Formula 1: Abu Dhabi results, standings – Max Verstappen untouchable
By Asher Fair
Max Verstappen turned in a career-best performance to close out the 2020 Formula 1 season at Yas Marina Circuit in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Yas Marina Circuit, a track which had produced six consecutive Mercedes wins from pole position going back to the start of Formula 1‘s V6 turbo hybrid era in 2014, again produced a fairly straightforward race to cap off the 2020 season.
But it wasn’t Mercedes which prevailed via another dominant effort. In fact, the Silver Arrows, despite another double podium finish, were dominated by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
In what was arguably the best performance of his young career, Verstappen led every lap of this 55-lap Abh Dhabi Grand Prix around the 21-turn, 3.451-mile (5.554-kilometer) road course on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates en route to a 15.976-second win over Valtteri Bottas in second place, with Lewis Hamilton a further 2.439 seconds behind in third.
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The victory was the 10th of his Formula 1 career and his second of the season, tying Bottas for second on the 2020 wins list behind 11-race winner Hamilton, who secured a record-tying seventh world championship.
Alexander Albon rounded out the top four in what was Red Bull’s strongest all-around weekend in quite some time. He finished ahead of McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr. in fifth and sixth. Their top six runs helped solidify McLaren a third place finish in the constructor standings, their first top three result since 2012.
The only blemish on Verstappen’s day was what his former teammate was able to do. On the race’s 55th and final lap, Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo stole the point for the race’s fastest lap en route to a seventh place finish, robbing Verstappen of what would have been his first career Grand Chelem and the first Grand Chelem for anybody this year.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished in eighth place ahead of Renault’s Esteban Ocon in ninth and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll in 10th.
Only Racing Point’s Sergio Perez failed to finish the race, as he was forced to retire with his second mechanical issue in the last three races after entering the final three-race stretch of the season without a finish outside of the points in 2020. Of course, his one non-retirement during that span netted him his first career victory.
Here are the full race results of the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit.
Race Results
1st – Max Verstappen
2nd – Valtteri Bottas
3rd – Lewis Hamilton
4th – Alexander Albon
5th – Lando Norris
6th – Carlos Sainz Jr.
7th – Daniel Ricciardo
8th – Pierre Gasly
9th – Esteban Ocon
10th – Lance Stroll
11th – Daniil Kvyat
12th – Kimi Raikkonen
13th – Charles Leclerc
14th – Sebastian Vettel
15th – George Russell
16th – Antonio Giovinazzi
17th – Nicholas Latifi
18th – Kevin Magnussen
19th – Pietro Fittipaldi
20th – Sergio Perez
Here are the updated driver standings and constructor standings following Verstappen’s dominant win.
Driver standings
Rank – Driver: Points (Behind)
1st – Lewis Hamilton: 347 (0)
2nd – Valtteri Bottas: 223 (-124)
3rd – Max Verstappen: 214 (-133)
4th – Sergio Perez: 125 (-222)
5th – Daniel Ricciardo: 119 (-228)
6th – Carlos Sainz Jr.: 105 (-242)
6th – Alexander Albon: 105 (-242)
8th – Charles Leclerc: 98 (-249)
9th – Lando Norris: 97 (-250)
10th – Lance Stroll: 75 (-272)
10th – Pierre Gasly: 75 (-272)
12th – Esteban Ocon: 62 (-285)
13th – Sebastian Vettel: 33 (-314)
14th – Daniil Kvyat: 32 (-315)
15th – Nico Hulkenberg: 10 (-337)
16th – Antonio Giovinazzi: 4 (-343)
16th – Kimi Raikkonen: 4 (-343)
18th – George Russell: 3 (-344)
19th – Romain Grosjean: 2 (-345)
20th – Kevin Magnussen: 1 (-346)
21st – Pietro Fittipaldi: 0 (-347)
21st – Jack Aitken: 0 (-347)
21st – Nicholas Latifi: 0 (-347)
Constructor standings
Rank – Constructor: Points (Behind)
1st – Mercedes: 573 (-)
2nd – Red Bull Racing-Honda: 319 (-254)
3rd – McLaren-Renault: 202 (-371)
4th – Racing Point-Mercedes: 195 (-378)
5th – Renault: 181 (-392)
6th – Ferrari: 131 (-442)
7th – AlphaTauri-Honda: 107 (-466)
8th – Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari: 8 (-565)
9th – Haas-Ferrari: 3 (-570)
10th – Williams-Mercedes: 0 (-573)
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The 2020 Formula 1 season is now in the books, and the 2021 schedule has been confirmed with an all-time high of 23 races. The season is scheduled to open up at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit with the Australian Grand Prix, which was slated to be season opener this year on Sunday, March 15 before the coronavirus pandemic struck.
This race had opened up 22 of the last 24 seasons leading into the 2020 campaign, and the track recently signed an extension to remain on the calendar through at least the 2025 season. The season is scheduled to start in Sunday, March 21.