Race – Abu Dhabi: A Stoffel Vandoorne Record

If the Belgian continued his undisputed domination, he had to fight hard to win. Indeed, at the start, he was not able to overtake pole-sitter Pierre Gasly. However, the Frenchman would only hold the lead for three laps before Stoffel Vandoorne and Mitch Evans overtook him, with Raffaele Marciello doing the same a lap later.

The Italian was then benefiting from his strategy, which was different from the leading drivers: by starting on soft tires, he could stay on the track while all the drivers who started on super-softs rushed into the pits as soon as the window for tire changes was open.

The only one unable to do so was Alex Lynn since Dams gave the optimal strategy to his teammate, who was ahead of him in the standings. Nevertheless, this pit stop proved doubly penalizing for the French team: not only did Pierre Gasly receive a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, but Alex Lynn also became the indirect victim of the collision between Norman Nato and Nicholas Latifi, which triggered a Virtual Safety Car period and thus a temporary closure of the pits.

When the race was restarted, Raffaele Marciello focused on trying to widen the gap as much as possible to prevent Stoffel Vandoorne from eventually claiming victory. However, even though he made his pit stop just two laps before the end, he was unable to come out ahead of him. On the other hand, he managed to keep Mitch Evans and Alexander Rossi, who once again made an impressive comeback from his 7th place on the grid, behind him. He is thus assured of finishing as the season’s runner-up.

If Pierre Gasly finished fifth on the track, his penalty relegated him to 8th place final. The Red Bull protégé can console himself by saying that he will start again from the reversed pole position in the last race of the season.

From our special correspondent in Abu Dhabi