Mercedes AMG well and truly showed their domination this F1 season after their drivers cruised to a spectacular one-two finish in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
With the drivers and constructors’ championship already won, the live betting race in Yas Marina Circuit provided little action for the sports betting faithful. However, if there’s anything fans learned, it’s that the Silver Arrows are undoubtedly a cut above the rest, even against online gambling rivals Ferrari.
Valtteri Bottas, who pipped Mercedes teammate and newly crowned world champion Lewis Hamilton for the pole position, was largely untouchable as he controlled the race from start to finish.
Hamilton appeared faster in the latter stages and even managed to reduce Bottas’ lead to just 0.7 seconds. However, the now four-time F1 title winner just didn’t have enough pace to challenge the Finn for the front position and fell behind by four seconds.
“Valtteri did an amazing job to hold me off,” Hamilton said. “I gave it everything but it’s very hard to overtake here.”
Ferrari’s drivers, meanwhile, ended third and fourth in what was an anticlimactic way to close the campaign.
The Scuderia dominated the early part of the season and were neck and neck with Mercedes up until August after the month-long break. Nonetheless, it went downward spiral from there as ace driver Sebastian Vettel lost the championship lead.
Their performance in Abu Dhabi perfectly reflected what has been a miserable second stretch for them in the tournament. Vettel never really threatened in the match and finished 19 seconds behind, suggesting that they would have had a hard time beating Hamilton and Mercedes had the title fight gone to the last race.
Kimi Raikkonen followed Vettel but was a far off 45 seconds from Bottas. He also barely escaped Red Bull driver Max Verstappen who had to settle for fifth.
On the other hand, Renault have something to be happy about after Nico Hulkenberg secured the sixth place despite receiving a five-second penalty. The same goes for McLaren’s Fernando Alonso who finished ninth in his final Grand Prix.
Formula One now goes to a three-month break, giving teams until March to work on their new cars and engines for what should be another competitive racing year.
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