Valtteri Bottas won the season-ending Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix from pole on Sunday but it wasn’t enough to take second place in the final standings behind Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Bottas claimed his third season and career win ahead of Hamilton and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who retained the overall runners-up spot in the day-into-night race with little drama at the 5.554-kilometre Yas Marina Circuit.
Hamilton, who had clinched a fourth career title with two races to spare four weeks ago in Mexico, finished the 20-race season with 363 points, with Vettel on 317 and Bottas on 305.
While Vettel failed to land the title he did manage to deny Mercedes a fourth straight year with a one-two finish.
Bottas had a much better getaway than two weeks ago in Brazil where he lost the race there to Vettel.
The start saw no changes at all in the first 10 qualifying spots — with the Finn leading the field from the three-time Abu Dhabi winners Hamilton and Vettel.
Hamilton closed in on Bottas thanks to a fresher engine but the Finn remained top and eventually won by four seconds, clocking 1 hour 34minutes 14.063 seconds over the 55 laps.
The 2018 season — with several rule changes — starts on March 25 in Australia.