by: Simaran Nanda, 17
As the season ended with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in Dubai, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) bagged his 6th World Championship. Though the run for the Constructors’ Championship ended with Mercedes winning in the Mexican GP and limiting the fight for the title between Lewis Hamilton and Valteri Bottas (Mercedes), the two fought it out in the American GP, with Hamilton winning the title.
Already having the new champions for the year, the Abu Dhabi GP was not as gripping. The entire race was led by Hamilton, who started on P1 with Max Verstrappen (Red Bull Racing Honda) on P2 and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) on P3, it remained the same almost the entire race. Bottas, who was supposed to start P2 was put at the back of the grid as his car faced a penalty for changing his gearbox because of his crash in FP3 with Romain Grosjean (Haas Ferrari).
In spite of a few, brisk touches here and there, the race ended with only one retirement (Lance Stroll- Racing Point BWT Mercedes) and zero safety cars. Nico Hulkenburg (McLaren Renault) won Driver of the Day, while Lewis Hamilton bagged the fastest lap, also setting the lap record at 1:39.283.
The final Drivers’ Standings look like this-
Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2019/drivers.html
The final Constructors’ Standings look like this-
Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2019/team.html
Personally being a Hamilton stan, I could not be happier about this season. I would have preferred for the fight to go on till the last race but having known the fact that Hamilton is rising up to defend Schumacher was frightening yet calming. On one side, I’m not ready to have another driver outrun Schumacher’s legendary run, while on the other side, I cannot wait for Hamilton to win his 7th and 8th titles.
I do agree that the sport has become a little monotonous with Mercedes dominating, I have hopes that Leclerc will for sure put up a good fight in the coming season, making the sport somewhat resemble what it was back in the days.