There’s not a lot left to play for in the championships at the final race of 2018 this weekend.
The drivers’ title is already settled. So are the top four places in the constructors’ championship.
That means this one is mostly going to be about bragging rights. Lewis Hamilton will undoubtedly want to sign off his fourth title-winning year with another success.
But a second straight victory for Sebastian Vettel would see Ferrari end a promising but ultimately disappointing campaign on a high. What’s more, it would be their first ever triumph at this track.
Race history
Could Vettel be the driver to end Ferrari’s Yas Marina drought? He’s won three times before at this venue. But so has rival Hamilton, who can also point to 2012 as a win that should have been.
Mercedes have been the form team in recent years, taking pole position and victory in all of the last three events. Last year they scored their second consecutive one-two at the track in unusual circumstances, as winner Hamilton was slowing team mate Nico Rosberg in the vain hope two of their rivals would overtake Rosberg and thereby allow Hamilton to take the title.
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The form book
Ferrari’s other contender, Kimi Raikkonen, is the only driver from the ‘big three’ teams not to have won a race so far this year. If he fails to win on Sunday his win-less streak will have reached four years by the start of next season.
Vettel’s 22-point lead over Valtteri Bottas means he is unlikely to be beaten to second place in the drivers’ standings. If he takes it, it will be the first time under the V6 hybrid turbo regulations that a Mercedes driver has finished behind a rival from another team in the standings.
If Hamilton finishes in the top ten he will become only the second driver in the history of the championship to score points in every race of a season. Michael Schumacher did it in 2002 when he finished every race on the podium. (Juan Manuel Fangio scored points in every F1 race in 1954 and 1955 but not in the Indianapolis 500, which also counted towards the championship.)
Note this isn’t an entirely fair comparison because points systems have changed. Schumacher achieved his streak when only the top six drivers scored points whereas now the top ten do. Hamilton has had two points-scoring finished outside the top six this year in Monaco (seventh) and Mexico (ninth). However he is only the fifth driver in F1 history to finish in the top ten in every race of a season.
There are closer championship fights going on between team mates at this final race of the year. Felipe Massa, heading into retirement again, has a two-point lead over Lance Stroll.
Sergio Perez looks set to clinch the best-of-the-rest spot in the championship. “Finishing just behind the top six drivers makes me feel proud,” he said ahead of this weekend’s race.
But he still needs to be wary of team mate Esteban Ocon who, if things fall his way, could still overturn the 11-point gap between them. However Ocon would need to repeat Force India’s best result of the year so far – Perez’s fourth place in Spain – with his team mate no higher than tenth.
Lap times
Overtaking
Source: Mercedes
Race ratings
How F1 Fanatic readers have rated the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in recent years.
Join in Rate the Race when the chequered flag falls at the end of this year’s race. You will need a (free) F1 Fanatic account to participate:
tonyyeb (@tonyyeb)
21st November 2017, 11:51
121 passes in last year’s race?! Crazy stat…!
Jere (@jerejj)
21st November 2017, 13:24
@tonyyeb That’s a crazy stat indeed. It felt more like 20.
tonyyeb (@tonyyeb)
21st November 2017, 13:26
@jerejj Indeed, wonder if Keith has had finger trouble and added a 1 at the start by accident, ha!
Bart
21st November 2017, 13:35
Verstappen spinning in corner 1, then getting back to 4th. That alone was good for 25+ passes.
swh1386 (@swh1386)
21st November 2017, 15:12
I wonder how many were without DRS….
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
21st November 2017, 16:50
@tonyyeb Apologies that number is slightly out so I’ve fixed it, but it is still high: 93.
@swh1386 65 without, 28 with. As noted above the source for that is Mercedes.
Ale94
21st November 2017, 21:13
It is wrong ! That stat count also positions change during the first lap, pit stops and so forth! You should find a more reliable source!
Bye :)
Kgn11
21st November 2017, 11:53
Why didn’t you say Mercedes has taken the last 4 poles and wins instead of the last 3?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
21st November 2017, 13:44
Because Red Bull won in 2013.
Tom
21st November 2017, 13:55
Lol
Kgn11
21st November 2017, 14:52
Apologies, got my math wrong.
Ben Needham (@ben-n)
21st November 2017, 12:55
The rarity of having an “every race in the points” season really highlights just how special and dominant Michael Schumacher’s 2002 season was. Not just points, but a podium in every race, is an incredible statistic; even more so when you consider that only one of these finishes was in third!
To finish every single race competitively while winning a championship really is something to be applauded. A car, team and driver all at the top of their game, with no reliability issues on the car, no bad calls by the team and no brain fades from the driver.
A very belated well done to Schumacher and another to Lewis Hamilton if he can round it off in Abu Dhabi.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
21st November 2017, 13:26
@ben-n Silly stat: Dorino Serafini finished on the podium in every race of his entire career. Every single one of them. With the emphasis on ‘one’.
Ben Needham (@ben-n)
21st November 2017, 13:32
Even more interesting that he scored a podium in “all” of his races despite never crossing the finish line (as he handed over to Ascari!). Jacques Villeneuve and Kevin Magnussen would have equalled the record briefly in 1996 and 2014, while Lewis Hamilton went well beyond it in 2007 before finishing off the podium at the Nurburgring. Any other examples?
I do enjoy a good useless stats session!
