The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team finished their 2017 campaign in perfect style at today’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with a 1-2 result, which team boss Toto Wolff described as ‘dominant’.
Valtteri Bottas took his third win of the season and of his career, beating team-mate and four-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, who finished second. The Mercedes has been the quickest car on track all throughout the weekend, although on Friday it looked to be advantage Hamilton until Bottas pulled a stunning lap out of the bag yesterday to take pole.
Wolff praised the performance of the car and of both of his drivers, who he thinks have worked well together as a team throughout the year.
“This was a special way to end a special season: a dominant 1-2 finish in the final race of the season gives us good momentum into the winter,” he commented.
“The car was magnificent today – quickest in qualifying and also in race conditions, on both types of tyre.
I am really pleased to see the way that Valtteri has worked out of the difficult races after the summer to finish the season like this, two pole positions and the final win of the year. It was simply his race today. As for Lewis, this has been the best performance I have seen in all five years working together – he has become more rounded as a character and just as impressive as a racer.”
Although Formula One is officially over for 2017, Wolff is already looking forward to next season, commenting that it will start on Tuesday for the team with the end of season tyre-testing.
“Although we had a strong result today, it’s not the time to pat ourselves on the back. 2018 begins on Tuesday with tyre testing so we must be sure to do our homework well this week and to keep pushing in the factories. We will enjoy this evening – but then get our heads down, push even harder and start preparing for the next challenge.“
