Max Verstappen led every lap in en route to victory in an underwhelming Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Dutchman maintained the lead from pole into Turn 1 and gradually eased away from the two Mercedes, eventually claiming the win by 15 seconds from Valtteri Bottas.
Lewis Hamilton had a subdued drive to third as an attempted late charge by Alex Albon fell short in fourth.
Race Review
Verstappen holds the leads into Turn 1 with only one change of position in the top 10 on the opening lap as Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly fight for ninth and 10th.
Albon clears Norris for fourth on the soft tyres but doesn’t have enough pace to close on the Mercedes’ ahead.
Racing Point make their move with Lance Stroll taking P7 and Sergio Perez climbs through the order from his P19 grid slot after the engine penalty.
However, the Mexican’s charge wouldn’t make it past Lap 9 as an apparent engine failure leaves him stranded in the final sector.
The leaders react to the subsequent Virtual and then full Safety Car by pitting for hard tyres, with Ricciardo and both Ferraris the only cars to stay out.
Verstappen remains ahead at the restart as Sainz makes the only move in the top 10, passed Leclerc into Turn 8 for eighth.
Stroll, left to fight alone for Racing Point, needs a few more laps to overtake the Ferrari as he tries to shadow the McLaren, only for Sainz to gain another place by clearing Vettel.
Mercedes can’t live with Verstappen in the lead with the Dutchman pulling away from Bottas and Hamilton between two and three seconds behind his teammate.
Gasly makes a charge, passing Stroll and Vettel in short order to take P8, this as the Ferrari driver begins to struggle on his tyres after not pitting under the Safety Car.
The German would switch to the mediums soon after, coming out behind Leclerc in 14th as Ferrari’s strategy with both cars doesn’t really reap any benefits.
Entering the closing laps, Albon starts to quickly close on Hamilton for third but runs out of laps, finishing just 1.5s off the podium.
At the front, however, there was no stopping Verstappen despite some small tyre concerns, crossing the line to clinch his second win of the year and Red Bull’s first at Yas Marina since 2013.
Win number Ⅹ for MAⅩ!
The Dutchman takes his tenth victory in F1 ?#AbuDhabiGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/Cwc2qBcyqO
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 13, 2020
Behind the top four, McLaren secured third in the Constructors’ standings after fifth for Norris and sixth for Sainz.
Ricciardo scored the fastest lap on the final lap, passing Gasly for seventh in the process.
Ocon came home ninth, also gaining a place on the last lap as he overtook Stroll into Turn 11.
Daniil Kvyat was 11th in his expected final race at AlphaTauri, with Kimi Raikkonen a solid 12th.
Ferrari ended their year with 13th for Leclerc and 14th for Vettel, as he bids farewell to the Scuderia.
George Russell was 15th ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi and Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi.
Kevin Magnussen finished 18th in his last race at Haas, with Pietro Fittipaldi bringing up the field.
Perez would be the only retirement.
Full results from the race can be seen below:
