F1 Racing - UK (2020-01)

108 F1 RACING JANUARY 2020

PICTURES

:SIMON GALL

OW

AY;

GLENN DUNBAR

;ZAK MAUGER

;STEVE ETHERINGTON

;MARK SUTTON

;MANUEL GORIA

THE ABU DHA BI GP

FINISHING STRAIGHT F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPROUND^21 IN 3 KEY MOMENTS

RACE DEBRIEF

1 Hamilton dominates and fuelsFerrari rumours

As thefi reworks illuminatedthe night sky, they
signalled the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and
the 2019Formula 1 season. It was apt thatLewis
Hamilton was the man enjoying the celebrations.
In his 250th race start, he dominated the grand
prix, leading every lap from pole position and
securing fastest lap. It was the perfect endto his
sixth world championship-winning season which
featured another pleasing statistic – Hamilton
had completed every one of the 1,262 laps raced
across the course of the year.
The characteristics of theYas Marina circuit
have always suited each iteration of Mercedes’
cars since the beginning of the turbo-hybrid era.
Every year since 2014, the Silver Arrows has locked
out the front row of the grid in qualifying. This year

Abu Dhabi was a great wayto finish 2019

for Hamilton, who dominated throughout

was noexception, althoughValtteri Bottas (who

had qualified second) wasforced to start from the

pitlane after additional power unit elements were

fi tted to his Mercedes.

Bottas also required repairsto his W10 after a

misdemeanour in second free practice on Friday

afternoon. In an attemptto overtake Romain

Grosjean’s Haas, the pair collided at the end of the

second ofYas Marina’s two back straights and the

Finn was given a reprimand.

On Sunday, he would have fi nished on the podium

if it wasn’tfor a glitch that ledto DRS failingto

activatefor the entirefi eld in the early stages of the

race. That reduced Bottas’ capacityto come through

the fi eld as a server failure in race controlforced the

drag reduction systemto come off-linefor 16 laps,

which meantovertaking became a trickier task.

Finishingover 16 seconds behind Hamilton on

the road was MaxVerstappen – whoseRed Bull-

Honda was suffering a mapping issue – andFerrari’s

CharlesLeclerc.

It was appropriate Hamilton wasfl ankedby the

two young gunsmostlikelyto take his crown in

the coming years. During theweekend the talk in

the paddockwas ofFerrari seemingly “chatting up”

Hamiltonfor a 2021 seat. There hadbeen reports

Lewis had made contact withFerrari chairman John

Elkann, and when asked, Hamilton said: “I think it’s

only smart and wisefor me to sit and think of what

I wantif it is the last period or stage inmy career...”

while adding that his decision might depend on what

Toto Wolff decides with regardsto his own future.