Abu Dhabi's final reminder that 2022 is the year of Max Verstappen: F1 race report

The focus had been on Perez as Leclerc closed in but, frustratingly for Russell, a slow right rear delayed him in the pitbox and when he was released it was into the path of the pitting Norris, earning the Mercedes driver a five-second time penalty.

Sainz had already stopped to cover off any threat from Russell and by the time Leclerc was the last driver of the top six to come in for hard tyres — one lap after Verstappen — he had a six-lap offset to Perez.

It was Vettel who was last in for his first stop after complaining about the strategy to his team, with the Aston Martin slipping backwards before pitting on lap 25. At least he was getting a slightly wider berth from some drivers, so keen were they to see him see the finish.

“I could feel that a little bit with Fernando [Alonso] – he was very, very generous at the beginning of the race,” Vettel said. “After that the Saubers fought very hard because they wanted to defend the constructors’. It was a shame I was stuck behind Esteban in the beginning because I felt I had better deg, but then we stayed out way too long and lost so much time.”

Sadly for Alonso, his final race with Alpine would come to a premature end with a suspected water leak two laps after Vettel’s stop, opening up the potential for Aston Martin to snatch sixth in the constructors’ from Alfa Romeo as it moved Lance Stroll into the points.

The fight for second overall was hotting up, though with Leclerc using his tyre advantage to close in on Perez, who was complaining that Verstappen — two seconds up the road — was holding him up. Such pace had Red Bull worried, so when Ferrari told its driver to pit and do the opposite to Perez, it was the Mexican who came in for a second stop, releasing Leclerc with 25 laps remaining.

In all honesty, it wasn’t a classic, but then nor was a year ago until Nicholas Latifi crashed chasing Mick Schumacher. This time around, Schumacher clumsily ran into the back of Latifi at Turn 5 to threaten to bring the race to life, but fortunately the spin into the barriers saw both continue, and there was no need for race director intervention beyond a five-second time penalty for the Haas driver.

So the focus returned to Perez’s chase of Leclerc, as Red Bull assured its driver he would catch the Ferrari. But that didn’t take the also-one-stopping Hamilton into account, who was running third between them. With fewer than 15 laps to go, Perez closed in and overtook into Turn 6 but ran slightly deep, and Hamilton was able to use DRS to go round the outside into Turn 9 to regain the spot.

Perez was through a lap later, but it just bought Leclerc a bit more breathing space, with the gap needing to close by around a second per lap.

“The tyres are good,” Verstappen told his team via radio as he also attempted a one-stop race. “Just tell Checo to go full send, the tyres will be fine.”

Full send then came from Stroll who cleared first Vettel and then Daniel Ricciardo, pushing his team-mate out of the points. That was until Hamilton slowed with a hydraulics issue, retiring from fourth and promoting Vettel once again.

No race interruptions were needed but Perez was running out of time. The gap was 5.4sec with six laps to go, then 4.6sec, then 3.7sec, then 2.8sec… It looked like coming down to the last corner until Perez was held up by Pierre Gasly — racing Alex Albon and Zhou Guanyu — to halt his momentum and he fell just over a second short.

“It’s how this sport really works,” Perez said. “You know, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Today I think Ferrari and Charles did a fantastic race. They have great tyre management. And they were stronger than us, especially on that first stint. I died towards the end. And that made it a little bit tricky, our strategy.

“And it was that second stint, while I was behind Max. Max was on a one-stop, I was on a two-stop, and then I ended-up not being able to maximise this stint, and I couldn’t push as much as we should have pushed on that second stint. But at the end of the day, we gave it all. And that’s what really matters.”

For Leclerc, it was at least a tiny consolation at the end of a season that had promised so much. And perhaps the biggest positive, credit where it’s due, was the Ferrari strategy that also ensured second in the constructors’ championship was confirmed ahead of Mercedes.

“I think today was a really, really perfect execution from our side,” Leclerc said. “I don’t think we had the pace of the Red Bulls still, and our goal from the beginning was to try and push Checo to do something different, which we did perfectly. And with a great tyre management, we made the one-stop work, which eventually got us the second place.”

Of course, it didn’t carry anywhere near the amount of tension as a title fight, and last year’s two contenders had contrasting nights. Hamilton was pleased the season was over after retiring – “it summed up my whole year” — while Verstappen extended his record for the most wins in a single season with a comfortable display.

“It was all about tyre management,” Verstappen admitted. “I think we looked after the mediums quite well. And then on the hard tyres it was literally managing from lap one to the end, but incredible, to win again here and 15th win of the season is unbelievable.

“It’s been really enjoyable to work with the whole team and to be able to achieve something like this this year. I know it’s going to be hard to replicate something like this. But it’s also very good motivation to try and do well again next year.”

Not everyone has the same view as many drivers are moving on. Vettel bowed out with tenth place behind Ricciardo, the two crossing the line just 0.6sec apart. With Stroll in eighth, Ricciardo’s defence secured sixth in the constructors’ for Alfa Romeo courtesy of Valtteri Bottas’s fifth place in Imola, as one more point would have been enough for Aston.

It was almost as nervy for Haas as it was never in contention for points and AlphaTauri came close with Yuki Tsunoda in 11th, but in the end it was Guenther Steiner’s team who held on for eighth overall by two points.

In the end, despite so many close battles through the year, all of the main positions remained unchanged, as Alpine retained fourth ahead of McLaren despite Norris coming home a solid sixth ahead of Ocon.

But it’s the battle that wasn’t close when all of the points are tallied up that stands out, as Verstappen’s 15th victory saw him win the title by 146 points. It’s a year that will take something remarkable for the Dutchman and Red Bull to replicate.