Well, that's the F1 season over for another year with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix yesterday. The Drivers' Championship was decided a couple of weeks ago, but the one that the manufacturers want to win is the Constructors Championship, and that was still to be decided between McLaren and Ferrari. Ferrari suffered a blow to their chances before qualifying when Charles Leclerc got a 10-place grid penalty for using a new energy store which exceeded his allowance for the year. He then qualified 14th and ended up starting in 19th (of 20) when other drivers' penalties were applied. A combination of bad strategy and bad luck (he got a loose bollard stuck under his car) saw Lewis Hamilton out in the first qualifying session in his last race for Mercedes. He started 16th. Pole was taken by Lando Norris with his team mate Oscar Piastri taking second for a McLaren front row lock-out.
At the start, Red Bull's Max Verstappen passed Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, but then collided with Oscar, which earned him a 10-second penalty. Max's team mate Sergio Perez also had a spin on the first lap when he was hit by Valtteri Bottas. Two laps later, Oscar got a penalty for hitting one of the Williams cars (I think it was Franco Colapinto). Meanwhile, Charles made quick work of getting through the field. There was some good racing and plenty of overtaking throughout the race. At the end, it was Lando Norris who led from start to finish to help win McLaren their first constructors' title since 1998. Ferrari finished in second and third with Carlos Sainz ahead of Charles Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton had been quite despondent for the last few races, but he seemed back on form yesterday and managed to overtake his team mate George Russell on the last lap to claim fourth. He'll be a Ferrari driver next year and says he looks good in red!
You can see the race highlights here.
Now the long wait begins for the Australian Grand Prix on March 16th!