Valtteri Bottas wins Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Team mate Lewis Hamilton loomed large in his mirrors for most of the race, but Valtteri Bottas soaked up the pressure in style to pull clear at the end and win 2017 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. As Mercedes ran away and hid at Yas Marina, Sebastian Vettel came home a distant third for Ferrari, 15 seconds down the road.

Kimi Raikkonen followed his team mate home in fourth, with Max Verstappen keeping the Finn honest throughout as the only Red Bull finisher in fifth, after Daniel Ricciardo became the first retirement on lap 21 with hydraulic problems. Nico Hulkenberg was sixth, lifting Renault ahead of Toro Rosso to sixth in the final constructor standings, with the Forced India’s of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon next up, as McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Williams’ Felipe Massa completed the top ten.

Bottas had the edge on the ultra-soft Pirelli tyres during their opening stints, and had a lead of 2.5s when he pitted on the 22nd lap. Hamilton then led for two laps before pitting, and found himself able to push harder on the supersofts. Despite suggesting that it is impossible to follow another car and challenge it round Yas Marina, he got the gap down to 1.1s on the 29th lap, but Bottas always seemed to have an answer and never looked ruffled as he controlled the pace.

Ricciardo had made a poor start but battled back ahead of Raikkonen in the other Ferrari, but his Red Bull quit after his pit stop on the 21st lap with suspected power steering hydraulics failure. That cost the Australian fourth place overall in the driver standings, as Raikkonen’s fourth place race finish put him on 205 points to his 200. By the flag, Verstappen got within eight-tenths of a second of the Ferrari, but their respective positions were never in doubt.

The best racing took place way down the field, where Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen brought their Haas cars home 11th and 13th, sandwiching Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren. Both the Dane and the Belgian had to come back from early problems, but the other star was Pascal Wehrlein, who dragged his Sauber past Magnussen at one stage only to be blown away on the straight by the Haas. He finished an honorable 14th, only 1.5s off the second Haas, as the vanquished Toro Rosso’s of Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly led Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber home.

Sebastian Vettel wins Brazil Grand Prix

Ferrari Sebastian Vettel took victory in Grande Premio Heineken do Brazil 2017 after holding off Mercedes Valtteri Bottas for 71 laps of Interlagos. However, it was Bottas team mate Lewis Hamilton who was arguably the race’s biggest star, the world champion recovering from a pit-lane start to almost snatch the final podium spot from the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fifth ahead of team mate Daniel Ricciardo, the latter fighting back from a 14th-place grid slot, while Williams’ Felipe Massa narrowly won a race-long battle with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso to finish his final home Grand Prix in seventh. Force India’s Sergio Perez also joined that scrap late on, as Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg completed the top ten.

The race started in dramatic fashion. As Vettel got the jump on polesitter Bottas to lead into Turn 1, chaos soon ensued behind them, with Haas’s Kevin Magnussen making contact with Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren, which in turn ran into Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull. Ricciardo spun across the grass but was able to continue with seemingly minimal damage, but it was race over for Magnussen and Vandoorne. The stewards are investigating the incident.

Seconds later, Esteban Ocon’s run of 27 Grand Prix finishes was ended abruptly after a touch with Romain Grosjean Haas sent the two cars pirouetting off the track in unison. Unlike the Force India driver, Grosjean continued on his way, but he was later handed a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision. That triggered the safety car, which stayed out until the end of Lap 5. The only other retirement of the race was Brendon Hartley, who was told to bring his Toro Rosso in for a terminal pit stop on Lap 42. There is only race left in 2017 season.

MotoGP 2017: Marc Marquez wins Fourth Title

Marc Marquez won his fourth MotoGP title after challenger Andrea Dovizioso crashed during the season concluding Valencia Grand Prix. Marquez only needed to finish in 11th place or better to seal the title. Starting from pole, the Spaniard steered his Honda to a third-place finish behind race winner Dani Pedrosa.

Marquez had started the race from pole position and led after the start before being passed by Zarco on lap three. He stayed behind the Frenchman until the latter stages before suffering a scare when Marquez passed Zarco to re-take the lead only to go off the track at turn one on lap 23. However, Marquez skillfully managed to stay on his bike and rejoined in fifth behind Spaniard Lorenzo and Italian Dovizioso, who both crashed out to promote him to third.

Dovizioso was the sole rider who could challenge Marquez. His only hope of tipping Marquez for the title was to win the race and see Marquez finish 12th or worse. Instead, the Italian wiped out with six laps remaining. Moments before Dovizioso lost control of his Ducati, Marquez had a scare when he barely managed to keep his bike up and on course for the championship.

Marquez shared the victory with his fans at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo where he cemented his reputation as the top talent in motorbike racing. At 24, Marquez has won four of the last five titles in the top category, to go with two titles he had previously won in the lower classes. Pedrosa, another Honda rider, overtook Johann Zarco late in the race. In Moto2, Miguel Oliviera won ahead of champion Franco Morbidelli. In Moto3, pole-sitter Jorge Martin won the race ahead of champion Joan Mir. It was Martin's first race victory.

Max Verstappen wins Mexico Grand Prix

A tense afternoon in Mexico saw Mercedes Lewis Hamilton secure a fourth drivers title and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen a crushing third Grand Prix victory. Hamilton and championship rival Sebastian Vettel came together at the start, dropping both men to the back, and though the Ferrari driver recovered to fourth, the Briton’s ninth was enough to wrap things up with two rounds to go.

Joining the fast-starting Verstappen on the podium were Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Behind Vettel, Esteban Ocon was fifth, split from Force India team mate by Williams’ Lance Stroll. Haas’s Kevin Magnussen, Hamilton and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso completed the top ten. Verstappen dominated the race to score a resounding win, but all eyes were inevitably on the two title protagonists after they touched on the opening lap and the story of how Hamilton recovered from last place to win his fourth world championship overshadowed the Dutchman’s greatest drive.

It all began well, with polesitter Vettel, Verstappen and Hamilton running side by side down to Turn 1 after the start. Vettel was on the inside and kept his pole advantage, but only just from Verstappen, as Bottas braked just enough on the inside to let Hamilton through from the outside line. Hamilton, meanwhile, got a very clean run at the delayed Vettel and had snatched second by the exit to Turn 3, when the German brushed his right-rear tyre, puncturing it.

On top of that, Hamilton climbed to an eventual ninth after a huge fight with Alonso, and with 333 points to Vettel’s 277, the title war was finally over no matter what happens in Brazil and Abu Dhabi. It was a bad day for most of the Renault runners: Sainz flat-spotted a tyre early on to prompt a pit stop and retired with handling issues; Nico Hulkenberg lost seventh place (having at one stage run fourth) with electrical problems; Brendon Hartley’s Toro Rosso succumbed to power loss; and Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull ate another turbocharger. And Marcus Ericsson, who’d had a great run in ninth place early in the race in his Ferrari-powered Sauber, fell prey to cooling troubles to become the other retirement.