2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Previous←	2020 Sakhir Grand Prix
Round	17 of 2020
Next→	2021 Bahrain Grand Prix
The Yas Marina Circuit
Race Details
Date	December 13, 2020
Race Number	1035
Official Name	Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2020
Location	Yas Marina Circuit Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.554 km (3.451 mi)
Distance	55 laps, 305.47 km (189.810 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda
Time	1:35.246
Fastest Lap
Driver	Daniel Ricciardo Renault
Time	1:40.926 on lap 55
Podium
First	Max Verstappen
Second	Valtteri Bottas
Third	Lewis Hamilton
Lap Leaders

The 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2020) was the 17th and final race of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Yas Marina Circuit in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 13 December 2020.

Max Verstappen took pole position and won the race without much incident, with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, who returned to race after recovering from COVID-19 finishing second and third respectively.

Background

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is one of the few races in the original 2020 calendar to go ahead originally on November 29, although delayed to December 13 upon rescheduling due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Sergio Pérez took his shock maiden win at the previous race, although as of the weekend he is left without a drive in 2021. George Russell, who replaced Lewis Hamilton in the same weekend in Mercedes and narrowly missed out a win following a pit stop mistake from Mercedes and a late puncture had also raised discussions on George's natural talent.

Following his fiery accident at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean had announced that he is sitting out of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend as a precaution, hence prematurely ending his period at Haas. Prior to his announcement, Mercedes have stated that they would be willing to offer Grosjean a private test, with team principal Toto Wolff saying, “If we are allowed to do this and nobody else within his universe of teams that he raced would provide him with such an opportunity, we would do it.”

Following the cancelation of Friday's free practice sessions at the Eifel Grand Prix, which denied recently crowned F2 champion Mick Schumacher and runner-up Callum Ilott's weekend debuts, they are set to appear again in the free practice session in the weekend.

Recent seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who had tested positive for COVID-19 following the Bahrain Grand Prix, was announced to return to race in the finale after his retest came back negative.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault DP World F1 Team	Renault	R.S.20	Renault	E-Tech 20 1.6L V6t	P
4	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35	Renault	E-Tech 20 1.6L V6t	P
5	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF1000	Ferrari	065 1.6L V6t	P
6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43	Mercedes	M11 1.6L V6t	P
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C39	Ferrari	065 1.6L V6t	P
10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT01	Honda	RA260H 1.6L V6t	P
11	Sergio Pérez	BWT Racing Point F1 Team	Racing Point	RP20	BWT Mercedes	M11 1.6L V6t	P
16	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF1000	Ferrari	065 1.6L V6t	P
18	Lance Stroll	BWT Racing Point F1 Team	Racing Point	RP20	BWT Mercedes	M11 1.6L V6t	P
20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-20	Ferrari	065 1.6L V6t	P
23	Alexander Albon	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB16	Honda	RA260H 1.6L V6t	P
26	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT01	Honda	RA260H 1.6L V6t	P
31	Esteban Ocon	Renault DP World F1 Team	Renault	R.S.20	Renault	E-Tech 20 1.6L V6t	P
33	Max Verstappen	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB16	Honda	RA260H 1.6L V6t	P
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport	Mercedes	W11	Mercedes	M11 1.6L V6t	P
51	Pietro Fittipaldi	Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-20	Ferrari	065 1.6L V6t	P
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35	Renault	E-Tech 20 1.6L V6t	P
63	George Russell	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43	Mercedes	M11 1.6L V6t	P
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport	Mercedes	W11	Mercedes	M11 1.6L V6t	P
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C39	Ferrari	065 1.6L V6t	P
Test Drivers for Practice Sessions Only
50	Mick Schumacher	Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-20	Ferrari	065 1.6L V6t	P
88	Robert Kubica	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C39	Ferrari	065 1.6L V6t	P
Source:

Practice Overview

Practice Results

The full practice results for the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix are outlined below:

No	Driver	Team	FP1		FP2		FP3
			Time	Pos	Time	Pos	Time	Pos
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	No Time	20	1:37.508	9	1:36.877	3
4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	1:39.352	13	1:37.438	5	1:36.994	5
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:39.670	14	1:38.198	15	1:37.728	14
6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1:41.063	17	1:39.132	20	1:38.765	19
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1:39.199	10	1:38.068	14	1:38.269	17
10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:39.160	9	1:37.900	13	1:37.371	13
11	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	1:38.956	7	1:37.506	7	1:37.227	10
16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:39.344	12	1:37.508	8	1:37.270	12
18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	1:38.831	6	1:37.560	10	1:37.030	7
20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	DNP		1:38.504	16	1:38.457	18
23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:38.547	4	1:37.263	4	1:36.752	2
26	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:39.150	8	1:37.596	11	1:37.266	11
31	Esteban Ocon	Renault	1:38.515	3	1:37.505	6	1:36.899	4
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:37.378	1	1:37.046	3	1:36.251	1
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:38.744	5	1:36.479	2	1:37.012	6
51	Pietro Fittipaldi	Haas F1 Team	1:44.069	19	1:39.027	19	1:39.159	20
50	Mick Schumacher	Haas F1 Team	1:41.235	18	DNP		DNP
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	McLaren-Renault	1:39.330	11	1:37.616	12	1:37.068	8
63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1:40.446	16	1:38.817	18	1:37.886	15
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:37.412	2	1:36.276	1	1:37.085	9
88	Robert Kubica	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1:39.905	15	DNP		DNP
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	DNP		1:38.564	17	1:37.900	16
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda		4	1:35.993		3	1:35.641		1	1:35.246	1
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes		2	1:35.699		2	1:35.527		2	1:35.271	2
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		1	1:35.528		1	1:35.466		3	1:35.332	3
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes		5	1:36.016		5	1:35.849		4	1:35.497	4
5	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing-Honda		7	1:36.106		4	1:35.654		5	1:35.571	5
6	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren-Mercedes		10	1:36.517		8	1:36.192		6	1:35.815	6
7	26	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri-Honda		8	1:36.459		9	1:36.214		7	1:35.963	7
8	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes		9	1:36.502		7	1:36.143		8	1:36.046	8
9	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari		3	1:35.881		6	1:35.932		9	1:36.065	12†
10	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda		11	1:36.545		10	1:36.282		10	1:36.242	9
11	31	Esteban Ocon	Renault		14	1:36.783		11	1:36.359				10
12	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault		13	1:36.704		12	1:36.406				11
13	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari		12	1:36.655		13	1:36.631				13
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		15	1:37.075		14	1:38.248				14
15	11	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes		6	1:36.034		15					19*
16	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		16	1:37.555							15
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari		17	1:37.863							20*
18	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes		18	1:38.045							16
19	51	Pietro Fittipaldi	Haas-Ferrari		19	1:38.173							17
20	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes		20	1:38.443							18
107% Time: 1:42.215
Source:

• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.
• * Magnussen and Pérez required to start from back of grid for use of additional power unit elements.
• ^†Leclerc penalised three places for causing a collision at the previous round.

Grid

The starting grid of the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is as below:

Show Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
		______________
Row 1	______________	1
	2	33. Verstappen
	77. Bottas	______________
Row 2	______________	3
	4	44. Hamilton
	4. Norris	______________
Row 3	______________	5
	6	23. Albon
	55. Sainz	______________
Row 4	______________	7
	8	26. Kvyat
	18. Stroll	______________
Row 5	______________	9
	10	10. Gasly
	31. Ocon	______________
Row 6	______________	11
	12	3. Ricciardo
	16. Leclerc	______________
Row 7	______________	13
	14	5. Vettel
	99. Giovinazzi	______________
Row 8	______________	15
	16	7. Räikkönen
	63. Russell	______________
Row 9	______________	17
	18	51. Fittipaldi
	6. Latifi	______________
Row 10	______________	19
	20	11. Pérez
	20. Magnussen	______________

Race

Results

The full results for the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	55	1:36:28.645	1	25
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	55	+ 15.976	2	18
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	55	+ 18.415	3	15
4	21	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing-Honda	55	+ 19.987	5	12
5	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault	55	+ 1:00.729	4	10
6	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	McLaren-Renault	55	+ 1:05.662	6	8
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	55	+ 1:13.748	11	7FL
8	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	55	+ 1:29.718	9	4
9	7	Esteban Ocon	Renault	55	+ 1:41.069	10	2
10	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	55	+ 1:42.738	8	1
11	26	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri-Honda	54	+ 1 lap	7
12	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	54	+ 1 lap	15
13	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	54	+ 1 lap	12
14	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	54	+ 1 lap	13
15	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	54	+ 1 lap	16
16	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	54	+ 1 lap	14
17	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	54	+ 1 lap	18
18	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	54	+ 1 lap	20
19	51	Pietro Fittipaldi	Haas-Ferrari	53	+ 2 laps	17
Ret	11	Sergio Pérez	Racing Point-BWT Mercedes	8	Power unit	19
Source:

Milestones

• Debut race weekend for Mick Schumacher.
• Final race for the following drivers in their respective teams:
  • Sebastian Vettel in Ferrari.
  • Sergio Pérez in Racing Point.
  • Daniel Ricciardo in Renault.
  • Carlos Sainz, Jr. in McLaren.
  • Kevin Magnussen in Haas.
  • Alexander Albon in Red Bull.
  • Daniil Kvyat in AlphaTauri.
• Final race for the following teams before their respective rebranding:
  • Racing Point, before their transition into Aston Martin.
  • Renault, before their transition into Alpine.
• Final race for McLaren in Renault engines.
• Max Verstappen's third pole position and tenth race win.

Standings

World Championship for Drivers Pos. Driver Pts. +/- 1 Lewis Hamilton 347 — 2 Valtteri Bottas 223 — 3 Max Verstappen 214 — 4 Sergio Pérez 125 — 5 Daniel Ricciardo 119 — 6 Carlos Sainz, Jr. 105 ▲1 7 Alex Albon 105 ▲1 8 Charles Leclerc 98 ▼2 9 Lando Norris 97 — 10 Pierre Gasly 75 ▲1 11 Lance Stroll 75 ▼1 12 Esteban Ocon 62 — 13 Sebastian Vettel 33 — 14 Daniil Kyvat 32 — 15 Nico Hulkenberg 10 — 16 Kimi Räikkönen 4 — 17 Antonio Giovinazzi 4 — 18 George Russell 3 — 19 Romain Grosjean 2 — 20 Kevin Magnussen 1 —

World Championship for Constructors Pos. Team Pts. +/- 1 Mercedes 573 — 2 Red Bull Racing-Honda 319 — 3 McLaren-Renault 202 ▲1 4 Racing Point-BWT Mercedes 195 ▼1 5 Renault 181 — 6 Ferrari 131 — 7 AlphaTauri-Honda 107 — 8 Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 8 — 9 Haas-Ferrari 3 —

Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

References

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References:

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