Lewis Hamilton wins ABU DHABI F1 Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton claimed his 84th victory in Formula One – his eleventh of the 2019 season and fifth at the Yas Marina Circuit, Max Verstappen overcame a power unit problem to pass Charles Leclerc and finish second .

2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sunday – LAT Images

Today’s result marks Lewis’ 50th Formula One win starting from pole position and he claimed the fastest lap of the race and was also awarded the Fastest Lap Award for the highest number of fastest laps this season.

Behind the podium , Valtteri Bottas started last on the grid but stormed through the field to take P4, just 0.944 seconds shy of P3, less than a second behind Leclerc. A penultimate lap pass by Sebastian Vettel on Alex Albon gave the Ferrari driver fifth, while a fascinating last-lap scrap between Lando Norris and Sergio Perez saw Perez ultimately come out on top to claim ‘best of the rest’ in P7, ahead of Norris.

Daniil Kvyat was ninth for Toro Rosso, while Carlos Sainz also made a last lap pass, on Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, to take a point for P10 – enough to see him claim sixth in the drivers’ standings for 2019

Lewis Hamilton
What a way to end the season! As a team, as a whole, we’ve been very strong this weekend and Valtteri did a great job today as well. I’m just so grateful for everyone’s continued hard work and dedication this year, we continue to raise the bar together. The support has been unbelievable, I’m completely overwhelmed, so a big, big thank you to everyone at the track but also back home who supports me. Team LH is such a cool, positive movement, I really appreciate it. This has probably been the biggest year of growth for us as a team, so I hope that that will put us in a good position for a new challenge next year. I’ve had some great races with Valtteri, Max and Charles this year and I anticipate that it will be even tougher competition in 2020. These guys will be working flat out to try and raise the bar, so I’m under no illusion that I will have to do the same this winter, but I wholeheartedly think I can. I feel fresh and just ready to keep going and I’m looking forward to another challenge next year.

Max Verstappen

“Of course I’m very happy to finish the season with a podium and to be third in the championship ahead of both Ferraris is also a good achievement. On this track today Mercedes and Lewis were just a bit too quick but as a Team we had a good strategy, good pit stops and the car was working really well so second place is a good result on this track. The pace was good and overall we were quite a bit faster than the other guys which is a nice feeling. Looking back my highlight of the season was Austria. To take the first victory for Honda in the V6 era was very emotional and as a Team to win at our home track again in front of so many Dutch fans was a great feeling. It’s been a good season and the Team never stopped pushing. Honda also made some great improvements so we can be very happy with our first season together. As a Team we want to move forward next year and fight for the title. We need to push flat out to close the gap but looking at the last few races we have made a positive step. It’s a great ending and now we just want to focus ahead and be even more competitive in 2020.”

Charles Leclerc

“I would never have imagined my first season with Ferrari like this. In terms of satisfaction, as a driver, it is great to have had the chance to end the year with a few poles and wins in the bag. On the other hand, you also always strive for more, and there is always something that you can do better. Overall, I think that it was a positive season for me. I learned a lot and am thankful to the whole team for all of their support and hard work.
It was not an easy race today. Starting from P3, I knew that I would have to win to get back the third place in the Drivers’ championship, so I gave it my all. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out today. We will have to spend some time working on our race pace this winter. We have been very strong in qualifying this year, but have room for improvement in our long run performance.
In any case, it’s nice to round off the season with a podium and have some time off now. I am sure that after just a few days, going back to racing will be all I can think about and I am already looking forward to being back in Melbourne.”

Results – 55 laps

POS	DRIVER	TEAM	CAR	GAP
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport	Mercedes	1h34m05.715s
2	Max Verstappen	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	Red Bull/Honda	16.772s
3	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	Ferrari	43.435s
4	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport	Mercedes	44.379s
5	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	Ferrari	1m04.357s
6	Alexander Albon	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	Red Bull/Honda	1m09.205s
7	Sergio Perez	SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team	Racing Point/Mercedes	1 Lap
8	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren/Renault	1 Lap
9	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	Toro Rosso/Honda	1 Lap
10	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren/Renault	1 Lap