Valtteri Bottas headed a dominant end of season display from Mercedes as the Finn won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after soaking up pressure from his world championship teammate, Lewis Hamilton. Bottas beat Hamilton to pole by the narrowest of margins and just like qualifying Hamilton couldn’t find that extra tenth to beat Bottas during Sunday’s race.
The race at the front was vacant of any action, Hamilton managed to get close to Bottas by less than a second and at one stage pushed a little too hard, going off circuit, in his attempts to take the win.
The action was more interesting in the mid-field but by and large, the race was rather processional.
The battle between the Williams of Lance Stroll and the Hass of Romain Grosjean was one such highlight.
Mercedes had an advantage that Ferrari simply couldn’t match and Sebastian Vettel trailed home in a distant third, his race only enlivened by lapping backmarkers.
However, Bottas had the measure of Hamilton throughout the weekend and finished the season on a deserved high.
2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Results:
