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Lewis Hamilton wins Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Chaos descended seconds after lights out in Abu Dhabi as Daniel Ricciardo’s future teammate was sent tumbling out of the race ... literally.

Alex BlairAlex Blair
@alexblair_1
7 min read
November 26, 2018 - 2:09AM
Nico Hulkenberg literally tumbled out of the race.
Nico Hulkenberg literally tumbled out of the race.

Live: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has closed out the F1 season with a win in Abu Dhabi.

Lewis Hamilton has rounded off a stunning championship season with a clinical win in Abu Dhabi over longtime rival Sebastian Vettel.

Daniel Ricciardo threatened to finish off his career at Red Bull with a win as he slid into the lead midway through the race but in the end the Aussie had to settle with fourth as teammate Max Verstappen claimed third.

Carnage rained down on the Yas Marina Circuit in the first lap as Nico Hulkenberg — who will be Ricciardo’s teammate next year at Renault — brushed wheels with Romain Grosjean and dramatically tumbled into the barrier. The Renault star was left hanging upside down for almost three minutes as his car belched out smoke.

“Get me out of here! There is fire, there is fire,” he said from the cockpit.

A brief trip to the medical tent cleared Hulkenberg of injury as Grosjean escaped punishment for the collision.

Nico Hulkenberg literally tumbled out of the race.
Nico Hulkenberg literally tumbled out of the race.

Retiring F1 great Fernando Alonso completed his career one position short of a points finish, crossing the line in 11th for McLaren to finish his colossal career in the sport. In the Ferrari camp, departing star Kimi Raikkonen bid farewell in disappointing fashion early in the race.

The Finn, who broke a five-year drought with a win in the USA earlier in the year, pulled up on the home straight after losing power and stormed off to the sheds. The 39-year-old will join Sauber for the 2019 season as the grid prepares for a massive shake-up over the winter.

Fear not, the first race of the season, the Melbourne Grand Prix, is just 110 days away.

2.10am

Red Bull’s parting message to Daniel Ricciardo

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner thanked Daniel Ricciardo for his time at Red Bull after the race, which saw the Aussie finish fourth behind Max Verstappen in a fitting finish to his stint at the energy drink team.

“Great drive today, it’s been an absolute pleasure having you in our team for the last five seasons,” Horner said. “Seven victories, all the podiums, all the high moments. We’re going to miss you and I wish you all the very best for the future. I’m very fond of all the memories we have together. Enjoy this slow down lap.”

1.24am

Max collides in heated overtake

Valtteri Bottas offered the Red Bulls a feast late in the race as his Mercedes began losing speed ahead of Max Verstappen. The Dutchman pounced on the opportunity and went to overtake the Finn on the inside after the straight — but it got a little too close for the pair as Verstappen brushed Bottas’ wheels and sent him off track.

Daniel Ricciardo jumped on the opportunity shortly after, easily gliding past Bottas to slot into fourth with fresh tyres and a three second gap between him and Verstappen to play with.

1.11am

Podium battle heats up

Daniel Ricciardo had 2.5 seconds on Lewis Hamilton and nearly 12 seconds over Max Verstappen as the departing Red Bull fought tooth and nail for a perfect finish to his contract.

The Aussie made good on his word to hold onto the lead and got every inch out of his ultrasoft tyres through to the 33rd lap.

It almost looked as if Red Bull were planning on fitting Ricciardo with a fragile set of hypersofts to blast through the field late in the race and attempt to steal the show.

Alas, it was another set of ultrasofts for the Aussie as he took the pits in the 34th lap. He returned to the field behind Verstappen, who began closing the gap between himself and Valtteri Bottas in third.

12.51am

Ricciardo snags the lead

Daniel Ricciardo slid into the lead and told his team to relax as race engineers questioned the condition of his ultrasoft tyres with Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes making up for ground behind him.

“I can hold this,” Ricciardo said.

The Aussie is yet to pit, but the performance of teammate Max Verstappen and the amount of time left in the race means the Red Bull battle could tip in the Dutchman’s favour by the chequered flag.

“The gap between Ricciardo and Verstappen is 20.1 seconds but the Dutchman is currently lapping a second or so quicker,” David Croft said on Sky Sports.

Reports of rain in the city began coming through in the 22nd lap. It could be a slippery finish to the season here.

12.28am

Kimi’s sad Ferrari farewell

Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari lost power on the home straight in the seventh lap, leaving the Iceman fuming in his farewell race with the Scuderia.

“What is happening? I have no power,” he said as the virtual safety car was employed.

