Red Bull’s Verstappen led from start to finish as McLaren clinches 3rd spot in Constructor’s Championship.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates—Sunday, December 13th—In the final race of a tough season, Max Verstappen took a flag-to-flag victory by 15.9 seconds over his Mercedes’ rivals, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina.
Max Verstappen: Overall, it was really enjoyable out there today.
Verstappen took the lead right from the beginning, with the top three positions never changed for the rest of the race. The Dutchman led Bottas by 3.2 seconds by lap 10, 7.3 after 21 laps, and increased it even more to 10.3 seconds with ten laps to go in the race.
The race was only interrupted on the 10th lap when Sergio Perez, winner of the last race in Bahrain, suffered a transmission problem and had to park his Racing Point off to the side of the track. That event brought out a virtual safety car, which was changed to a full safety period after the car began leaking a huge amount of oil.
When the race resumed, Verstappen continued to remain in first place and never faced challenges. One reason was mechanical. Bottas and Hamilton were racing with an MGU-K power unit gremlin that couldn’t be fixed quickly enough this race weekend.
On the other hand, Red Bull’s Alex Albon nearly caught Hamilton at the end of the race but had to settle for fourth.
But McLaren made the big news, clinching third place in the Constructor’s world championship, by placing Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr. in fifth and sixth.
Pierre Gasly finished eighth in the Alpha Tauri, while Renault had another top ten finish with Esteban Ocon taking ninth, just ahead of Racing Point’s Lance Stroll.
It was his second win of Verstappen’s season, and probably one that the team certainly deserves. “Overall,” Verstappen concluded, “It was a solid race for the team.”
While relieved that the 2020 season is over, Formula 1 teams have only 96 days to get things together again for 2021. Next year’s slate will be the most expansive in history, too, with 23 race events on the docket.
