Verstappen takes his second win of 2020, Mercedes fail to win at Yas Marina for the first time in seven years and Ferrari fail to score at the track for the first time since 2009. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
VERSTAPPEN WINS
Max Verstappen was victorious in the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, taking his second win of the 2020 season. This was the tenth win of Verstappen’s career, making him the 34th driver to have recorded ten wins in Formula 1.
Verstappen became the sixth driver to have won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and made this the sixth consecutive year in which the polesitter has won the event. This was only the second time that Verstappen has won from pole position, having last done so at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.
For the second time in his career, Verstappen led every lap of the race. The only other time he has done so is at the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s win was the first for Honda power at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It was also Red Bull’s fourth win here – their first since Sebastian Vettel won in 2013.
Finishing in the top three for the 42nd time in his F1 career, Verstappen equalled Damon Hill and Mark Webber’s career tallies of podium finishes.
ON THE PODIUM
Joining Verstappen on the podium were Mercedes duo Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. The 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is the thirteenth time that the trio have finished on the podium together, equalling Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber as the second most common trio to appear on the podium in Formula 1 history. Only Hamilton, Vettel and Nico Rosberg have shared more top three finishes.
While Hamilton recorded his ninth podium at the Yas Marina Circuit – extending his record for most Abu Dhabi Grand Prix podium finishes – both Verstappen and Bottas recorded their third podium finishes at the track.
With his podium finish, Hamilton equalled Michael Schumacher’s record of most podium finishes with a single constructor. This was Hamilton’s 116th top three finish with Mercedes. Schumacher finished on the podium with Ferrari on 116 occasions during his career.
This was the seventh year in a row that Hamilton has finished on the podium at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
For the first time since 2013, Mercedes failed to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This was also the first race in which the team has not led a lap since the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix. This was, however, the first time that both Mercedes drivers have finished on the podium at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix since 2017.
Valtteri Bottas recorded his 56th podium finish, putting him one short of equalling Nico Rosberg’s career tally of top three finishes.
This was the second Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in a row in which the top three have finished in the same order as they started in. It’s the fourth time this has happened at the event in the last six seasons.
THE TOP TEN
McLaren finished the race with Lando Norris in fifth and Carlos Sainz in sixth, marking the first time that both McLaren drivers have finished the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the top six since Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished on the podium in 2011.
For the first time in his career, Carlos Sainz finished in the top six for a fourth consecutive race. This was also the first time since the Hungarian Grand Prix that Sainz has finished where he started.
Daniel Ricciardo set the Fastest Lap for the fifteenth time in his career. His lap time was 1.643 seconds slower than the Lap Record at the Yas Marina Circuit. This was the eleventh consecutive race in which Ricciardo has scored, which is his longest streak since scoring in all of the last seventeen races of the 2016 season.
Pierre Gasly finished in eighth place for AlphaTauri, equalling the Red Bull junior team’s best ever result at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The team last finished eighth here in the inaugural race in 2009, with Sebastien Buemi in eighth for Toro Rosso.
Esteban Ocon scored for a third consecutive race. It’s the first time he’s scored points at three successive races since doing so at the 2018 Austrian, British and German Grands Prix.
With Ricciardo seventh and Ocon ninth, both Renault drivers scored at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for the first time since 2010. The team never scored here with both cars under their Lotus guise.
Lance Stroll finished in tenth place, marking the first time that he has picked up points at the Yas Marina Circuit. This is the third season in a row that Racing Point have had one car score and the other retire at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
For the first time since 2009, Ferrari failed to score at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This is the first time since 2014 that neither Ferrari driver has finished on the podium at the event.
Sebastian Vettel’s fourteenth place is his worst finishing position of the 2020 season, not including his two retirements. It’s his worst finishing position in a race which he has finished since his sixteenth place at the 2019 British Grand Prix.
This was the first time since 2011 that Vettel has failed to score at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It was also the first time in Charles Leclerc’s career that the Monegasque driver has failed to score at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Kevin Magnussen and Pietro Fittipaldi finished eighteenth and nineteenth for Haas, which is the team’s worst ever result at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. They are still yet to record a retirement at the event.
THE ONLY RETIREE
On his final appearance for Racing Point, Sergio Perez was the only retiree at the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It was his second retirement in the last three races.
2020 is the first season in which Perez has not scored points at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix since 2012.
Of the last five newest winners in F1, four of them (Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez) retired from the race after their first win.