♦ The race started and ran without drama for the first 30 minutes, with positions not changing significantly. Then Sergio Perez suddenly had engine failure – even after having an engine change – and had to retire on lap 10. As he pulled over to the side at Turn 19, the Virtual Safety Car was activated, followed by the Mercedes-AMG Safety Car as well.

♦ The Safety Car period saw many cars heading into the pits for tyre changes, and Pirelli was predicting that it would be a one-stop race.

♦ The Safety Car left the track after 4 laps and racing resumed on lap 14 with Max Verstappen zooming ahead, chased by Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton and Alexander Albon within 10 seconds behind him.

♦ For some reason, Carlos Sainz had been driving cautiously in the pitlane and perhaps too cautiously as he was notified that the Stewards were reviewing the matter of his driving too slowly.

♦ At almost the halfway point of the 55-lap race, Bottas started to drop back, allowing the Red Bull driver to extend the gap beyond 5 seconds, and Hamilton started to close the gap of 2 seconds with his team mate. But the World Champion was also uncertain of his tyres holding on for the rest of the race. Verstappen was equally concerned about the same issue.

♦ 20 laps from the end, Hamilton was his uncharacteristic self – not going after Bottas even though the gaps was 3 seconds and he was safe from having to defend against Albon who was 7 seconds behind. Was the British driver trying to preserve his tyres or was he not as well as he said he was after the COVID-19 episode (which he would admit to after the race ended)?

♦ Although comfortably in the lead and no apparent threat from Bottas, Verstappen was getting tense as the 10 laps remained, worried that something might go wrong with the car.

♦ In the end, it was Verstappen’s day. 55 laps from start to finish in the lead, and virtually no challenge from either of the Mercedes-AMG drivers.

After more than 40 years in Formula 1, the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the final race for the Renault team name before it changes to Alpine in 2021. The new team will also have Fernando Alonso, with team mate Esteban Ocon.

Race starts at 5:10 pm in Abu Dhabi/9:10 pm in Malaysia

It has been a challenging year for the Formula 1 World Championship with the first half the year seeing suspension of activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And once things improved and countries were willing to allow some events to run – with strict conditions – a revised calendar events was quickly drawn up. Some new tracks found to make up the venue numbers and, in some cases, two races were run at the same circuit over 2 consecutive weekends. This enabled the championship to have 17 rounds, starting in July and ending this weekend in Abu Dhabi.

The championship has not been without memorable moments, with Romain Grojean’s accident at the Sakhir Circuit in Bahrain being the most shocking. But fortunately, the many safety measures that had been devised over the years worked and helped prevent loss of life.

Lewis Hamilton will race
And then there was the episode of Lewis Hamilton, already confirmed as the 2020 World Champion, testing positive for COVID-19 and having to go into self-isolation. This resulted in him missing the second race in Bahrain, with his place taken by George Russell who was released from the Williams Racing team to drive for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team in Hamilton’s car.

Russell put in a fine performance, even getting ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas. But a big mix-up of tyre-changing and then a puncture prevented Russell from what might have been victory or at least a podium finish. It was a huge disappointment to everyone, with the team being fined as well for the wrong fitment of tyres.

Hamilton was tested again this week and returned negative results and was permitted to leave Bahrain and enter Abu Dhabi, just an hour-plus away by air. He was pronounced fit enough to drive and so Russell returned to his team to race this weekend at the final round.

4,700 lights for evening race
This is the twelfth time since 2009 that the Yas Marina Circuit has been used for a F1 round, usually the season finale. It starts at 5:10 pm and the 55-lap race continues into twilight when 4,700 lights come on to provide illumination around the 5.554-km track.

The teams are obviously familiar with the circuit and how to set up for it. They have also come to understand how to make compensations for the differences in track temperatures that are higher during the early practices but cooler for qualifying and the race which occurs in the evening.

Low abrasion on circuit
Traction demands are high and abrasion is not, especially as there are no support races this year. Overtaking becomes more difficult as the race progresses, because the softer tyres – Pirelli will bring the three softest compounds to Abu Dhabi – produce a lot of marbles. This means there is a big loss of grip when running off the racing line.

There are 7 braking events at the Yas Marina Circuit and 2 of those are classified as ‘heavy’ (meaning the driver is braking for 0.4 seconds or longer, with 4g or more). It punishes the brakes, but the long straights allow them to cool, keeping temperatures at bay – unlike tracks such as Budapest where a relentless run of corners and lack of long straights make it difficult to cool the brakes.

The pit lane is the only one in F1 to feature a tunnel, with drivers passing under the circuit at the pit exit, in order for cars to rejoin on the left-hand side of Turn 2. Because the drivers are fed back onto the track during a corner, it can prove tricky to see other cars.

The championship battle
With 5 victories at this circuit since 2011, Lewis Hamilton has won the most times. Sebastian Vettel is second with 3 wins to his name. Mercedes-engined cars have won 7 times in 12 years, while Renault-engined cars have won 3 times.

While the crowns for the Drivers and Constructors titles have already been confirmed, there is still a great deal at stake in this final race of 2020. Max Verstappen is 16 points behind Bottas and could still finish off second in the championship.

While Red Bull Racing (to become Aston Martin Red Bull Racing in 2021) is secure in runner-up position, the order for third, fourth and fifth places remains undecided and will be fought between BWT Racing Point, McLaren and Renault.