Simply Abu Dhabi XXVIII

Rd 10 Britain: The highlight for McLaren’s year came during qualifying, when under drying conditions following earlier rain, Alonso put on a set of supersoft tyres for the final minutes and set the fastest time of the session to claimP1. It didn’t last, but it gave the team a well-needed boost for a poor season. Hamilton grabbed pole by 0.5 seconds from Raikkonen with Vettel 0.2 seconds behind. Hamilton quickly opened a 1.6 second lead over Raikkonen on the opening lap, while Vettel lost his place to Verstappen’s Red Bull. Hamilton took an easy win in front of his home crowd with teammate Bottas second. On lap 49 of 51 Raikkonen punctured a tyre, and on lap 50 Vettel’s Ferrari suffered the same fate. Raikkonen limped home to finish third but Vettel took a championship blow and finished seventh. Hamilton narrowed the gap to Vettel to just one point, while Mercedes extended its lead in the constructors’ title to 55 points. Drivers: Vettel: 177 Hamilton: 176 Constructors: Mercedes: 330 Ferrari: 275 Rd 11 Hungary: The last race before the summer break saw Ferrari get its first qualifying one-two since 2004 when Vettel took pole from Raikkonen. Mercedes locked out the second row, Red Bull secured the third row andMcLaren- Honda’s two cars snared the fourth row in what was its best qualifying performance of the year. The number two drivers of both Ferrari andMercedes were the quickest in the race, with Raikkonen asking for permission to pass a struggling Vettel for the lead while Hamilton stepped aside on the final corner to let Bottas through for third place. Vettel eventually won from Raikkonen, with Bottas’s third giving Ferrari and Vettel some much needed points after Silverstone. Drivers: Vettel: 202 Hamilton: 188 Constructors: Mercedes: 357 Ferrari: 318 Rd 13 Italy: Monza was the last race on the European calendar before the move offshore. A rain-interrupted qualifying session threw up a few surprises behind pole sitter Hamilton. The two Red Bulls qualified second and third, but were demoted due to grid penalties which pushed Williams’ Stroll into second to became the youngest ever front row starter in a Formula One race. Force India’s Esteban Ocon moved up to third ahead of Bottas, Raikkonen and Vettel. Hamilton got away well from the start but Stroll fell back into the pack. At the end, Mercedes finished with a one-two for Hamilton and Bottas, with Vettel in third ahead of the charging Red Bull of Ricciardo. This was the turning point in the drivers’ championship chase, as it marked the first time Hamilton had lead the championship all season. Drivers: Hamilton: 238 Vettel: 235 Constructors: Mercedes: 435 Ferrari: 373 Rd 14 Singapore: As if losing the championship lead on Ferrari’s home soil of Italy wasn’t bad enough, Singapore proved to be a monumental disaster for the Scuderia with both Ferraris crashing out and Hamilton winning, giving Mercedes maximum points. Ricciardo finished second with Bottas providing Mercedes with more valuable constructors’ points in third. The weekend started well for Vettel by taking pole position from the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Ricciardo with Raikkonen in fourth, while the best Mercedes could do was P5 and P6 for Hamilton and Bottas. A perfect scenario for Ferrari. Off the start, Raikkonen got a good jump from the second row and pulled alongside Verstappen who was in a Ferrari sandwich with Vettel on his other side. The three cars touched heading into turn one, sending both Ferraris crashing into each other and ending the Italian challenge before the first corner.