Get all the action from the Etihad Airway’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Follow our live coverage with Alaric Gomes and N.D. Prashant reporting in Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit
Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes wins Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix
Valtteri Bottas won the Etihad Airways Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from Mercedes teammate and Drivers’ Championship winner Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari pairing Sebastian Vettel and and Kimi Raikkonen were third and fourth respectively.
The Finn lead from start to finish having secured pole position with a lap record on Saturday.
World champion Hamilton was content to play second fiddle for the day as Bottas and Mercedes laid down a marker for the 2018 campaign.
Both Mercedes drivers finished comfortably ahead of Vettel and Ferrari will have to do a lot of work to do if they are to stop their rivals from winning yet another Constructors’ crown next year.
Bottas screamed “Yesss” over his team radio as he took the chequered flag and the fireworks went off over Yas Marina circuit.
UAE footballers arrive
Albon leads 22-lap F2 race
Thai-British ART Grand Prix racing driver Alexander Albon was in the lead as the 22-lap F2 race got under way at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Circuit action underway
Check out the action from the Yas Marina Circuit. Video reporting by Alaric Gomes/Gulf News
Boccolacci takes maiden GP3 victory
Dorian Boccolacci posted his first victory for 2017 in the final GP3 race of the eight-round season as Trident Racing completed a 1-2 finish at Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday.
With ART Grand Prix’s George Russell already champion, the main focus in the 14-lap sprint race was on who would finish runner-up to the English driver.
Neither of Russell’s ART teammates, Jack Aitken or Nirei Fukuzumi, could take any Sunday points, finishing eighth and 14th respectively, so it was Aitken finishing second place overall on 140 points from Fukuzumi on 134. Russell totalled 220 in a season where he won four times and had two other podiums.
With the top eight from Saturday’s feature race in reverse order on the grid, and with ART Grand Prix’s fourth driver Anthoine Hubert penalised five seconds for failing to slow down under the Virtual Safety Car in that race, it was American Ryan Tveter who started from pole for Trident.
Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen takes his team to the team Paddock. - Alaric Gomes / Gulf News
But 19-year-old Frenchman Boccolacci was past his teammate within two laps and stayed ahead of him to win by 5.5 seconds, adding a sprint-race victory to his two Sunday podiums in Catalunya at the start of the year and Jerez last time out.
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey spotted
British chef of Master Chef fame Gordon Ramsey obliges fans in the paddock on Sunday.
Brendon Leigh crowned F1 Esports Series Champion
He left it late, but Great Britain's Brendon Leigh is the first F1 Esports Series champion, after a dramatic overtake on the last lap of the Grand Final clinched victory and top spot in the standings.
The 18-year-old kitchen manager from Reading in the UK was one of four drivers who started Race 3 at Yas Marina Circuit knowing that a win would guarantee them the title. One of the four, Fabrizio Donoso, had one foot on the top step of the podium until the final lap, when Leigh swept past him to snatch away the race win and the championship.
Leigh led the standings overnight after his victory at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on Friday in Race 1, but a poor performance in qualifying saw him start from P15 for Race 2 earlier on Saturday. He recovered admirable at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps to finish in P8 there, behind impressive race winner Cem Bolukbasi.
Starting from P2 for Race 3 at Yas Marina Circuit, Leigh was quick off the start line, passing pole-sitter Donoso to take P1 just after lights out. Sven Zurner joined the pair in a topsy-turvy battle for the lead, but just as it seemed that Donoso would prevail, Leigh's dramatic last-gasp move shot him to the front all smiles as they joined him on the podium.
Hamilton beaten to pole position for final race
Lewis Hamilton was beaten to pole position by his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas for final race Etihad Airway’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix but the biggest question is will the Finn be able to notch up a win.
The season ending twilight race has always been a spectacle, especially after the floodlight takes centre-stage and this thrilling contest will definitely be adding more colour to the season ending finale.
This was also the second successive pole for Bottas and he will be more than keen to sign off on a high after missing out in Brazil.
Bottas has been playing second fiddle to his team-mate for much of the year but have certainly gained a psychological advantage with fastest time in qualifying.
Vettel, who overtook Bottas with a sensational move at Interlagos a fortnight ago to set up his first win since July, is a distant third, around half-a-second slower than Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo will line up in fourth for Red Bull.
It’s a long shot, but Bottas could yet finish second to Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton in the final driver standings. To do it, he would have to win the race, with Sebastian Vettel finishing no higher than ninth. But that looks very much unlikely given the experience of Vettel and the success that he has enjoyed on this circuit - three wins. Bottas has never finished higher than third.
For more updates stay tuned and buckle up... the action starts at 5pm.
Tennis star spotted
And look who was spotted at Yas Marina
First @F1 race experience ✔️ pic.twitter.com/G9lMaXYsrK
— Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) November 25, 2017
