The final race of the marathon 2017 season has come to an end, and it was Valtteri Bottas who has taken out the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.
The two Mercedes drivers had a good battle throughout the race, as their Mercedes cars gave one more demonstration into their dominance before the end of the season.
It was a race that won’t go down in history as a race to remember, but for Bottas it was a great demonstration of what he can do for next season.
For the final time of the season, the best, worst, and in between are rated with the Good, Bad, and Ugly of the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
THE GOOD
VALTTERI BOTTAS
Took a strong Pole Position in front of Lewis Hamilton on the Saturday, and drove perfectly on Sunday evening to hold off a genuine threat of his team mate and 2017 World Champions Lewis Hamilton for victory.
After the disappointment of the previous race where the Finn threw away a pole position with a underwhelming Sunday, he did the job in the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, to show a glimpse of what is on offer for 2018 and why he was hired to replace Rosberg this season. If he wants to avoid the dreaded number two tag, he needs more of these weekends early in 2018.
LEWIS HAMILTON
Finishes off the 2017 with a solid second place, pushing team mate Bottas all the way on Sunday to show he tried his best all the way to the end of the season despite wrapping up the Championship a few races ago.
Mentioned during the broadcast that he was the first driver since Fangio in the 1950’s to finish in the points in every race. Impressive given there has been 20 races this season. He only finished lower than 4th three times.
SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Ran a lonely race on Sunday, far enough ahead of his team mate and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, but a long way behind the dominant Silver Arrows Mercedes pair in front.
The silver lining (pardon the pun) is that his third position was good enough to hang onto second place in the 2017 Driver’s Championship.
NICO HULKENBERG
Best of the rest in qualifying and the race and helped his team beat Toro Rosso in the team standings, which was one of the very few battles to be decided in Abu Dhabi. Sealed the sixth place despite a 5 second penalty for running wide and staying ahead of Sergio Perez in the early stage of the race.
Now he just needs the elusive podium in 2018 to rid himself of the unwanted record of most starts in F1 without a top three finish. He has the talent no doubt, he just needs a little more luck.
FELIPE MASSA
Ended his F1 career with a point for Williams, and after a good battle with long time on track rival Fernando Alonso.
Did a great job coming out of retirement for Williams in 2017 after the late transfer of Bottas to Mercedes. One can hope that he is replaced by Robert Kubica for 2018. The upcoming tests at Abu Dhabi will sort that out.
GROSJEAN v STROLL BATTLE FOR 13th
Whilst midfield Haas and Williams drivers are not necessarily the most exciting
Haas driver Romain Grosjean finally got past Stroll on lap 12 after some great dicing in the preceding laps, proving you can overtake on the circuit not known for a great pit lane exit but not necessarily much great racing.
PRE RACE FLYOVER
Despite not being the greatest aviation fan, you couldn’t help but be impressed by the Jets flyover just before the national anthems.
THE BAD
KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
Admitted during the week that he has no friends on the F1 grid, and after some of his aggressive driving in 2017, he probably doesn’t deserve any.
He spun on first lap a few corners later than the first corner where the Dane had a minor clash with another car and lost it rejoining the track after running wide.
KIMI RAIKKONEN
Despite finishing well up in the points in 4th, the margin to his team mate Sebastian Vettel was huge at 2 seconds. It wasn’t the only underwhelming event from the 2007 World Champion seen this season, the Finn has put in a few similar weekends this season.
Settling in for another year of being Vettel’s number two next year, and warming the seat for a big name in 2019.
DANIEL RICCIARDO
Outqualified his team mate in a nice change from the norm of 2017, and ran well in fourth place in the early stages.
However his race didn’t end well when his Red Bull packed it in on Lap 21, his third DNF in four races. His late season unreliability saw him overtaken into fourth place in the Drivers Championship by Kimi Raikkonen finishing 4th in Sunday Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
THE UGLY
ENGINE PENALTIES
The much maligned penalty system was a low point in the side of Formula 1 in 2017, and never more evident than at Toro Rosso with newcomer Brendon Hartley. The New Zealander has had a penalty of some sort in each of his four races so far, making it very hard to score points given the competitiveness of the midfield.
Worse still, the number of engines is reducing to three next season.
THE CIRCUIT
Despite all the money spent, and the fancy surroundings, the track tends to lead to dull races with not much overtaking.
Perhaps it is more the problem of modern day Formula 1 cars, but the track doesn’t help, and it appears this track will always be the home of the final race of the season for the near future.
PIERRE GASLY
Yet to score a point since joining Toro Rosso mid season, and his spin during the race wasn’t some of his best.
The 2016 GP2 Champion is a quality driver though, and thankfully has been retained for 2018 by Toro Rosso alongside Brendon Hartley.
MARTINI-CHAVES MEDAL FOR GURGLER BEST/WORST OF THE YEAR
Here is where we tally up all the good, bad and ugly for the season, and assign points on their effort.
- 1 Point for Good
- 1 Point for Bad
-0.5 for Ugly
There are bonus points as below. Drivers/Teams listed below have received a good and/or bad-ugly. Those with an overall score of 0 have had good and bad. Those not listed have been mediocre and been neither good or bad all season.
2017 MARTINI-CHAVES MEDAL FOR GURGLER BEST/WORST OF THE YEAR
MARTINI MEDAL FOR BEST in 2017
LEWIS HAMILTON
CHAVES MEDAL FOR WORST in 2017
JOLYON PALMER
Read on for the Good, Bad and Ugly total for the 2017 Season.
ULTIMATE WINNERS AND LOSERS
Here’s where an extra bonus point is added and subtracted for the very best and very worst.
WINNER – Valtteri Bottas
LOSER – Daniel Ricciardo
DRIVERS FINAL SCORE
16.5 Points – Lewis Hamilton
9 Points – Valtteri Bottas
5 Points – Max Verstappen
4 Points – Sergio Perez
4 Points – Felipe Massa
3 Points – Esteban Ocon
3 Points – Carlos Sainz
2.5 Points – Fernando Alonso
2.5 Points – Sebastian Vettel
2.5 Points – Lance Stroll
1.5 Points – Dan Ricciardo
1 Point – Pascal Wehrlein
1 Point – Jenson Button
1 Point – Stoffel Vandoorne
0.5 Points – Nico Hulkenberg
0 Point – Brendan Hartley
-1 Point Romain Grosjean
-1 Point – Pierre Gasly
-1 Point – Antonio Giovanazzi
-2 Points – Kevin Magnusson
-2.5 Points – Marcus Ericsson
-4 Points – Dani Kvyat
-5 Points – Kimi Raikkonen
-6.5 Points – Jolyon Palmer
