Abu Dhabi GP: Williams Racing remain on zero points

The Williams Racing Team would see their drivers George Russell and Nicholas Latifi start the fifty five lap 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from 16th and 18th. Both drivers would start on the medium tyre. On pole would be Verstappen followed by Bottas, Hamilton, Norris, Albon, Sainz, Kvyat, Stroll, Gasly and Ocon. Of the top ten the Mercedes would start the race on the medium tyre with Verstappen, Sainz and Ocon also on this tyre. The rest of the top ten were all on the soft tyre. Outside the top ten those on the medium tyre were Giovinazzi, Raikkonen, Fittipaldi. Those on the hard were Perez, Magnussen, Vettel and Ricciardo.

The grid would complete their parade lap and would take the race start and it would be Verstappen leading from the Mercedes. The Williams cars were running in 15th and 17th as they started their opening lap. Bottas was second followed by Hamilton and Norris. Nicholas had dropped to 19th behind both Haas cars. Albon was fifth followed by Sainz, Kvyat, Stroll, Ocon and Gasly tenth. Perez would pass Nicholas seeing the Williams now last. Lap five and Verstappen was leading Bottas by 2.5s from Hamilton and Norris. The Williams drivers were now 17th and 20th as George had been passed by Perez. Albon would pass Norris for fourth with the McLaren's now fifth and sixth. Ricciardo would swap places with Ocon now in tenth. Stroll was now in seventh ahead of Kvyat, Gasly and Ricciardo.

But Gasly would pass Kvyat using his DRS seeing him now eighth. Perez would stop pulling off to the side of the track with a drive issue seeing the Williams drivers now 16th and 19th. This would see the Virtual safety Car come out as we had the top three all pit all taking on the hard tyre. We would also have Norris, Sainz, Stroll, Gasly, Ocon, Kvyat all pitting. George would also pit switching to the hard while Nicholas would continue on the medium. Neither Ferrari had pitted with Vettel who started on the hard in seventh and Leclerc still on the medium in eighth. The full safety Car would be deployed as there were concerns about oil on the track. Nicholas had also pitted now on the hard. The top ten was Verstappen, Bottas, Hamilton, Albon, Ricciardo, Norris, Vettel, Leclerc, Sainz, and Stroll tenth.

With the restart Verstappen would continue to lead from Bottas and Hamilton. Sainz and Leclerc would be fighting for eighth and it would be the McLaren who would move into this position. With George leading the Williams drivers were running close together with sixteen laps completed. Stroll would pass Leclerc but the Ferrari would be able to get back past. George had been able to get past Magnussen to now be 16th and closing in onto Raikkonen. Sainz was under investigation for possibly been too slow in the pit lane to avoid his team having to double stack during the Safety Car pit stops. Norris and Sainz were now sixth and seventh with the Ferrari's eighth and ninth. Stroll would pass Leclerc for ninth with twenty one laps completed.

Gasly would also get past Leclerc running on newer tyres. Verstappen was now leading by 3.8s running easily at the front. George would finally get past Giovinazzi for 15th as Leclerc pitted dropping to 19th. This would see George now 14th and Nicholas 17th with twenty five laps completed. Giovinazzi would finally pit changing from medium to the hard tyre with thirty laps completed. Nicholas would pass Magnussen for 16th while Gasly wuld pass Stroll for ninth while Leclerc would start to move forward now in 15th. Magnussen would pit taking on the medium tyre and returning in 19th. Leclerc was closing in onto George with Nicholas 12s behind the Ferrari. Leclerc would finally get past George for 14th seeing the Williams now 15th and 16th. Lap thirty eight and Vettel would pit taking on the medium and now 15th as Nicholas also pits changing to the medium.

Ricciardo would pit on lap forty one switching to the medium tyre returning in seventh. Vettel was now right behind George on fresher tyres. He would eventually get past using his DRS seeing the Ferrari now 14th. The Williams drivers were now 15th and 17th and both had gone a lap down with forty five laps completed. Lap fifty one and Magnussen would pit taking on the medium tyre running in 19th. Verstappen was now 11s ahead of Bottas followed by Hamilton, Albon, Norris, Sainz, Ricciardo, Gasly, Stroll and Ocon tenth. The Williams drivers were still in 15th and 17th in a really uneventful race for the pair. Albon was closing in onto Hamilton in third 2s behind but with a few laps remaining. Giovinazzi was challenging George for 15th as they started their last lap.

Verstappen would go on to take victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with Bottas and Hamilton second and third. Albon's late charge would see him remain in fourth from Norris, Sainz, Ricciardo, Gasly, Ocon and Stroll in tenth. Ocon had been able to get pass Stroll on the final lap. For Williams George and Nicholas would finish in 15th and 17th seeing out the year remaining on zero points. No doubt not the way the team would have wanted the season to end but at least there was promise shown over the course of the season.