The 2019 World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, signed off in style with a dominant victory at the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, taking a lights-to-flag victory with ease.
The Mercedes driver, who has dominated the season, repeated that story on Sunday around the Yas Marina circuit as he led away from pole position on Lap 1 and immediately opened up a lead over the chasing pack.
Hamilton went unchallenged as he drove a relaxed race to take the chequered flag for the final time this year, winning his 11th race – more than half the events on the 2019 calendar.
Second placed was a more exciting battle as Red Bull's Max Verstappen initially lost position at the start to Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and managed to fight back to reclaim the position.
Leclerc opted for 'Plan C' and pitted for a second time in the hope fresh tyres would allow him to close up on Verstappen and recapture second place, but the Ferrari didn't have the pace and finished 26 seconds adrift.
Leclerc's podium remains under threat however as the stewards are investigating a pre-race fuel irregularity.
It was a largely uneventful race with the opening 18 laps without DRS due to a technical problem, which forced drivers to be imaginative in their overtakes – the few there were – with Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas making up the most positions after starting last following an engine change.
The Finn managed to climb up to fourth and finished less than a second behind Leclerc, having also made a late second stop for fresh rubber to try and catch and pass the Monegasque racer.
Sebastian Vettel's late overtake on Alex Albon handed the German fifth.
The last saw a flurry of action as Racing Point's Sergio Perez managed to pass McLaren's Lando Norris for seventh, relegating the rookie to eighth ahead of Daniil Kvyat.
Carlos Sainz took tenth with a last lap pass on Renault's Nico Hulkenberg, who also lost out to Daniel Ricciardo, to claim the final point, which proved crucial to his championship hopes as it promotes him to sixth – best of the rest – and above Toro Rosso/Red Bull driver Pierre Gasly.
