas wins from pole at Abu Dhabi

    A healthy competition between Bottas and Hamilton got the team One-Two in the Formula 1 grand finale

    Published On Nov 27, 2017 03:21:00 PM

    4,816 Views

    Resisting Lewis Hamilton and maintaining a lead from pole at the start, Bottas has finally taken his third podium finishing the Abu Dhabi grand finale at the Yas Marina Circuit.

    Bottas was signed as a last-minute replacement for Nico Roseberg, in 2016. His contract was extended as team Petronas' second driver in September 2017, after Roseberg took retirement.

    World champion Hamilton came 3.8 seconds after Bottas and was followed by Ferrari’s Vettel, who took the last place on the podium.

    Just after taking the lead in Turn 1, he quickly took a one-second lead over Hamilton and gradually build it up to two seconds. He was the first of the Mercedes drivers to pit, swapping the ultra-softs for super-softs and rejoining in second place.

    Hamilton remained behind for three further laps, clocking the fastest lap in the process, however couldn’t come close to Bottas and rejoined behind to take second place.

    Hamilton did try to attack Bottas by getting within DRS range, but locked up at Turn 17, running off track before re-joining. Just when Hamilton had built up the pressure and got within 0.5 seconds after his team-mate, Bottas responded by putting the hammer down and pulling away.

    As a result of this healthy in-house competition, Mercedes stood first and second for the third time in the season.

    For Vettel, it was a quiet race in lonely third place ahead of Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

    Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was on course to finish fourth, but pulled off track and retired the car with a hydraulic problem shortly before the halfway point.

    His team-mate Max Verstappen finished fifth, just 0.8s behind Raikkonen with Nico Hulkenberg finishing sixth, securing sixth place in the constructors' championship for Renault. Hulkenberg was given a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when battling Sergio Perez on the first lap.

    Renault’s second racer and Hulkenberg’s team-mate, Carlos Sainz Jr retired for the fourth time in six races as the team did not attach the front-left tyre properly at his pit stop. Despite the incident, Sainz had been on course to leapfrog Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa into ninth place by running long before pitting.

    Perez finished seventh, 6.8s clear of Force India team-mate Esteban Ocon and Alonso signed off the McLaren-Honda partnership with ninth place, securing the team's third consecutive points finish.

    Massa completed his 269th and final grand prix in the points at 10th. He had been ahead of Alonso in the first stint but the McLaren passed the later-stopping Williams on its out-lap.

    Romain Grosjean was involved in the race's most entertaining battle, squabbling with Lance Stroll over 13th in the first stint and eventually coming out on top after multiple passes and repasses.

    The Haas driver finished 11th, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne, with Kevin Magnussen recovering from a first lap spin that dropped him to the back of the field to finish 13th.

    Stroll stopped three times at the pits while everyone else stopped once and fell to last.

    Race result

    POS

    DRIVER

    CAR

    LAPS

    GAP

    1

    Valtteri Bottas

    Mercedes

    55

    1h34m14.062s

    2

    Lewis Hamilton

    Mercedes

    55

    3.899s

    3

    Sebastian Vettel

    Ferrari

    55

    19.330s

    4

    Kimi Raikkonen

    Ferrari

    55

    45.386s

    5

    Max Verstappen

    Red Bull/Renault

    55

    46.269s

    6

    Nico Hulkenberg

    Renault

    55

    1m25.713s

    7

    Sergio Perez

    Force India/Mercedes

    55

    1m32.062s

    8

    Esteban Ocon

    Force India/Mercedes

    55

    1m38.911s

    9

    Fernando Alonso

    McLaren/Honda

    54

    1 Lap

    10

    Felipe Massa

    Williams/Mercedes

    54

    1 Lap

    11

    Romain Grosjean

    Haas/Ferrari

    54

    1 Lap

    12

    Stoffel Vandoorne

    McLaren/Honda

    54

    1 Lap

    13

    Kevin Magnussen

    Haas/Ferrari

    54

    1 Lap

    14

    Pascal Wehrlein

    Sauber/Ferrari

    54

    1 Lap

    15

    Brendon Hartley

    Toro Rosso/Renault

    54

    1 Lap

    16

    Pierre Gasly

    Toro Rosso/Renault

    54

    1 Lap

    17

    Marcus Ericsson

    Sauber/Ferrari

    54

    1 Lap

    18

    Lance Stroll

    Williams/Mercedes

    54

    1 Lap

    -

    Carlos Sainz

    Renault

    31

    Wheel

    -

    Daniel Ricciardo

    Red Bull/Renault

    20

    Hydraulics

    Drivers' standings

    POS

    DRIVER

    POINTS

    1

    Lewis Hamilton

    363

    2

    Sebastian Vettel

    317

    3

    Valtteri Bottas

    305

    4

    Kimi Raikkonen

    205

    5

    Daniel Ricciardo

    200

    6

    Max Verstappen

    168

    7

    Sergio Perez

    100

    8

    Esteban Ocon

    87

    9

    Carlos Sainz

    54

    10

    Nico Hulkenberg

    43

    11

    Felipe Massa

    43

    12

    Lance Stroll

    40

    13

    Romain Grosjean

    28

    14

    Kevin Magnussen

    19

    15

    Fernando Alonso

    17

    16

    Stoffel Vandoorne

    13

    17

    Jolyon Palmer

    8

    18

    Pascal Wehrlein

    5

    19

    Daniil Kvyat

    5

    20

    Marcus Ericsson

    0

    21

    Pierre Gasly

    0

    22

    Antonio Giovinazzi

    0

    23

    Brendon Hartley

    0

    Constructors' standings

    POS

    CONSTRUCTOR

    POINTS

    1

    Mercedes

    668

    2

    Ferrari

    522

    3

    Red Bull/Renault

    368

    4

    Force India/Mercedes

    187

    5

    Williams/Mercedes

    83

    6

    Renault

    57

    7

    Toro Rosso/Renault

    53

    8

    Haas/Ferrari

    47

    9

    McLaren/Honda

    30

    10

    Sauber/Ferrari

    5

     

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