Adding to the earlier chaos, Raikkonen lost power at the worst possible spot on the track. Engineers were forced to do a three-point turn and take a dangerous route back into the pits as Raikkonen stormed off to the sheds.

Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo has edged his way into third after briefly being overtaken by Charles Leclerc. The Aussie set the fastest lap of the race in the ninth lap as he closed the gap between himself and Sebastian Vettel to under four seconds.

Lewis Hamilton held the lead through the madness of the opening laps and looks to be attempting to finish the race on his current set of tyres.

12.15am

Chaos as Hulkenberg tumbles

Renault star Nico Hulkenberg left everyone with their jaws on the floor as he flipped and tumbled into the wall in the first lap.

Hulkenberg, who will be Daniel Ricciardo’s teammate next year, had his back wheels collide with Romain Grosjean through a corner and found himself upside down on the side of the track.

“I’m hanging here like a cow. Get me out! There’s fire, there’s fire,” Hulkenberg said over the radio.

Martin Brundle pointed out a clear disadvantage to the F1’s new halo system over the cockpit as emergency teams raced to remove Hulkenberg from the cockpit.

“This is where the halo is a problem, it doesn’t let you out,” Brundle mused.

“(But) Grosjean did nothing wrong there. I imagine he was in the blind spot of Hulkenberg there.”

Hulkenberg held his hands up to the crowd to signal he was fine as the rest of the field took to the pits during the safety car.

Stewards had a look at the incident but declined taking action against Grosjean.

1 0pm

Ricciardo’s weird interview

Daniel Ricciardo threw this reporter the mother of all curveballs in a wacky interview after a hot qualifying finish.

The Aussie driver, fresh off the track after dudding teammate Max Verstappen for fifth in the final race of the year, completely veered off track when asked if he could complete a “dream” finish to close out his career at Red Bull.

“I certainly dream of unicorns a lot,” a straight-faced Ricciardo deadpanned. “They’re a sign of hope and opportunity so I think my next tattoo is going to be a unicorn ... probably somewhere on my face.”

The taken-aback reporter tried playing ball with the Aussie star but ended up making it more awkward.

“Eating cake? Possibly with a rainbow with some stars? Your mum will love that,” he said.

Ricciardo: “This has really gone sideways.”

9.30pm

Hamilton on pole, Max fumes at Ricciardo pinch

Five-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has led a Mercedes front-row lockout with a blistering pole position at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The pole was a record-extending 83rd of the Briton’s career and 11th of the season, as well as the fifth year in succession that Mercedes have swept the front row at the floodlit Yas Marina circuit on Saturday.

Hamilton’s pole lap of one minute 34.794 seconds was also a track record. Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas secured his front-row slot, last year’s race winner being 0.162 seconds off the pace, with the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen filling the second row.

Australian Daniel Ricciado and Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen were fifth and sixth.

“It’s quite an emotional qualifying session for me because it’s the last time I’m going to be qualifying in this car,” said Hamilton after stepping out of the Mercedes to kiss it and then wave to the crowd.

“The emotional roller-coaster that I’ve gone through with this car, I’m probably the closest to this car that I’ve ever beenwith any car. So I’m emotionally attached,” added the 33-year-old.

“It’s not always been easy, it’s been a struggle with her but it’s been a real privilege to work with her this year and I’m just so grateful to the team, to everyone, for putting it together.”

Verstappen complained over the team radio his tyres were too hot while Red Bull argued they were fine. The Dutchman complained the temperature was too high in Q2 and was left baffled when they only got hotter in Q3.

“We will look into why they were a bit warmer because I didn’t understand why,” Verstappen said.

“If they are too hot already, you can’t cool them down that much. So, when you start hot, you know it’s already going to be worse with the tyres for the last sector.

“It was just not our qualifying, I could feel it straight away that it was sliding too much, and of course you keep on trying, trying, it’s not working, not working.

“Then, I went off and said, ‘Ah, f*** sake’, and all of that.”

Romain Grosjean qualified seventh for Haas with Charles Leclerc eighth in his last race for Sauber before taking Raikkonen’s place at Ferrari. French youngster Esteban Ocon, who will drop back to a reserve role at Mercedes next season, put his Force India ninth on the grid and ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg in 10th.

With nothing at stake for the top teams, and no orders holding anyone back, Sunday’s race promises to be a full-on fight for victory.

Bottas, without a win this season while Hamilton has taken 10 victories, had hoped to take the top slot for the second yearin a row but recognised his team mate had once again pulled a stunning lap out of the bag.

“P2 (second) wasn’t what I was expecting... but a one-two for the final race is good,” he said.

“He was performing well, it was tough to beat his time. He did a better job in the lap.”

— with AAP

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