Max Verstappen dominantly wins Abu Dhabi GP: 'It was enjoyable'

Published on 13 December 2020 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen rounded out the 2020 Formula 1-season in the best possible way by quite dominantly winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Dutchman, who clinched his one and only pole this season, took hold of the lead right from the word go and never relinquished it throughout the race. With a 16-second lead on Valtteri Bottas, Max scored his second victory of this season and finished third in the overall standings with just nine points less than Bottas. World champion Lewis Hamilton rounded out the podium.

After the race, a very happy Max notes: “It was really enjoyable, yesterday already of course. It was a really fine race. We had a good start and from then on I just looked after my tyres. The car had a really good balance and we did basically everything right. Once you start at the front you can control the pace a bit more.  That makes your life a bit easier. After the Safety Car it was one long stint on one set of tyres, so you want to keep them intact for as long as possible and that is what we did. I saw that Mercedes were dropping off behind me so I could then take it a bit easier. I had to go through a bit of traffic, but overall it was a very strong race for the team.

Looking back Verstappen says: “We did everything possible, but Mercedes was just too strong for us. As a team we had hoped for more at the start of the season, but to finish like this is just great. Next year we start over. We need to get even better and keep the pressure on.”

Just before sunset, the season’s finale on the 5,554 meter long Yas Marina Circuit gets underway. Max gets well off the line from pole and keeps his lead at the first corner. He immediately creates a small gap to his pursuers Bottas and Hamilton, while the rest of the field manages to get through the first lap unscathed.

On lap ten, Max has a three-second lead on Bottas, while Sergio Perez retires from the race with technical issues and is forced to park his Racing Point trackside. The Mexican, who scored his maiden Formula 1-victory last week at the Sakhir Grand Prix, is the first driver to retire from the race. His retirement brings out the Virtual Safety Car, which enables numerous drivers to do a pit stop. Max seizes the opportunity and heads to the pits as well. After a quick pit stop by the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing mechanics, during which the mediums are replaced by the harder compound, the Dutchman rejoins out in front again. Not much later Race Control decides to deploy the real Safety Car. This causes Max to lose his lead on Bottas.

The field is let loose again on lap fourteen. Max retains his lead and tops the timesheet immediately after the restart. This creates a safe gap to his pursuer Bottas. Verstappen gradually keeps building his lead in the laps following and on lap 24 he has a five-second lead on Bottas.

On the radio Max informs his team that it will be difficult to get to the end of the race on the set of tyres he is currently running on. This however doesn’t prevent him though from opening the gap to both Mercedes. Daniel Ricciardo is on lap 40 the last driver to do a pit stop. The Ossie who was running in fifth, rejoins in seventh on a fresh set of the medium compound tyres on his Renault.

During the closing stages of a rather less eventful race, no changes take place at the front of the field. This leads to Max being able to quite dominantly win his second race of the season and his  tenth Formula 1-career victory. Bottas comes in second with Mercedes team mate Hamilton trailing in third. Alexander Albon is fourth fastest, right behind of Hamilton with McLaren’s Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz fifth and sixth, and with this McLaren secures the third place in the Constructors’ championship. Ricciardo comes in seventh fastest and snatches the point for the fastest lap on the final lap while Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll round out the top ten. Max finishes third in the standings, just nine points shy of Bottas.

Results Grand Prix Abu-dhabi: