The main tournament tasks were solved long before the start of the final Formula 1 weekend. Lewis Hamilton became the five-time world champion on the basis of the race in Mexico, in the same place Sebastian Vettel guaranteed himself second place. And in Brazil, determined the winner of the Cup of designers. They became a "Mercedes".
However, a certain intrigue at the final stage still had. For example, this Grand Prix was the last for two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who plays for McLaren. The Spaniard decided to pursue a career outside of the "Formula 1", and in the days of the Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi, he received various signs of attention from both the organizers of the race and from other pilots.
Free practice
The first training session on the Yas Marina circuit was actively started by the Red Bull racers. Following the session, the best was Max Verstappen - 1: 38,491, followed by Daniel Riccardo, with a delay of 0.454 seconds. The top three was closed by the co-pilot of the Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas. This session was remarkable because of the appearance on the highway Hamiloton with the number "1" on board instead of the usual "44", as well as performances of the Pole Robert Kubica, who next season will replace the Russian Sergey Sirotkin in Williams.
In the second training session, the Red Bull pilots could not again occupy the top lines of the final protocol, skipping ahead of Bottas, who showed in his best attempt the result at 1: 37.236. Sirotkin, who returned behind the wheel of "Wilms", was the last.
Meanwhile, Verstappen hit the bottom of his car on the high and long curb in the 20th turn and for some time turned from a driver into a passenger, but eventually managed to avoid an accident and continued to check.
Grind that rail, Max 🛹
FP2 #AbuDhabiGP # F1pic.twitter.com / VKpl2KDIiP
In the third session of the free races, the best time was shown by the reigning champion Hamilton, who passed the course distance in 1: 37.176. The second was the Finn Kimi Raikkonen, conducting the last Grand Prix as a pilot "Ferrari". Next season the 39-year-old racer will spend in the “Zauber”. The third time showed the current partner Finn on the "crowd" Vettel. Sirotkin again became the last, giving the leader four seconds.
Qualification
At the end of the first segment, both Williams pilot Lance Stroll and Sirotkin, McLaren representative Stoffel Vandorn, and Toro Rosso riders Pierre Gasley and Brandon Hartley completed the fight for pole position.
In the second segment, Alonso, the representative of “Force India” Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen from Haas, Marcus Eriksson from Zauber and Carlos Sainz from Renault, became the worst.
The third segment was dictated by Mercedes. Hamilton set a new track record and won the 83rd pole, while Bottas was second. The second row took Vettel and Raikkonen, and the third - Riccardo and Verstappen. Next came the Frenchman Romain Grosjean from Haas. Charles Leclaire took the eighth place, Esteban Windows on “Force India” - the ninth. Closed the top ten Nico Hulkenberg.
A new track record at Yas Marina 🔥
And his 11th pole of 2018 👏
Here's how @LewisHamilton did it # AbuDhabiGP # F1pic.twitter.com/hyXRZHhLF6
Race
Start the race was not without unpleasant incidents. Already in the ninth turn, “Haas” Grosjean and “Reno” Hulkenberg collided, as a result of which the German car, having made several turns in the air, landed at the protective fence upwards with wheels and caught fire. A safety car immediately appeared on the track. After the marshals put out the car and turned it over, Hulkenberg left the cockpit on his own.
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Whoah 😱 That was big. But @hulkhulkenberg is ok 👌. #Hulkenberg # F1 # Formula1 #AbuDhabiGP
Publication from FORMULA 1® (@ f1) 25 Nov 2018 at 7:27 PST
After a few laps after restarting the Ferrari, Raikkonen stopped on the starting line. In such a sad way, the Finn ended his last race for the "crowd" ahead of time. Since his car stopped in a dangerous place, a virtual safe car mode was introduced on the highway, and this took advantage of the Mercedes. The lead Hamilton quickly went to the pits for changing tires with minimal loss of time.
On the track, the briton returned fifth, but as the rivals arrived in the boxes, Lewis, at the 34th lap, regained the lost leadership and did not give him the finish line.
Along the way, the champion set a new record for the number of points gained during the season - 408. The previous achievement (397) belonged to Vettel.
In the fight for second place on the track agreed Vettel and Bottas. The German was quickly catching up with the Finn, and as a result, the Mercedes driver made a mistake that cost him the position.
Soon, Valtteri got Verstappen. On the 38th lap, the Dutchman managed to bypass Bottas with not a contact and came in third place. Soon the Finn, who was losing momentum before his eyes, walked around Riccardo, after which the team sent their rider into the pits for fresh rubber. But the Valtteri failed to win. He finished the race only fifth.
Finally, Alonso, trying to catch up with Magnussen in the fight for the tenth place, three times violated the boundaries of the route, cutting off the replay, and was punished by the stewards with a five-second penalty.
After the checkered flag in the last race of the season of 2018, famous Hollywood actor Will Smith, Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso waved the donuts on the starting line to the applause of the audience, later Verstappen joined them. Sirotkin finished the race in the last 15th place. In addition to Hulkenberg and Raikkonen, Eriksson, Okon and Gusli also got off the track.