Simply Abu Dhabi XXVIII

Rd20 Abu Dhabi After hosting some nail-biting title deciders over the years, the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was an anti-climax by comparison. The traditional end of season race at the Yas Marina Circuit turned on its charms as the most picturesque circuit on the calendar, but it lacked the excitement of a championship showdown. However, further down the grid, an intense three-way battle for sixth place in the title was about to take place between constructors Toro Rosso, Renault and Haas, as finishing sixth in the championship would result in a DHS 50 million discount on next year’s race fees. Bottas took pole fromHamilton, Vettel and Ricciardo, and despite history being against the pole man from taking victory at Yas, Bottas had a point to prove to his Mercedes employees that he is a worthy teammate to Hamilton for 2018. Bottas was never challenged, and leading from pole position he recorded the fastest lap of the race, leading all but a handful of laps when Hamilton briefly took the lead while he pitted and claiming a comfortable 1.5 second victory over his teammate. Vettel was relieved to finish third as he was at risk of losing second place in the drivers’ championship to Bottas if he finished outside the top six places. After such a strong start to 2017, losing another place to Mercedes would have been the ultimate humiliation during a tiring season for the Scuderia. Overall, Hamilton lad 524 laps throughout the season compared to Vettel’s 286, and joined F1 royalty Ayrton Senna and JuanManual Fangio as the only people to have scored points in every race of a season. 5 1 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I