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The best in Abu Dhabi: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen
Photo: Giuseppe Cacace / AP
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won the last race of the 2020 Formula 1 season.
At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Verstappen won ahead of the Mercedes duo Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen, who had already secured pole position in qualifying, confidently held his top position over the entire distance of 55 laps.
For Sergio Pérez, who won the Bahrain Grand Prix at Racing Point the previous week, the race was over after ten laps: technical problems forced the Mexican to park his car early.
For Pérez it was likely to be the last Formula 1 race: next season Sebastian Vettel will take over Pérez 'place in the cockpit of the racing team, which will then start under the name Aston Martin.
The German ex-world champion was meanwhile one of the beneficiaries of Pérez's failure: During the following safety car phase, Vettel, who started the race from 13th place in the Ferrari and on hard tires, pushed himself up to the competition due to a few pit stops seventh place ahead.
After a stop on lap 36, Vettel fell out of the points and ended up in 14th place. This was the tenth time that Vettel did not make the top ten in the 17th race of the season.
In the drivers' championship, Verstappen (214 points) was no longer victorious to displace Bottas (223 points) from second place.
Hamilton (347 points), who had been missing the previous week with a coronavirus infection, had been the world champion for weeks.
In the constructors' championship, Mercedes and Red Bull had already secured first and second places, with McLaren behind them, just past Racing Point, into third place.
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