Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed a dominant victory at the season ending 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as McLaren clinched third in the Constructors’ championship.
Verstappen led from lights out to the flag in a dominantly controlled race, which saw Sergio Perez retire on lap 10 with a transmission failure, which saw the top nine all pit in order under a safety car as the Red Bull driver held his lead throughout.
Daniel Ricciardo however prevented Verstappen from becoming the youngest-ever grand slam achiever at just 23 years and 74 days old after snatching the fastest lap on the the final lap of the race to deny his former teammate from a record-breaking dominant drive of pole, win, every lap led and fastest lap.
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas finished second ahead of teammate, Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon, with McLaren securing third after Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz brought their cars home fifth and sixth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon plus Lance Stroll.
Sebastian Vettel concluded his final race for Ferrari in 14th as he switches to Aston Martin in place of Perez, whose F1 future hangs in the balance depending on whether Red Bull retain Albon or not.
Reigning world champion, Hamilton finishes this season 123 points clear of Bottas who is the 2020 Vice-Champion ahead of Verstappen by eight points, with Perez finishing fourth ahead of Ricciardo as Sainz pipped Albon to sixth.
With Mercedes already confirmed as constructor champions ahead of Red Bull, McLaren finished third and seven points clear of Racing Point in fourth, as Renault end their campaign as the fifth fastest team ahead of Ferrari, AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo, Haas and Williams.
Verstappen made a clean start as the top eight held position off the line as Ocon leapfrogged Gasly into ninth, only for the latter to retake the position on the second lap into Turn Eight.
Norris soon began to overdrive his McLaren which hurt his soft tyres quickly as Albon managed to take an eventual fourth from the Brit on on lap six.
Perez opted to start on hard tyres and slowly began to make his way through the field to find himself 14th when his Racing Point suffered a transmission failure on lap 10 out of Turn 19, triggering a safety car, in which the top nine all pitted as Ricciardo benefitted to climb to fifth by staying out on his hard tyres.
Vettel and Charles Leclerc also stayed out on hard and medium tyres respectively, putting the pair in seventh and eighth although Leclerc quickly found himself swallowed up by the pack and pitted on lap 23 to drop him to last place, from which he recovered to 13th at the flag.
Vettel managed to make his hard stint last to the end of lap 35 despite finding himself passed by Sainz and Gasly whilst Stroll locked up at Turn 11 on lap 25, consequently costing him eighth at the flag as Gasly caught and passed the Canadian four laps later.
Up front, Verstappen slowly extended his gap over Bottas to cruise to victory despite suffering from vibrations as Ricciardo pitted from fifth as the last driver to make his stop, rejoining in seventh where he remained to the flag.
Stroll meanwhile lost ninth to Ocon on the final lap as Racing Point were ultimately made to ruse their 15 point deduction from earlier this season due to illegal brake ducts, because they would of otherwise finished ahead of McLaren if not for that penalty.
2020 Abu Dhabi GP Result
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 55 | 1h 36m 28.645. |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 55 | + 15.976 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 55 | + 18.415 |
| 4 | Alex Albon | Red Bull | 55 | + 19.987 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 55 | + 60.729 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren | 55 | + 65.662 |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 55 | + 73.748 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 55 | + 89.718 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Renault | 55 | + 101.069 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | 55 | + 102.738 |
| 11 | Daniil Kvyat | AlphaTauri | 54 | + 1 Lap |
| 12 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 54 | + 1 Lap |
| 13 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 54 | + 1 Lap |
| 14 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 54 | + 1 Lap |
| 15 | George Russell | Williams | 54 | + 1 Lap |
| 16 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 54 | + 1 Lap |
| 17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 54 | + 1 Lap |
| 18 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 54 | + 1 Lap |
| 19 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Haas | 54 | + 2 Laps |
| Sergio Perez | Racing Point | 9 | Transmission |
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