13/12/2020
NEWS STORY
Valtteri finished the final race of the 2020 F1 season in second place, securing P2 in the Drivers' Championship. Lewis came home in P3, completing the double podium for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Lewis (347 points) finishes the 2020 F1 season on top of the drivers' standings with Valtteri (223 points) in P2. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team (573 points) concludes the season 254 points ahead of Red Bull Racing (319 points) in the Constructors' Championship.
Valtteri Bottas: Congratulations to Max and Red Bull on the win. They were just too quick today and we couldn't quite keep up with them. We expected the race pace to be quite equal heading into today, but they were able to really control the pace and build the gap when they needed to. From my side, though, it was a solid race with no mistakes and I think I extracted everything from our package. So, in that sense, it's been a good race, I finished ahead of my team-mate and it's nice to be back on the podium. A huge thank you and well done to the entire team on an amazing year. I'm really proud we could end the season with P1 and P2 in the Drivers' Championship; every single team member has done such an incredible job, so thank you very much. I still have a few commitments to do but then I'll have some time off over Christmas, and then a quick reset, some training and we start from zero again for next year. I'm looking forward to it.
Lewis Hamilton: Considering the past couple of weeks, I'm really happy with the weekend and to finish on the podium. Obviously, it's not as good as I'd have liked, but congratulations to Max and Red Bull, they were very quick today and deserved the win. This weekend they were just too far out of reach for us and we couldn't hold onto the pace they had. It was fantastic to see Alex right up there with us, too. From my side, that was a hard race, so I'm definitely glad that it's over. But on the bright side I made it through, and I didn't think last week that I'd even be here. So, I'm just grateful for my health and looking forward to recovering over the winter and getting back into training, to get my body back to where it should be. Finally, a huge thank you to the team for their continued support and hard work. They've done a great job all season long and it's fantastic to end the season with two podiums.
Toto Wolff: First of all, congratulations to Max and Red Bull; they were worthy winners today and the quickest combination this evening. Our drivers struggled with understeer all the way though the race, and we were losing a lot of time through Turns 5, 6 and 7 - and then in the final sector as well. We had strong performance on Friday, but then couldn't carry it through to qualifying or this evening; but as always, we will unpick the learnings and there will be good lessons in there to make us stronger next year. On track today, the positive was the performance from the drivers. Valtteri has had a tough few weekends, but he came back strongly here and got everything out of the car; I think maybe we have unlocked something for the future across this weekend, too. As for Lewis, we saw all his bravery and tenacity: to be back in the car less than two weeks after testing positive for COVID-19 proved his commitment to the team and the strength of his competitive desire.
The final race is also the right moment to take a step back and look at the season as a whole. Congratulations to everybody who has been involved in delivering a seventeen-race season that nobody would have thought possible just six months ago. For us at Mercedes, it has been a year of remarkable success and achievements that will live long in our memories; thank you to each and every team member who has contributed to an historic season. Although we have a break from racing for the next three months, our factories are working flat out on the new car and power unit, as well as preparing for the challenges of 2021. It will be a busy winter - and we are excited about the challenges ahead of us.
Andrew Shovlin: Well done to Max and Red Bull, they didn't let us get into the race this evening. He drove a very controlled race, they had the best car and deserved the win. To be honest, we'd expected a bit more from ourselves today; we thought we'd either have a small advantage on pace or be a bit better on degradation, but we didn't and it was a bit disappointing after a year where we have been strong at almost every track. However, whilst today wasn't the result we'd hoped for, we can reflect on the season as a whole and the team has done a great job, the drivers have done a great job and we've broken some records that we can be very proud of.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Yas Island, here.