Jonathan Parkin
22nd November 2017, 8:11
Another part of that Schumacher stat from 2002. He also completed every racing lap that year. Lewis was lapped a couple of times this year I believe
Jaime
21st November 2017, 13:39
It also gives a good perspective of the infamous “Let Michael pass for the championship” team order and how unnecesary it was.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
21st November 2017, 14:33
@ben-n A well done to MSC and Ferrari yes, but it was one of the worst F1 seasons in history. On track action was very poor, competition non-existent. This and 2004 tested my allegiance as an F1 fan more than any other since 1994. Quite a few stopped being F1 fans in that period. The only saving grace was qualifying where JPM was sticking it to the Ferraris with 7 consecutive mid season poles. Then it’s watching the start, up to the first pitstop, watch MSC emerge in front and drive into the distance, then turn off the TV knowing nothing more will happen. Unless you were a diehard tifosi there was not much to be happy about
Ben Needham (@ben-n)
21st November 2017, 14:49
@montreal95 – 1994 was the first season I remember watching as well. To be honest I don’t remember being as bored during the Ferrari-Schumacher domination years as many others were, though that’s probably my poor memory! I was a Barrichello fan in general and loved whenever Rubens managed to get a rare one over Michael. I also enjoyed Montoya’s feisty fights with Schumacher and the emergence of Alonso and Raikkonen. A strange one, but I also used to like the novelty of the Schumacher brothers duking it out near the front.
I’m sure these were actually rare highlights among some terribly boring races, but I do generally look back on the period with fond memories.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
22nd November 2017, 9:42
@ben-n Well some highlights from the era are pretty nice but in general it was really bad. And Rubens? That was one of the most frustrating things. A driver perfectly capable of winning on his own was just a MSC lapdog. I was baffled when he didn’t leave at the end of 2002 with how they were treating him. And even more baffled and disappointed when he didn’t leave at the end of 2003 when the harsh treatment repeated itself
Roy Wood
21st November 2017, 15:00
You do know there are 20-odd other positions to be fought for besides 1st, right?
montreal95 (@montreal95)
21st November 2017, 23:48
I suppose you’re replying to me Roy? Well that was the problem. It was worse than the current Merc domination era because nothing happened in the middle of the field either!
Unicron (@unicron2002)
21st November 2017, 20:18
@ben-n too true, I always refer to 2002 and 2004 as ‘The Dark Days’ when my faith in F1 was truly put to the test. For F1 fans that bemoan the lack of competition and passing, you haven’t seen nothing if you haven’t endured the 2002 and 2004 seasons! Unless you were a fan of Ferrari and Schumacher.
Conversely, 2003 in the middle of all that was actually one of my favourite seasons ever.
zimkazimka (@zimkazimka)
22nd November 2017, 2:22
Oh, thank god I was a Michael fan back then!
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
21st November 2017, 16:32
There were 9 Ferrari 1 – 2 finishes in the 2002 season. Of these, 5 of them were Michael Schumacher first and Rubens Barrichello second, and 4 of them were Rubens Barrichello first and Michael Schumacher second.
Robbie (@robbie)
21st November 2017, 17:04
Ah yes…2002…the season that had the debacle that was Austria and RB handing MS the ‘win’ with metres to go, and then admitting in the post-race interview that he thought he better obey his contract.
For me there is nothing inspiring about watching a driver given more advantages hand over fist than any driver ever, including having a contracted subservient in the other seat, in a dominant car, robbing us of real racing.
Of the 4 wins RB had, 3 of them came after MS won the WDC with 6 races to go in the season.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st November 2017, 13:22
Following the last race in Brazil, Hamilton is now the only driver who still has a chance to finish this season with a 100% finishing-record, which would mean that for the first time in his F1 career he’s managed to reach the chequered flag in every race of any given season.
NoName (@noname)
21st November 2017, 14:13
@keithcollantine Hamilton could also win in 2009 cause he was leading before a gearbox failure.
Miguel Bento (@miguelbento)
21st November 2017, 14:38
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix of 2013 remains the last one where a Solar eclipse was visible during the GP weekend (and the only one in history where the eclipse was visible during the actual race).
Here are all the occurrences of solar eclipses during GP weekends:
20 May 1966 – Monaco GP – Partial eclipse – Friday between 09:05 and 11:35
30 June 1973 – French GP – Partial eclipse – Saturday between 11:35 and 13:13
11 May 1975 – Monaco GP – Partial eclipse – Sunday between 06:15 and 07:58
31 May 2003 – Monaco GP – Partial eclipse – Saturday between 05:52 and 06:15
01 August 2008 – Hungarian GP – Partial eclipse – Friday between 11:02 and 12:39
03 November 2013 – Abu Dhabi GP – Partial eclipse – Sunday between 17:20 and 17:40
Jere (@jerejj)
21st November 2017, 14:56
@miguelbento Good stat. I had only been aware of the most recent one until I saw your comment. Until today I thought that the 2013 edition of the Abu Dhabi GP was the only race that had featured a solar eclipse in F1 history.
Dan
21st November 2017, 15:15
Wow that F2002 was a beautiful car, with a screaming V10 in the back, amazing.
n0b0dy100
22nd November 2017, 2:57
In fairness to Raikkonen he had opportunities to win this year, but was made to play #2 to Vettel. Now that the title is decided maybe he’ll get a fair shot.
yeang (@yeang)
22nd November 2017, 3:20
“However he is only the fifth driver in F1 history to finish in the top ten in every race of a season.”
that’s interesting! other than schumacher who were the others? was heidfeld one of them?