Racing fans are lucky to be witnessing one of the all-time greats. Lewis Hamilton did it again, closing out the 2019 Formula 1 season by winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates—December 1st—After capping off a sixth world championship, a sixth Constructor’s title for Mercedes, and a brilliant pole position the previous day, Lewis Hamilton gave Formula 1 a capstone moment–a start-to-finish victory Sunday evening by taking the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Hamilton won by just under 17 seconds, beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc finished third.
Lewis Hamilton: I travel around the world to different countries, and I get to see people who inspire me and send me messages that lift me. Thank you for watching! Thank you for supporting! I feel so happy today.
Verstappen was also thankful, knowing that the future looks bright for this Dutchman. “To be P3 in the championship was a nice ending,” he said. “We are all working hard, but good to take some time off and be with family and friends and come back stronger next year.”
For Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, it was a bit of a different story. Despite finishing ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel, he knows that he can produce more. “I’ve learned a huge amount thanks to Seb (Vettel). It has been a great year, a realization of the dream since I was a child–to be with Ferrari and in Formula 1. It’s up to me to get better and give them the success they deserve.”
Hamilton got off to a brilliant start, leading by 5.2 seconds by lap 10 and 12 seconds by the middle part of the race. Even after pitting only once, Hamilton was able to come back onto the track with a six-second lead over Leclerc.
Valtteri Bottas, who started the race from last place, ended up finishing fourth–just missed standing on the podium. Vettel was disappointing in fifth, but Alex Albon improved his results to sixth. Lando Norris took seventh to finish an incredible rookie season. Sergio Perez was eighth, while Dani Kvyat was ninth in the Toro Rosso. Carlos Sainz, who ended up taking sixth overall in the drivers’ championship, finished tenth.
Even though the racing season is over, the work is never done. Next week, new tires will be tested at this track–an critical evaluation to see which tires will end up on cars in the 2020 season. Other pre-season testings will follow as the racing world gets ready for team launches next February in Spain.
The opening race of the 2020 season will be the Australian Grand Prix, which will take place on March 15th.
