Bottas WINS final race of F1 season in Abu Dhabi

Valtteri Bottas took his pole position in the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and turned it in to a one-two win for Mercedes, with Bottas the victor.

Yesterday’s qualifying for the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix saw Valtteri Bottas impose his will and take pole position, with Lewis Hamilton starting the race in second and Sebastian Vettel in third.

And that’s exactly how the race itself ended, so if that’s all that matter you can stop reading now.

For Bottas this was a chance to prove he could match Hamilton, and perhaps it’s a taste of 2018 in the way he took command of the race from the start with real confidence, and kept Lewis in his place – second place – from beginning to end.

Yes, Bottas came in earlier than Hamilton so, technically, he didn’t lead from start to finish, but Hamilton’s later stop made no difference, he came out behind Bottas and he was kept there. Well done Valtteri.

The one-two from Mercedes – and in Bottas/Hamilton order – should send a real sign to Ferrari for next year, as Vettel, who finished third, really couldn’t do anything about the Mercedes dominance, and although it was a 3-4 for Ferrari with Raikkonen in fourth, they were outpaced.

Behind the Mercedes and Ferrari it was a fifth place finish for Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, and the sixth and seventh place for the Force Indias of Perez and Ocon gave the team sixth place in the constructors race, and a multi-million pound bonanza in the process.

Behind the Force Indias Alonso managed to pass the Williams of Massa – the last outing for Massa and the last outing for the Honda-engined McLaren – for ninth, with the Brazilian getting a point in his last ever race. But Mclaren end 2017 next to last in the constructors championship.

And that’s it for F1 2017.