With Mercedes firmly clinging to second place in the constructors’ championship – and on the back of a £10million cash boost – Max Verstappen capped the most dominant season in Formula One history with another win at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Verstappen failed to triumph in just three of the 22 rounds and his latest win took him to 54 in his career, ahead of only Lewis Hamilton (103 wins) and Michael Schumacher (91).
The Dutchman finished 17 seconds clear of team-mate Sergio Perez, but the Red Bull driver was demoted to fourth after a five-second penalty for a collision with Lando Norris.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was second and Mercedes’ George Russell was third. Lewis Hamilton finished ninth and Mercedes moved three points clear of Ferrari in the standings to claim a prize of £105m, up from £95m.
Still, it marked Hamilton’s second successive winless season – a 45-race losing streak – and Mercedes’ first unbeaten campaign in a decade.
Norris finished fifth for McLaren, one place ahead of teammate Oscar Piastre.
Verstappen has been in first class this season and Sunday’s 58-lap race at Yas Marina looked just like a Red Bull triumph – the team’s 21st win of the season – after he held off an opening-lap attack from Leclerc .
Leclerc tried and failed to pass Verstappen three times, but the three-time world champion kept him at bay each time.
Behind, Norris moved up to third ahead of Piastre and Russell.
Behind, Hamilton, who started 11th, moved up two places to ninth, but by the end of the third lap he was 10th as Perez swept past.
With Leclerc in second and Russell and Hamilton in fifth and 10th, Ferrari held on to second place. But Russell soon returned the initiative to Mercedes.
On lap 11 he passed Piastri ahead of the McLaren Australian, and three laps later he took advantage of a slow pit stop for Norris to take third.
But in the other Mercedes, Hamilton was feared to have damaged his front wing after cutting Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.
A check from Mercedes suggested otherwise and team principal Toto Wolff was on the intercom to cheer on his star man.
“ Lewis, you were the alternate fastest auto on the last stage, ” he said.” You are presto.” A many twinkles latterly, the Austrian came back on the radio to tell Hamilton he was the fastest.
Wolff’s encouragement seemed to work. On lap 25, Hamilton moved up to eighth after he passed Daniel Ricciardo before a second pit stop dropped him back in the order and into a duel with old nemesis Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton got ahead of Alonso only for the Spaniard to claw his way back. Hamilton then accused Alonso of testing the brakes.
Carlos Sainz’s poor qualifying left him 16th on the grid, but a desperate one-stop strategy saw him succumb to Alonso and then Hamilton as they moved to eighth and ninth.
The advantage of Mercedes. But then Perez threatened to give them a sting in the tail by tracking down Russell in the battle for third. Had Perez finished ahead of Russell, the Silver Arrows would have lost second place.
With four laps to go, Perez made his way past the English pilot.
Perez took Leclerc on the final lap but finished just 3.9 seconds behind Russell, relegating Perez to fourth and Mercedes heaving a sigh of relief.
