The season finale was expected to be a Red Bull washout, but it turns out it was an even better race for Ferrari despite Max Verstappen winning again quite comfortably for a record 15th race win of the season. Charles Leclerc and Ferrari needed not just a P2 for the driver, but they had to ensure that both cars were finished ahead of the Mercedes duo and the Monegasque had the prickly task of overhauling the fast Red Bull of Sergio Perez which had qualified ahead of him in P2. Leclerc and Ferrari managed both via canny strategy something many believed was the weak point of the team and some solid race pace and reliability issues for Mercedes.
Leclerc managed to overtake Perez by doing a one-stop race much like Verstappen, but this also meant he ran the risk of being on old tyres at the end of the race and being exposed to a rapid Red Bull, but Perez only managed to come within 1.3 seconds of the scarlet car. For Mercedes, this was a race to forget as Hamilton and Russell couldn’t capitalise on their early pace.
Hamilton first had to give back a position to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz after a track limits violation and then found himself struggling for performance which eventually culminated in retirement at the fag end of the race. Russell spent most of the race behind the Ferrari and never really had the chance to challenge the red cars and finished P5.
Lando Norris again impressed in the McLaren for P6 as he finished ahead of Esteban Ocon in the Alpine, but this wasn’t enough to secure P4 in the championship something which the Alpine team snagged from McLaren despite the retirement of Fernando Alonso who moves to Aston Martin next year. Lance Stroll managed P9 ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the other McLaren. Stroll’s teammate, Sebastian Vettel who retires after this race managed to finish in the points in P10, but this wasn’t enough for Aston Martin to snatch P6 in the constructor’s championship from Alfa Romeo.
Yuki Tsunoda was the lead AlphaTauri in P11 ahead of Guanyu Zhou in the Alfa Romeo. Alex Albon managed P13 in the Williams while his outgoing teammate Nicholas Latifi retired in his last race for the team. Pierre Gasly who was also in his last race for AlphaTauri managed to finish just in P14. Valtteri Bottas managed P15 ahead of Mick Schumacher who was also in his last race for the Haas team. His teammate Kevin Magnussen finished 17th and was the last car to finish the race.
Pos. | No | Driver | Team | Lap | Gap | Points |
1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 58 | 1:27:45.914 | 25 |
2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 58 | 8.771s | 18 |
3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 58 | 10.093s | 15 |
4 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 58 | 24.892s | 12 |
5 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 58 | 35.888s | 10 |
6 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 58 | 56.234s | 9 |
7 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 58 | 57.240s | 6 |
8 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 58 | 76.931s | 4 |
9 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 58 | 83.268s | 2 |
10 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 58 | 83.898s | 1 |
11 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AphaTauri | 58 | 89.371s | 0 |
12 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 57 | 1 lap | 0 |
13 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 57 | 1 lap | 0 |
14 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 57 | 1 lap | 0 |
15 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 57 | 1 lap | 0 |
16 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 57 | 1 lap | 0 |
17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 57 | 1 lap | 0 |
18 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 55 | DNF | 0 |
19 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 55 | DNF | 0 |
20 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 27 | DNF | 0 |
