Lewis Hamilton led every lap to claim a dominant victory in the Formula 1 season finale in Abu Dhabi.
The six-time Formula 1 champion held the lead into Turn 1 and didn’t look back, eventually crossing the finish line over 16 seconds clear of the field to take his fifth win at Yas Marina and 11th of 2019.
Max Verstappen’s hopes of challenging the Mercedes driver were effectively ended when Charles Leclerc blasted past into second on the opening lap.
But by running longer in his first stint, the Dutchman used fresher tyres to catch and pass the Ferrari to reclaim P2, where he would stay until the end.
Leclerc would pit for a second time in the hope of a late charge but the tyre advantage would not be enough as he had to settle for third.
His position is still provisional, however, after the stewards reported a “substantial” discrepancy between the fuel level Ferrari had declared and what was actually measured inside Charles’ car pre-race.
If the stewards deem that to be a breach of the regulations, the Monegasque could well be disqualified.
That would promote Valtteri Bottas upto third after the Finn produced a brilliant charge through the field from 20th on the grid to fourth in the Mercedes, finishing less than a second behind Leclerc over the finish line.
Sebastian Vettel joined his teammate in opting for a two-stop strategy and would pass Alex Albon late on to finish fifth as the Red Bull driver completed the top six.
A close battle in the midfield saw Racing Point’s Sergio Perez clinch ‘best of the rest’ in seventh from Lando Norris on the final lap.
Daniil Kvyat followed in ninth as McLaren’s Carlos Sainz secured sixth in the Drivers’ standings by scoring the final point in 10th.
The Spaniard also benefitted from his rival Pierre Gasly dropping to the back of the field after Turn 1, following a collision with both Racing Point drivers.
The two Renault’s just missed out with Daniel Ricciardo 11th and Nico Hulkenberg, in potentially his final F1 race, falling back to 12th in the final laps.
Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen was 13th ahead of the two Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean. The second Alfa of Antonio Giovinazzi was 16th from Williams’ George Russell.
Gasly would finish a lowly 18th ahead of Robert Kubica in his final F1 race for Williams as Lance Stroll was the only retirement from the race after pulling in with a mechanical issue.
With that, the curtain comes down on the 2019 Formula 1 season, now the wait is on until March 2020 when it all starts again in Australia!
Full results available here:
