| 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | ||||
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Race 21 of 21 in the2019 Formula One World Championship
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| Race details[1] | ||||
| Date | 1 December 2019 | |||
| Official name | Formula 1Etihad AirwaysAbu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019 | |||
| Location | Yas Marina Circuit,Abu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates | |||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | |||
| Course length | 5.554 km (3.451 miles) | |||
| Distance | 55 laps, 305.355 km (189.738 miles) | |||
| Weather | Clear | |||
| Pole position | ||||
| Driver | Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:34.779 | |||
| Fastest lap | ||||
| Driver |  Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | ||
| Time | 1:39.283 on lap 53(lap record) | |||
| Podium | ||||
| First | Mercedes | |||
| Second | Red Bull Racing-Honda | |||
| Third | Ferrari | |||
Lap leaders | ||||
The2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (formally known as theFormula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019) was aFormula One motor race that was held on 1 December 2019 at theYas Marina Circuit inAbu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates.[1] The race was the twenty first and final round of the2019 Formula One World Championship and marked the eleventh running of theAbu Dhabi Grand Prix and the eleventh time that the race was run as a World Championship event since the inaugural event in2009.[2][3] This was also the first time that a race was held in December since the1963 South African Grand Prix.[4] It was the final race forToro Rosso, as the team was rebranded toAlphaTauri for the2020 season.
Heading into the race weekend the top two places in theWorld Drivers' Championship had already been determined withLewis Hamilton as champion ahead of teammateValtteri Bottas. However third place was yet to be decided betweenMax Verstappen, 260 points andCharles Leclerc, 249 points, withSebastian Vettel, 230 points, still able to overtake Leclerc for fourth place in the standings but too far behind Verstappen to take third. The top four places in theWorld Constructors' Championship were decided withMercedes in first ahead ofFerrari,Red Bull andMcLaren. Fifth place was still undecided withRenault eight points ahead ofToro Rosso.[5][6]
The drivers and teams entered were the same as those for the previous race with no additional stand-in drivers for the race or practice. The race marked the final race forToro Rosso, as the team was rebranded asAlphaTauri for the2020 season. It would be also the final race forRobert Kubica, before he would also make his final two starts in the2021 Dutch Grand Prix and theItalian Grand Prix.[7]
The first session saw thered flag come out twice. The first time whenDaniel Ricciardo suffered an engine failure and a second time afterSebastian Vettel crashed his car at turn 19 in the closing minutes of the session, after which the session was not restarted. The session ended withValtteri Bottas fastest followed byMax Verstappen andLewis Hamilton.[8] The second practice session saw one red flag after Bottas andRomain Grosjean collided at turn 11, Bottas would later receive a reprimand for the incident.[9] Bottas finished the session fastest ahead of Hamilton andCharles Leclerc.[10] The third practice session ran uninterrupted and ended with Verstappen fastest followed by Hamilton and Bottas.[11]
Prior to the race, it was announced that the fuel mass inCharles Leclerc's car as declared byFerrari was "significantly different" to the amount measured by theFIA. It was decided that this would be investigated by the stewards after the race.[16]
The front-runners all maintained their positions into the first corner, withLewis Hamilton leading frompole position. Further back down the grid,Lance Stroll collided with the rear ofPierre Gasly, causing Gasly to make contact withSergio Pérez in front of him and resulting in Gasly losing his front wing. Gasly was forced to pit for a replacement which caused him to drop to the back of the grid, over a minute behind 19th place. The incident was not investigated by the stewards.Max Verstappen lost 2nd place to Leclerc on the straight between turns 7 and 8, meanwhileValtteri Bottas had made up five places on the first lap after starting in last place.
On lap 4 it was announced thatDRS was disabled for all cars due to a technical issue after a server crash caused communications with the cars to be disrupted, meaning that it could not be ensured that cars only used DRS in the permitted zones of the track.[17] Shortly after, Stroll complained of difficulties caused by damage from his first lap collision with Gasly. Stroll would later go on to retire from a brake problem after running near the back for most of the race.Lando Norris was the first driver to make a scheduled pit stop on lap 8. Ferrari brought both drivers in for pit stops on lap 12, withSebastian Vettel suffering with a slow stop causing him to be stationary for nearly 7 seconds.
DRS was eventually enabled on lap 18. Bottas passedNico Hülkenberg on the same lap to clear the midfield after starting from the back.Robert Kubica andAntonio Giovinazzi both suffered floor damage after colliding during an overtake attempt by Giovinazzi. Verstappen pitted from 2nd on lap 25, followed by Hamilton a lap later who maintained the lead upon exiting the pits. Bottas was the last of the front-runners to pit on lap 29. No positions were gained or lost amongst the top six after the round of pit stops. On lap 32, Verstappen retook 2nd place from Leclerc going into turn 8, having lost the position on the first lap. The Ferrari drivers made a second round of pit stops on lap 38, with Leclerc maintaining 3rd and Vettel dropping from 4th to 6th. Bottas passedAlexander Albon for 4th place soon afterwards.
On lap 41,Carlos Sainz Jr. made a second pit stop from 9th place after he was concerned that his ageing tyres would cause him to be overtaken towards the end of the race, losing a points-scoring position and handing 6th place in the World Drivers' Championship to Gasly. Sainz exited the pits in 14th place. The final two laps saw multiple overtakes; Vettel passed Albon for 5th place,Lando Norris lost 7th place to Pérez, and Sainz successfully passed Hülkenberg to take 10th place and claim a point, securing 6th place in the championship. Hamilton crossed the line to win the race, taking his 11th victory of the season and the 84th of his career. Having also led every lap, taken pole position and recorded the fastest lap of the race, this marked Hamilton's sixth "grand slam", his last of which came at the2017 British Grand Prix.[18] Hamilton also completed and scored points in every race of 2019, making him the first driver to finish and score points in every race of a season twice (2017 and 2019).[19][20]
Post-race, Ferrari were handed a €50,000 fine for the pre-race fuel infringement, although Leclerc was allowed to keep his 3rd-place finish.[21] In an interview, Gasly said he was "disgusted" by the collision with Stroll at the start of the race, as his car "clearly had the potential to keep sixth place [in the drivers' championship]".[22] Gasly ended the season in 7th place with 95 points, one short of Sainz's 96.
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