Having taken pole position in qualifying, Bottas managed to hold off his teammate to take victory in Abu Dhabi. Hamilton came very close but was unable to make a pass so settled for second in the Mercedes 1-2 finish. Ferrari were a long way off, with Vettel 20 seconds down in third place.
After losing the lead at the start in Brazil, Bottas was determined not to let it to happen again. A strong start this time meant that he held onto the lead, which he retained for the rest of the race. Although he was ahead, it was close all the way through. When the Mercedes drivers pitted, they were separated by just 2.5 seconds. Once onto the fresh tyres, Lewis closed up this lead to just over a second and it looked like he could take the lead.
However, despite closing the gap to his teammate, Hamilton couldn’t get quite close enough to put up a real fight and make an overtake stick.
Behind the dominant Mercedes duo, Vettel trailed the pair by 20 seconds, a disappointing result for Ferrari who had looked to be closing the gap to the Mercs. It was an uneventful race for both Ferraris, with Raikkonen another 20 seconds down the road in 4th. Ricciardo was running 5th in the early stages of the race, but a hydraulic issue on his car forced him to retire on lap 20, handing his teammate 5th place.
It was a crucial race for Renault, who needed 6 points in order to beat Toro Rosso to 6th in the constructors’. After Hulkenberg was handed a 5-second penalty for overtaking Perez off track on lap one, it looked as if they may have lost their chance. However, a strong performance from the Renault driver saw him finish 6th, enough to secure his team the position they need. His teammate was running close to the points, but an incorrectly secured tyre at the pit stop forced him to retire early.
Perez and Ocon finished a strong 7th and 8th for Force India, ahead of Alonso. It marks the end of McLaren and Honda’s engine partnership, and Alonso hopes for stronger results next year with the new Renault power unit. The final point went to Felipe Massa, finishing in 10th place in his last ever F1 race.
With the 2017 season now over, there is over 3 months to wait for the new season which gets underway on the 26th March at the first race in Melbourne.