The season finale was emotional for many drivers, as six drivers altogether -Alonso, Hartley, Ocon, Ericsson, Sirotkin and Vandoorne- started to their very last F1 race, at least so far. The start itself was very clean, as pole-setter Hamilton dived into Turn 1 first, with teammate Bottas at his tail. Sebastian held on to his third place, followed by Kimi, who was driving his farewell race for Ferrari. Red Bull's Verstappen, on the other hand, had problems with his launch. The engine of his RB14 didn't work as expected, and Max lost three positions, dropping down to 9th. Opening lap saw a dramatic situation in the midfield, as Haas' Grosjean and Renault's Hulkenberg collided in Turn 9. Hulkenberg's rear-right tyre touched Grosjean's front-left tyre, which made Hulkenberg's Renault go airborn. Hulkenberg's car flipped in the air and ended up upside down into the wall! Due to the head protection device Halo it was very difficult for the German to get out of the car. The crash aside, there were also flames coming out of the rear of Hulkenberg's Renault! Luckily the fire extinguishers were near, and the marshals quite rapidly managed to turn the car back on its wheels. Luckily Hulkenberg got out of his car unharmed. Safety car was deployed.
Safety car came in on lap 4. Sauber's Leclerc had made his way up to 5th right before the safety car. Verstappen was having a heart-stopping battle with the Force India duo. Max and Ocon kind of continued where they left off in Brazil! Once again Max knew what he wanted; he made an audacious and aggressive overtaking move on the Frenchman, moving ahead of the Force India pilot. This was definitely Max's driving at its best! Like a lion unleashed.
Before the race I had hoped, that Kimi would end his career in the red on a high. Well, reality turned out different. Kimi's SF71-H was suddenly hit with an electric failure, which made the car stop on the finish straight on lap 7. It was a real pity, as I would have wanted to see the Iceman on the podium one more time in the red suit! Virtual safety car was deployed, and Mercedes called race leader Hamilton in. The world champion switched to the red-walled super-soft compound, and re-joined the track in P5. This seemed like a genius tactical call from the world champion team; but would it be possible for Hamilton to make the tyres last for over 40 laps?
Sebastian in P2 was the next top driver to pit on lap 16. The German, too, opted for a fresh set of super-softs. However, there was a small delay in his pit stop. Race leader Bottas pitted on the sequential lap, also for the hardest rubber. The Finn re-joined the track well ahead of Sebastian. Verstappen, who had started to the race on the hyper-softs, pitted not until on lap 18, for a similar tyre choice to the other top drivers. Teammate Ricciardo was now leading the race, with Hamilton second, Bottas third, Sebastian fourth and Verstappen fifth. Against all odds there was light drizzle around lap 23, which isn't a common phenomenon in the dessert of Abu Dhabi. However, due to very low intensity it had hardly any influence on the track conditions.
Ricciardo in the lead proved his skills in tyre management, as the Australian came in not until on lap 33. Ricciardo re-joined the track on super-softs in P5. The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Bottas were now back in the double lead. However, with 20 laps to go, Bottas seemed to be in serious trouble with his tyres. Sebastian had been able to close the gap to the Finn and was lurking for a chance to get past. He didn't have to wait for long, as Bottas locked up his brakes, and Sebastian attacked the Finn right away, snatching P2. Sebastian immediately opened a gap to Bottas, once getting past. After Sebastian it was Verstappen's turn to make it past Bottas. It was another overtaking move in Verstappen style, as their front-wheels touched in the heat of the moment. Teammate Ricciardo made Bottas' misery even worse, as the Australian, too attacked the Finn and made a successful overtaking move! In only a few laps Bottas had dropped from P2 down to P5! As the Finn had nothing to lose anymore, the team called him in for the second time. Bottas switched to a fresh set of ultra-softs, and re-joined the track in P5. He didn't lose any positions due to his pit stop, as Renault's Sainz in P6 was massively behind already.
Hamilton in the lead had everything perfectly under his control. Despite the early pit stop, his tyres were still very much alive. His gap to Sebastian varied from four to five seconds. Verstappen in third was a couple of seconds behind Sebastian, and teammate Ricciardo was another couple of seconds off Max. So there were no wheel-to-wheel battles for podium places at the closing stages. Hamilton crossed the finish line as the dominant race winner for the 11th time this season. Sebastian ended the season on a high by finishing as the runner-up. Max has driven a sensational last third of the season, completing the podium also today. Ricciardo finished fourth, ahead of disappointed Bottas. Sainz finished 6th for Renault and Leclerc 7th for Sauber. The Haas duo of Grosjean and Magnussen completed the top ten.
At the end of the season it is well-deserved to say, that Hamilton won the world championship in a superior way, as the gap to Sebastian turned out as massive as 88 points. Mercedes, too have an 84-point gap to Ferrari in the constructors' standings. So now it's time to wrap up the 2018 season... And look forward to the next one. Kimi will be testing Sauber's this year's car already next Tuesday at Pirelli's tyre tests. I can't wait, what kind of plot twists the 2019 season will hold! I will miss Kimi in red, but I have a strong hunch, that he will make miracles happen at the wheel of Sauber next year!
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