ABU DHABI: New five-time champion Lewis Hamilton claimed his 11th win of the season on Sunday when he guided his Mercedes around the Yas Marina Circuit for a well-judged triumph in an incident-filled season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hamilton, who started at the front of the grid from an 83rd-career pole position, came home 2.5 seconds ahead of his main title rival four-time champion German Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari.
Hamilton’s victory completed a season of total dominance for the Englishman.
“I am so happy right now,” he said, before praising Vettel. “I know next year he’s going to come back stronger. Whatever people say, we always do our best.”
Vettel responded generously.
“He deserves to be champion,” Vettel said. “It’s been a tough year and I tried until the last lap.”
The win came after a race that began with an horrific opening lap crash from which Nico Hulkenberg escaped unhurt, his blazing Renault car having barrel-rolled into the barriers after a clash with Haas driver Romain Grosjean.
Grosjean has a reputation as one of F1’s more reckless — or adventurous — drivers. He caused the crash by clipping the right rear tire of Hulkenberg’s car, sending it tipping upward, barreling over and sliding on its back. As some smoke billowed from the car, a fearful-sounding Hulkenberg urged his team to get him out fast.
“I’m hanging here like a cow,” he said. “There’s fire. There’s fire.”
A concerned Grosjean asked about Hulkenberg’s condition on his radio. Stewards took no action against Grosjean, deeming it a racing incident.
“I was very sorry for him, but there was nowhere I could go,” Grosjean said.
Carlos Sainz came home sixth for Renault ahead of Ferrari-bound Charles Leclerc of Sauber, Sergio Perez of Force India, Romain Grosjean, who had tangled with Hulkenberg on the opening lap, and his Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen.
Retirement-bound two-time champion Fernando Alonso could only manage an 11th place for McLaren in his 311th and farewell appearance. The Spaniard, who started 15th, was just not quick enough to get any more out of his car.
He did manage one last piece of radio magic, though, when an engineer in the closing laps said: “Go and get a point.”
Alonso replied: “I’ve already got 1,800.”
A single point would have taken him up to 1,900, but he could not overtake Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.
Alonso was not helped by a five-second time penalty for cutting a corner when he missed his braking point pushing while chasing the Dane.
“It’s been an honor and a privilege to race in the same era as him,” Hamilton said. “The sport will miss him, we will miss him.”
Alonso has already confirmed he will use his retirement to pursue non-racing interests.
Meanwhile, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen finished third in the race ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo for a fifth straight podium.
Verstappen overtook Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas to finish fourth overall behind Kimi Raikkonen, who retired early into his final race for Ferrari.
Verstappen and Ricciardo made light work of overtaking Bottas, who finished fifth, raising questions again about the Finnish driver’s ability to withstand pressure in a season where he has not won.
Lewis Hamilton wins incident-filled Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in F1 finale
Lewis Hamilton wins incident-filled Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in F1 finale
Smylie wins on LIV Golf debut, leads Ripper GC to team title in Riyadh
- Jon Rahm and Torque GC finish second in the individual and team competitions respectively
RIYADH: Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith believes his new teammate Elvis Smylie can one day become the best golfer in the world. After the 23-year-old Australian produced four sizzling rounds to win on his LIV Golf debut, the rest of the league may very well share the same sentiment.
Smylie capped off an impressive first week under the lights at Roshn Group LIV Golf Riyadh, shooting a final-round bogey-free 8-under 64 on Saturday to hold off a hard-charging Jon Rahm by one stroke. He also led the Rippers to the team title, as the Aussies swept both trophies going into their biggest tournament of the season at LIV Golf Adelaide next week.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Smylie, who officially joined the team last month. “I really didn’t know what to expect this week. Playing at night is obviously a whole different ballgame out here. I wanted to come out here and make a statement. I wanted to prove that I’m one of the best out here, and I feel like I’ve done that. It’s only up from here.”
Smith agreed. “The crazy thing is I still think he’s got a lot of improving to go, which is pretty scary, really, for the rest of us, because he waxed us this week. I genuinely think he can be the best golfer in the world. He’s got all the tools of the trade. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing and knuckle down.”
With the win, Smylie earns the projected points allotted by the Official World Golf Ranking to the winner of this week’s LIV Golf tournament. The OWGR announced earlier this week that points will be awarded for LIV Golf tournaments this season to the top 10 and ties. Smylie entered the week ranked 134th and is expected to move up significantly with the victory.
Smylie’s winning score of 24 under is the lowest in league history, a byproduct perhaps of the league’s adjusted format from 54 to 72 holes. He also beat the biggest field in LIV Golf history after an increase from 54 to 57 players this season.
But more impressive than the raw numbers was Smylie’s sublime play, especially with a new blade putter. “Everything looked like a bucket for me, which is nice,” said Smylie, who ranked third in the field in strokes gained putting.
He needed a hot putter down the stretch to create some separation from the field, then withstand the last-ditch rally by Rahm, the Legion XIII captain and two-time LIV Golf individual champion.
Rahm started the day two shots behind co-leaders Smylie and Peter Uihlein and was three strokes behind when Smylie birdied the par-4 12th. But the Spaniard closed fast with birdies on five of his last six holes, including the last four.
He drove the green at the 396-yard par-4 18th but could not convert the eagle putt. Still, his final birdie put the finishing touches on a 9-under bogey-free 63, the lowest round of the week, and reduced Smylie’s lead to one.
Smylie, however, was not aware of the slim margin until hitting his approach shot at the 18th that left him on the edge of the green.
“I actually didn’t know that I had to two-putt the last green,” he said. “I thought I would have had a two-shot lead going into 18. But as soon as I was walking up the green, I saw that I only had one, so I’m like, I’ve got to clutch up here and make sure to get this up-and-down.”
Rahm, who shot a final-round 11-under 60 in his last regular-season LIV Golf tournament in Indianapolis last year to clinch his second consecutive season-long title, pointed to his failure to make birdie at the par-5 sixth and a poor approach shot at the par-4 11th as missed opportunities. Even so, he was pleased with making a run to earn his fifth runner-up finish and 25th top-10 result in 27 regular-season LIV Golf appearances.
“It was a fantastic round of golf, shot 9-under,” he said. “Elvis had a great day and a two-shot lead. If anything, if there’s one or two shots to look at, I’ve got to go to earlier in the week.”
RangeGoats GC’s Uihlein finished third after shooting a 67 for 21 under, while Fireballs GC’s David Puig and 4Aces GC’s Thomas Pieters shot 65s to share fourth place with Torque GC’s Abraham Ancer.
The team competition turned into a battle between Ripper and Torque. The Australians started off fast, with Marc Leishman beginning his round with four straight birdies; the team collectively was 11 under through their first six holes.
Torque responded with Ancer, making his first start for his new team after four years with Fireballs GC, and Sebastian Munoz each shooting 66.
But the 64s by Smylie and Lucas Herbert were supported by Smith’s 65 and Leishman’s 69 to produce a fourth-round team score of 26 under, the third-best single round team score in league history. Ripper’s tournament total of 69 under is a league record as they won their fifth regular-season team title by three shots.
