Simply Abu Dhabi XXVIII

This was the first time in F1 history that both works Ferraris were eliminated on the opening lap, and Hamilton capitalised by taking the win from Ricciardo and Bottas in third. Drivers: Hamilton: 263 Vettel: 235 Constructors: Mercedes: 475 Ferrari: 373 Rd15 Malaysia: Vettel installed a new engine which wasn’t running properly and failed to set a qualifying time, so was forced to start from last place. Hamilton was at the other end of the field on pole position, ahead of Raikkonen and Verstappen. Raikkonen pulled to the side of the grid just as the race was about to start and retired. Hamilton led until lap 28 but struggled to stay in front of the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Ricciardo. Coming into the last laps, Hamilton succumbed to Verstappen who took the second win of his F1 career with Hamilton second, Ricciardo third and a hard-fought fourth place for Vettel. Drivers: Hamilton: 281 Vettel: 247 Constructors: Mercedes: 503 Ferrari: 385 Rd 17 United States: The US GP in Texas was relatively uneventful, except that as Hamilton entered the weekend with a 59-point buffer to Vettel and Mercedes carrying a 155 point margin to Ferrari in the constructors’ title, it could be a fatal blow to Ferrari’s championship hopes. Qualifying marked a return to form for Ferrari, with Vettel on the front row alongside pole sitter Hamilton followed by Bottas, Ricciardo and Raikkonen filling the minor placings.