The race was soon neutralised, however. As Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean tussled into the chicane, the pair collided and the Renault man’s car was flipped into a series of frightening rolls. He came to rest upside down on the barriers. The Renault driver soon emerged unscathed but the Safety Car was swiftly deployed.
When the SC left the track Hamilton held his advantage and was soon building a lead over Bottas and Vettel. Further back, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was making moves and he attacked the Force India of Esteban Ocon soon after racing resumed. He got past but then seemed to struggle for power and Ocon swept past to reclaim the position.
The Red Bull man was told to try a reset and with that in place and effective, he muscled his way past the Force Indian driver in the second chicane to claim eighth place after dropping back from sixth at the start. Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen then ground to a halt on the start-finish straight with a total loss of power, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car.
That was the cue for Hamilton to pit on lap 7 and that vaulted Ricciardo up to P3 behind Bottas and Vettel. The Australian was now just four seconds behind Vettel, with Max two second behind his team-mate in P4. Vettel was the next of the frontrunners to pit, the Ferrari driver taking on supersofts on lap 15.
He emerged in P6 behind Ocon and then Bottas made the same move on the next lap. The moves meant that Ricciardo now led the race. Verstappen’s opening hypersoft tyres were now beginning to fade and the Dutchman was the next to pit, taking on supersoft tyres and rejoining in P5 behind Vettel.
Race leader Ricciardo was now the only one of the top six to require a pit stop, but the Red Bull driver insisted his starting ultrasofts were in good shape. He proved it by managing a steady gap to Hamilton as he extended his opening stint. Ricciardo finally made his sole stop on lap 33, taking on supersofts and rejoining in P5 behind Verstappen.
He quickly began to make the most of his new tyres, closing a seven-second gap to Max to just 1.5s by lap 36. Verstappen was also gaining ground, putting heavy pressure on Bottas, who twice locked up and went off track. Max continued to probe and on lap 39 he took a wide line through Turn 11 and then tucked in on the inside to pass in the next corner. The pair banged wheels but Verstappen claimed third place.
Ricciardo, juts behind, also got a run on the Mercedes man and on the next lap, under DRS into Turn 8, he breezed past to take P4. The order at the front then settled, with Hamilton holding an advantage over Vettel of between four and five seconds while the Ferrari man managed a three-second gap back to the Red Bulls.
And, after 55 laps, Hamilton crossed the line to take his 11th win of the season ahead of Vettel. Max claimed his 11th podium of the season, and fourth place in the Drivers’ championship, ahead of Daniel who ended his final race of his five seasons with the team with fourth place.
Behind the Bulls, Bottas finished in fifth place ahead of Renault’s Carlos Sainz, Sauber’s Charles Leclerc, the Force India of Sergio Perez and the Haas cars of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen. Fernando Alonso ended his 311-start grand prix career with 11th place.
| 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Race 55 laps, 305.470km., Weather: Dry. |
|||
| CLASSIFIED: | |||
| P. | DRIVER | TEAM | TIME/GAP |
| 1. | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes AMG | 1ч39:40.382 |
| 2. | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | + 2.581 |
| 3. | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 12.706 |
| 4. | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | + 15.379 |
| 5. | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes AMG | + 47.957 |
| 6. | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Renault | + 1:12.548 |
| 7. | Charles Leclerc | Sauber | + 1:30.789 |
| 8. | Sergio Perez | Force India | + 1:31.275 |
| 9. | Romain Grosjean | Haas | + 1 lap |
| 10. | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1 lap |
| 11. | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | + 1 lap |
| 12. | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | + 1 lap |
| 13. | Lance Stroll | Williams | + 1 lap |
| 14. | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | + 1 lap |
| 15. | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams | + 1 lap |
| FASTEST LAP: SEBASTIAN VETTEL - 1:40.867 | |||
| NOT CLASSIFIED: | |||
| 16. | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso | techical |
| 17. | Esteban Ocon | Force India | techical |
| 18. | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | techical |
| 19. | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | techical |
| 20. | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | crash |
| 2014 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h30:02.555 2015 Nico Rosberg - Mercedes AMG - 1h38:30.175 2016 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h38:04.015 2017 Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes AMG - 1h34:14.062 2018 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h39:40.382 @MkFormula1 - Republic of Macedonia |
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| ***FINAL CLASSIFICATION 21/21*** | |||
| DRIVERS: | |||
| 1. | Lewis Hamilton | 408 | |
| 2. | Sebastian Vettel | 320 | |
| 3. | Kimi Raikkonen | 251 | |
| 4. | Max Verstappen | 249 | |
| 5. | Valtteri Bottas | 247 | |
| 6. | Daniel Ricciardo | 170 | |
| 7. | Nico Hulkenberg | 69 | |
| 8. | Sergio Perez | 62 | |
| 9. | Kevin Magnussen | 56 | |
| 10. | Carlos Sainz Jr. | 53 | |
| 11. | Fernando Alonso | 50 | |
| 12. | Esteban Ocon | 49 | |
| 13. | Charles Leclerc | 39 | |
| 14. | Romain Grosjean | 37 | |
| 15. | Pierre Gasly | 29 | |
| 16. | Stoffel Vandoorne | 12 | |
| 17. | Marcus Ericsson | 9 | |
| 18. | Lance Stroll | 6 | |
| 19. | Brendon Hartley | 4 | |
| 20. | Sergey Sirotkin | 1 | |
| CONSTRUCTORS: | |||
| 1. | Mercedes AMG | 655 | |
| 2. | Ferrari | 571 | |
| 3. | Red Bull | 419 | |
| 4. | Renault | 122 | |
| 5. | Haas | 93 | |
| 6. | McLaren | 62 | |
| 7. | Force India(new owner) | 52 | |
| 8. | Sauber | 48 | |
| 9. | Toro Rosso | 33 | |
| 10. | Williams | 7 | |
| DSQ | Force India(old owner) | 52 | |
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