In Pictures: Abu Dhabi 2020

December 17, 2020 JOMA

The 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the final race of the most unusual season in Formula One history, and the shortest since 1966. And with it, many changes will come for 2021:

Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon will not race in F1 in 2021. Sergio Perez will take Albon’s seat at Red Bull, while Alex will be the team’s new test and reserve driver, focussing especially on development, simulator work and tire testing ahead of 2022’s rule changes.
It was Sebastian Vettel's last race with Ferrari as he moves to Aston Martin for 2021, it also was Daniel Ricciardo's last race with Renault and Carlos Sainz's with McLaren, both of them swapping seats for next year.
It was also the last race for Racing Point as the team changes name to Aston Martin from 2021 onwards.

The race saw Daniel Ricciardo setting the fastest lap of the race on the last lap, denying race winner Max Verstappen of a Grand Chelem (Grand Slam = Pole, fastest lap, and a win while leading every lap). It also saw McLaren claim third place in the Constructors' Championship, good to see the British team getting back to the top of the charts.

“It has been a very enjoyable two days which we didn’t really expect coming into the weekend. Being on pole was already great but to win here is a perfect end to the season for us all. The tyre management was good and the car had a nice balance which made it very enjoyable to drive. I expected a very tough fight today but I think we managed everything very well and there was never really a moment where I felt under pressure which is a pretty good feeling. To finish the year off like this I’m of course very happy with and I just hope we can start next season competitively, so we can be there right from the start, as we want to be able to try and fight for the championship but for that we need to start strong. Everyone in the Team and at Honda has worked so hard the whole year to improve the car and this is a really good boost going into the winter and I hope everyone gets to celebrate tonight.”

Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | P1

"Congratulations to Max and Red Bull on the win. They were just too quick today and we couldn’t quite keep up with them. We expected the race pace to be quite equal heading into today, but they were able to really control the pace and build the gap when they needed to. From my side, though, it was a solid race with no mistakes and I think I extracted everything from our package. So, in that sense, it’s been a good race, I finished ahead of my team-mate and it’s nice to be back on the podium. A huge thank you and well done to the entire team on an amazing year. I’m really proud we could end the season with P1 and P2 in the Drivers’ Championship; every single team member has done such an incredible job, so thank you very much. I still have a few commitments to do but then I’ll have some time off over Christmas, and then a quick reset, some training and we start from zero again for next year. I’m looking forward to it."

Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 | P2

"Considering the past couple of weeks, I’m really happy with the weekend and to finish on the podium. Obviously, it’s not as good as I’d have liked, but congratulations to Max and Red Bull, they were very quick today and deserved the win. This weekend they were just too far out of reach for us and we couldn’t hold onto the pace they had. It was fantastic to see Alex right up there with us, too. From my side, that was a hard race, so I’m definitely glad that it’s over. But on the bright side I made it through, and I didn’t think last week that I’d even be here. So, I’m just grateful for my health and looking forward to recovering over the winter and getting back into training, to get my body back to where it should be. Finally, a huge thank you to the team for their continued support and hard work. They’ve done a great job all season long and it’s fantastic to end the season with two podiums."

Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 | P3