F1 2017: Bottas Beats Hamilton To Win Abu Dhabi GP Season Finale

Bringing an end to an exceptional year of Formula 1 2017, Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas sealed the win in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating teammate Lewis Hamilton at Yas Marina. Bottas was undeterred at the front starting at pole, and led the race throughout to win with a gap of 3.899 seconds over Hamilton. The Abu Dhabi GP also marked Bottas' third win of the season, while Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel took the last place on the podium, having started at P3. While the top three contenders remained unnerved through the final race of the season, there was lots of action at the back of the pack with multiple retirements, loose wheels and some fantastic driving in sight.

(Both Mercedes W08s led the race right from the opening lap)

Bottas had a strong start to the last race of the season as teammate Hamilton followed at P2 closely. The Mercedes boys soon started edging out over the rest of the pack, while Vettel and Ricciardo were catching up at P3 and P4 respectively. As the top drivers passed smoothly on the opening lap, things were a little more adventurous at the back as Kevin Magnussen spun on the opening lap and immediately was pushed down to P20 from P14.

(Ricciardo retired earlier than expected at P4 after suffering hydraulic problems)

While the Mercedes drivers secured the top two positions, Vettel had a lonely race as he trailed behind the W08s and eventually finished 19.3 seconds adrift. Red Bull's Daniel Riccardo started strong at P4 but was in the pits by Lap 20 after suffering a suspected puncture. He managed to maintain the place when he left the pits but couldn't hold on for long and retired about a lap later after suffering hydraulic problems.

Meanwhile, Ricciardo's retirement promoted Raikkonen to P4, and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was right on Kimi's tail, trailing behind with a gap of 1.4 seconds. Starting at P5, Verstappen finished in the same position, albeit just 0.8 seconds behind Raikkonen. Nico Hulkenberg of Renault secured sixth in the final race of the season, despite a 5-second penalty for gaining an advantage over Force India's Sergio Perez by leaving the track early in the 55 lap race.

(Sebastian Vettel finished a confident yet lonely third in Abu Dhabi)

Running a strong at P7, disaster spelled for the Renault's Carlos Sainz as the front left tyre of his car came loose as he entered the tunnel. The Spaniard retired soon before even making it to the pits. This allowed Perez to finish seventh, followed by teammate Esteban Ocon at P8.

Driving in his last race with the Honda engine, McLaren's Fernando Alonso finished a respectable ninth, an improvement considering he wasn't able to finish most races this season over reliability concerns. Taking the last spot was Felipe Massa at P10 in his final grand prix, completing a total of 269 races of his career.

(Grosjean and Stroll put up a good fight through the race)

Also bringing some action were Romain Grosjean and Lance Stroll with both drivers involved in a duel for most of the race for the 13th place Grosjean eventually finished 11th ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne and Magnussen, while Stroll finished in 18th place behind Pascal Wehrlein, Brendon Hartley, Pierre Gasly and Marcus Ericsson.