Simply Abu Dhabi XXVIII

4 1 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I Rd4 Russia: The Russian Grand Prix proved to be Ferrari’s first front row lock out since the 2008 French Grand Prix, when Vettel took pole fromRaikkonen with Bottas third and Hamilton an uncharacteristic fourth. Further down the grid it was another race McLaren Honda’s Fernando Alonso would rather forget, as he failed to make the start line stalling on the grid. This was already his third retirement this year, with the Spaniard was desperately looking elsewhere for a future drive. The race didn’t go to plan for the leading pair, either, allowing Bottas to take his first win in Formula One from Vettel with Raikkonen filling the podium and Hamilton down in fourth with overheating issues. Drivers: Vettel: 86 Hamilton: 73 Constructors: Mercedes: 136 Ferrari: 135 Rd5 Spain: Qualifying was almost a disaster for Vettel after his car stopped in the opening minutes and he was asked to stop over the radio, which would have guaranteed him a back of the grid start. Fortunately he managed to limp back to get the problem resolved and made the cut through the sessions to eventually qualify on the front row alongside pole sitter Hamilton. Hometown favourite Alonso delivered a blinding result to get his underpoweredMcLaren into Q3 and then qualified as the best of the rest behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. Vettel led Hamilton into the first corner and they diced until the pit stops where Vettel emerged alongside Hamilton, banging wheels and briefly forcing Lewis off track. Hamilton on the faster tyres hunted down Vettel, passing the Ferrari on lap 44 and going on to win, while Ricciardo took his first podium of the season in third. Drivers: Vettel: 104 Hamilton: 98 Constructors: Mercedes: 161 Ferrari: 153 Rd6 Monaco: Monaco was arguably Ferrari’s best race of 2017 with Raikkonen grabbing his first pole position since France 2008. Vettel claimed Ferrari’s first victory on the streets of the Principality since 2001, and with Raikkonen second, it was Ferrari’s first one-two since the 2010 German Grand Prix. With Hamilton off the pace and only qualifying 14th, it was always going to be a tough battle for Mercedes and he finished seventh. Vettel extended his championship lead, while in the constructors’ title, Ferrari reclaimed the points lead fromMercedes McLaren brought former world champ Jenson Button out of retirement for a one-off race to replace Alonso who was competing in the Indy500 in the US as a way to keep his motivation on the boil. However, Button retired from the race and confirmed his permanent retirement from Formula One at the same time. Drivers: Vettel: 129 Hamilton: 104 Constructors: Ferrari: 196 Mercedes: 179 Rd8: Azerbaijan The race in Baku is the one which many considered to be the start of Vettel’s unravelling, as pressure got to him and he crashed into the back of Hamilton’s car during a safety car period. Hamilton started from pole alongside Bottas with Raikkonen third and Vettel in fourth. A multi-car crash on lap one promoted Vettel to second while Ricciardo had to pit and dropped back to 17th. During a second safety car period, Vettel rammed Hamilton, then drove alongside the Mercedes and turned in on him, hitting him again as a deliberate move in frustration. Vettel was penalised for dangerous driving and dropped back to seventh while Hamilton had to pit from the lead to fix a broken headrest. The result was a win for Ricciardo with Bottas just grabbing second on the line from Williams’s teenager Lance Stroll. Stroll became the youngest rookie to finish on the podium at age 18 years 239 days, and the first Canadian since Jacques Villeneuve. Drivers: Vettel: 153 Hamilton: 139 Constructors: Mercedes: 250 Ferrari: 228 Background Photography: Darren Heath