Last time F1 raced in December was the South African Grand Prix in 1963! and even though both championships had already been decided, there were several battles still going on down the tables, and after a long season, the F1 circus arrived at Abu Dhabi for the 21st and last race of 2019.

This was the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:

FP1

Since both Qualifying and Race start at dawn, Free Practice 1 is not as crucial as it is at other venues, nevertheless, teams do need the data. The session started with installation laps, but the most interesting bit was Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes W10 wearing the number "1" on the car.

Session ran smoothly but with 52 minutes to go, Hamilton reported no power and was asked to box. The Mercedes mechanics went on to work on the car and replaced the number "1" for the usual "44" on the front of the W10. The issue turned out to be a sensor.

20 minutes later, Daniel Ricciardo's Renault engine let go, literally, with a ball of fire, and pouring some oil on track. First red flag of the session.

6 minutes later the session was resumed. Then, Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari spun out at turn 19, hitting the barrier and bringing out the second red flag and the end of the session. Bottas was fastest, 1/2 a second ahead of Verstappen, with Hamilton another tenth behind.

FP2

This is probably the most relevant practice session of the weekend as it replicates qualifying and race times. Lots of data to be collected by all teams.

Kimi Raikkonen was the first driver to come out into the track, and after 25 minutes, all drivers had posted timed laps. Lewis Hamilton continued reporting issues with his W10, this time it was a problem with downshifts.

With just over 30 minutes into the session, Charles Leclerc hit the barriers at turn 19, but he was able to return back to the pits. Car was checked and everything seemed to be ok, they changed tires and went back out again.

At half time, it was Bottas ahead of Hamilton, Leclerc, Verstappen and Vettel the top five. Then, Giovinazzi spun at turn 19, he didn't hit anything and was able to carry on.

With 20 minutes to go, Bottas tried to overtake Grosjean at the end of the back-straight, but ended up crashing into him, damaging both cars, although they were able to return to their respective boxes, there was enough debris on track to bring out yet another red flag.

Session was re-started with less than 10 minutes on the clock, that meant lots of traffic on track, making it a bit harder to set very fast laps. At the end, it was Bottas ahead of Hamilton, Leclerc, Vettel, and Verstappen the top five.

FP3

The last practice of 2019 started with a few drivers doing their respective installation laps. The first timed lap, a 1:38.987, came from McLaren's Lando Norris.

Limited running early on in the session. Although at half time all drivers except Kubica had set timed laps, albeit he was on track. Fastest was Hamilton's 1:36.877, ahead of Bottas, Verstappen, Vettel and Ricciardo the top five.

Final practice of the year and it was Max Verstappen's 1:36.566 the fastest of the session. He was followed by Hamilton, Bottas, Albon, and Vettel the top five.

QUALIFYING

Last qualifying session in 2019. It was a bit cooler than practices 1 and 3 and a bit more humid with 62.2% humidity in the air.

Q1

Since FP3's weather conditions were so different from those in qualifying or the race, most drivers came out early on, not only to set timed laps but to gather data in preparation for the Grand Prix. With a bit over 10 minutes to go, Vettel spun on the last corner just before starting his fast lap, ruining his flying lap. At the moment, he was the only one without a time. After a very exiting final seconds, it was Grosjean, Giovinazzi, Raikkonen, Russell and Kubica the eliminated. Hamilton was fastest, from Albon, Bottas, Verstappen and Leclerc the top five.

Q2

Temperature continued dropping ever so slightly, contributing to faster laps. And as it happened in Q1, very exiting final seconds. Out were Perez, Gasly, Stroll, Kvyat, and Magnussen. Leclerc did the fastest time, a 1:35.543. He was followed by Hamilton, Bottas, Vettel, and Verstappen. All of them did their fastest laps on mediums (yellow) bar Vettel who will start the race on softs (red).

Q3

"Feels like the final round in a boxing match" Zak Brown about the final minutes of qualifying. And he wasn't wrong, what a fight it was! Although no-one could get a better lap, except the six times world champion, doing a 1:34.779, Bottas was second although he will start last due to penalties for power unit elements' change. Verstappen was third but will start second. Ferrari did not calculate times and Leclerc was not able to start his flying lap, nevertheless, he will start third with Vettel alongside. Albon, Norris, Ricciardo, Sainz and Hulkenberg rounded up the top ten.

RACE

What a beautiful day in the Middle East for an F1 race it was. Last race of the decade, and last race in F1 for Robert Kubica and Nico Hulkenberg, and the last time the Toro Rosso name was on the grid, as they changed it to Scuderia Alpha Tauri from 2020 onward.

Just before the race started, the FIA reported there was a discrepancy between the amount of fuel reported by Ferrari and the amount inside the car, which was to be investigated after the race.

The Grand Prix started fine, but a yellow flag was shown as Pierre Gasly lost his front wing as it was touched by Stroll and Perez. Leclerc managed to overtake Verstappen for second.

On lap 4, it was informed that DRS was not enabled due to a technical issue. But that didn't hinder Bottas' craft, as he was P13 by lap 5.

Lando Norris was the first to change tires to hards (medium) on lap 9. That same lap, Leclerc reported "weird vibrations" to his engineer, but they couldn't see any issue with the car.

On lap 13, Ferrari did a double pit-stop with Leclerc changing to hards as well as Vettel, but they had a problem with the rear left of the latter, costing them 6.9 seconds. Leclerc came out in fourth, Vettel in seventh, behind Bottas. A lap later Albon came in, coming out behind Vettel. A lap later, Leclerc did the fastest lap of the race (at the time), a 1:41.997.

On lap 18, DRS was finally enabled.

On lap 27, Hamilton came in for hards (white) coming out into the lead once again. Three laps later, Bottas came in, also for hards, coming out in sixth, behind Albon. Meanwhile, Verstappen was catching Leclerc in second place at a very fast pace, and on lap 32, as Leclerc passed a Williams, Verstappen took advantage and passed Leclerc on the same turn 8, Leclerc tried to retake second but was not able to do so, being Verstappen in much younger tires. Somewhere else on track, Bottas did the fastest lap, a new track record, surpassing Vettel's from 2009!

On lap 39, Leclerc pitted for softs (red), Vettel doing the same just a few seconds behind, albeit for Mediums (yellow). Leclerc resumed in third, Vettel in sixth. A bit later on that same lap, Bottas passed Albon for fourth.

On lap 48, Stroll's Racing Point retired from the race. Meanwhile, his teammate was catching Norris in seventh.

On lap 54, Vettel finally passed Albon and passed him for fifth, on that same lap, Hamilton did the fastest lap of the race, a new track record. Somewhere else, Perez overtook Norris, and Sainz did the same over Hulkenberg, who also loses out to Ricciardo, all on the same lap!

Utter domination from Mercedes, Hamilton wins the Grand Prix with a Grand Slam, his 6th, just 2 behind Jim Clark's record 8, and Bottas finished P4 after starting last.