The 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is in the books and with it, another Formula One racing season. Fittingly, it was a 1-2 Mercedes snoozer as Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton took the top two places with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in a distant third.
The race was as anti-climactic as the results and ASN awards top driving points to the three podium finishers in that order as nobody else in the race did anything extraordinary to merit points. That means Vettel wins the 2017 AutoSportsNation crown, driving his underpowered Ferrari to 35 points over Hamilton’s 27 points in the faster Mercedes.
In the Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award category, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg got the point for the Abu Dhabi race for his attempt to drive off the track and pass Force India’s Sergio Perez, for which the stewards determined was not a very good attempt at driving and penalized him. Perez ties Vettel for the 2017 Maldonado trophy.
In the Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” category, the whiny Hamilton gets the point this week in Abu Dhabi after he complained post-race that “I think they’ve got to change this track,” when he was unable to pass Bottas. Honda-McLaren’s Fernando Alonso wins the award for the season.
The Bernie Ecclestone Doofus Moment Award for Abu Dhabi goes to the Renault pit for Carlos Sainz, Jr. who sent him out onto the track with a faulty wheel and caused him to exit the race prematurely. The award’s namesake – Bernie Ecclestone – wins for the season but with an asterisk as the numerous officiating bodies of the numerous grands prix piled up more points collectively.
2017 ASN Driver Rankings – after Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
1] Sebastian Vettel – 35 points
2] Lewis Hamilton – 27
3] Valtteri Bottas – 17
4] Daniel Ricciardo – 10
5] Max Verstappen – nine
6] Kimi Raikkonen – eight
7] Esteban Ocon – six
8] Fernando Alonso/Stoffel Vandoorne – four
10] Sergio Perez – two
11] Romain Grosjean/Lance Stroll – one
2017 Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award – after Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
1]Perez/Vettel – three
3] Carlos Sainz, Jr. – 2.5
4] Grosjean/Daniil Kvyat/Verstappen – two
7] Marcus Ericsson – 1.5
8] Nico Hulkenberg/Kevin Magnussen/Jolyon Palmer/Stroll/Vandoorne – one
2017 Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” Award – after Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
1] Alonso – four
2] Vettel – three
3] Hamilton/Magnussen/Verstappen – two
6] Bottas/Jenson Button/Grosjean/Mercedes [Bottas pit]/Ocon/Red Bull [Verstappen pit]/Ricciardo – one
2017 Bernie Ecclestone Doofus Moment Award – after Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
1] Ecclestone – three
2] Australian Grand Prix officials/Brazilian Grand Prix officials/British Grand Prix officials/Canadian Grand Prix officials/Ferrari pit [Vettel]/Force India/Goodwood Festival of Speed/Mercedes marketing/Renault pit [Sainz, Jr.]/Singapore Grand Prix officials/Stroll/US Grand Prix officials/Verstappen/Williams – one