Dutch world champion Max Verstappen wins Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for Red Bull

THE F1 season came to a close with the common sight of Max Verstappen standing on the winners’ podium this Sunday, November 26.

Starting from pole, the Dutchman’s Red Bull  took the chequered flag at the Yas Marina Circuit in the season’s finale in Abu Dhabi to clinch his 19th victory from 22 races.

Verstappen was rarely troubled by the rest of the field as the triple world champion stormed to yet another win. Charles LeClerc started alongside him in the Ferrari on the front row but the Red Bull driver was totally in command and closed out any attempts that LeClerc made to pass him.

As has been the case for the majority of the season, Verstappen gradually pulled clear and finished with a comfortable win to finish 17 seconds ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez who took second place in the final driver’s table.

However, the Mexican was hit with a five-second time penalty for an incident involving Lando Norris which subsequently saw him demoted to fourth place with the British McLaren driver only managing fifth.

LeClerc moved up to second as a result with Britain’s George Russell taking the third spot on the podium for Mercedes. Ferrari and Mercedes were battling for second place in the constructor’s championship behind the runaway winners, Red Bull, with today’s result finally giving the place to Mercedes by three points.