2017 F1 Round 20 Abu Dhabi GP — Bottas holds off Hamilton to win, Vettel third

The 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix brought the season to a close over 55 laps at Yas Marina. Valtteri Bottas won in 1:34:14.062, with Lewis Hamilton second, 3.899 seconds behind, and Sebastian Vettel third. Mercedes secured a one-two as Bottas ended the year with his third victory of the season.

Starting from pole, Bottas held the lead and built an advantage of around two and a half seconds during his opening stint on ultrasoft tyres. He stopped on lap 22, after which Hamilton briefly led for two laps before switching to supersofts. Once both stops were complete, the Mercedes drivers resumed their original order, with Bottas back in front.

Hamilton increased the pressure after changing to supersofts, at one point reducing the gap to around a second. The pair closed up again as they encountered lapped traffic in the closing stages. Bottas maintained his defence, then repeatedly raised his pace to extend his winning margin again.

Vettel lacked the pace to threaten Mercedes and ended the season in third. Kimi Räikkönen finished fourth, keeping Max Verstappen behind. Daniel Ricciardo retired with a hydraulic problem after his first stop. Räikkönen’s points took him to 205 for the season, ahead of Ricciardo’s 200, and moved him into fourth in the drivers’ championship.

Nico Hülkenberg received a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage off the track and then lost more time to a right-rear-wheel delay during his stop, but still finished sixth. His eight points lifted Renault above Toro Rosso into sixth in the constructors’ championship. The midfield contest directly settled that final championship position.

Sergio Pérez was seventh, Esteban Ocon eighth, Fernando Alonso ninth and Felipe Massa tenth. Alonso scored two points in the final race of McLaren’s partnership with Honda. Massa took one point in his final Grand Prix and marked his farewell to F1 with celebratory doughnuts after the race.

Carlos Sainz retired after his lap-31 stop because the left-front wheel had not been secured, preventing Renault from getting both cars into the points. Ricciardo was the race’s other retirement. They completed 31 and 20 laps respectively, leaving 18 drivers to reach the finish and two who failed to do so.

Romain Grosjean was eleventh, Stoffel Vandoorne twelfth, Kevin Magnussen thirteenth and Pascal Wehrlein fourteenth. Brendon Hartley, Pierre Gasly, Marcus Ericsson and Lance Stroll filled the remaining classified finishing positions. The finale confirmed Mercedes’ advantage in the race and also changed who finished fourth in the drivers’ championship and sixth in the constructors’ standings.