Formula 1 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as it happened - Verstappen wins final race of season

Verstappen takes the chequered flag! Red Bull end their season on a high as the Dutchman leads from start to finish! Mercedes just couldn't get close to Verstappen. Bottas takes P2, Hamilton P3. McLaren also clinch third place in the constructors' championship.

This hasn't been the best of races, but we're into the final five laps and Verstappen is surely going to bring it home for Red Bull.

Leclerc gets a black and white flag and that had been coming. He's now been wide three times resulting in the deletion of six lap times. It's been a difficult final race of the season for Leclerc. He's out of the points as things stand.

"You can turn the engine down now if you want to," says Verstappen on the Red Bull team radio. That is a sign of confidence from the Dutchman who is edging closer and closer to an impressive race victory.

This has been a strange race from Mercedes so far. They just don't have the pace to truly get anywhere close to Verstappen. Barring a mistake or a technical issue, this victory is in the bag for Verstappen. There's no catching him.

Red Bull have been on the team radio telling Verstappen they believe Mercedes will pit one of their cars between now and the edge of the race. Is that right? What evidence do they have to support that prediction? Bit strange.

This has been a remarkably straightforward race for Verstappen. Sure, he deserves great credit for maintaining his pace and managing his tyres well, but the Mercedes of Bottas and Hamilton just haven't been able to get anywhere near the Red Bull.

Ricciardo box, box! The Australian comes in after a very good stint on the hard tyres. That has worked out well for Ricciardo in what is his final race for Renault. Can he finish his season on a positive note? Ricciardo is going to McLaren for the 2021 season.

It's official - this race is now boring...

Hamilton is reporting he has a flat spot on one of his tyres. Might that make things interesting for the final 20 laps? Please, something make it interesting!

Moving into the final phase of the race and there's still not a great deal happening. As things stand, McLaren would claim third place in the constructors' championship. That is something to keep an eye on. Verstappen looks to be in control of this one.

Now Gasly passes Vettel! The Frenchman is on a charge at the moment and having got past Stroll, he passes Vettel and is moving through the midfield and up through the points. A very good drive from him.

Another bold Gasly move! The AlphaTauri dives down the inside of Stroll and takes P9 from the Racing Point. On a track that is notoriously difficult to overtake on, Gasly has provided some entertainment and something to talk about.

Verstappen and Hamilton both say they doubt the tyres they are currently on will last until the end of the race. That could shake up the strategy of both drivers.

That's not what Racing Point needed! Stroll locks up as he attempts to apply the pressure on Vettel, but he gets it all wrong and ends up in the run-off. Stroll manages to main his track position, though.

Ferrari pull in Leclerc and he's on to the hard compound tyres. Leclerc comes out at the back of the pack, but he is still in the mix for points this afternoon. Vettel is still ahead of his teammate, though. Ending his time at Ferrari on a high?

It must be said, this hasn't been the most compelling of races so far. The Yas Marina Circuit is widely criticised for its lack of overtaking opportunities and we have seen that this afternoon.

Sainz and Leclerc have engaged in some wheel-to-wheel action in the early stages of this race. That is a duel between two drivers who will be teammates for Ferrari next season!

Stroll takes P9 from Leclerc, but it didn't last long and the Ferrari uses his DRS to go back around the outside of the Racing Point and we are back where we started.

The Safety Car comes in and we are racing again! That spell has bunched up the cars and Verstappen has to re-establish himself as the runaway leader of this race. The Mercedes have struggled to keep pace with the Dutchman in the first phase.

They haven't been able to move Perez's car off the track and so we are behind a full Safety Car! It appears there is some oil on the track and so that could well be the problem.

Box, box! Almost every team is using this opportunity to shift their cars on to fresh tyres. Mercedes doing the double stack again! That didn't exactly work so well for them last weekend!

Virtual Safety Car! In what could be his last race in F1, Perez has had to stop and that is his afternoon over. What happened there? It was a technical fault of some sort. The engine completely went on him. There was nothing Perez could do about that.

Fantastic move! It's another brilliant overtake from Gasly as he gets past Kvyat into P8. Gasly is released and he's moving through the midfield very impressively.

"Now show us your pushing level, start to close that gap," comes the message over the Mercedes team radio to Bottas. Riki wants Bottas to push Verstappen at the head of the pack.

Friends competing! Albon gets past Norris, then Norris comes back at Albon, but Albon keeps the place and has fourth place under his belt. Of course, Albon's seat at Red Bull is widely seen as under threat heading into the 2021 season.

We have seen Leclerc and Vettel engage in a few battles over the last two seasons and there might be another brewing here. Leclerc is having a good look at his outgoing teammate!

Frenchman on Frenchman! Gasly dives down the inside of Ocon on the heavy braking and takes P9. That was very nice from the AlphaTauri. This is a difficult track to overtake on. You need to be brave!

It hasn't been a great start by Leclerc as his teammate Vettel gets past him. The four-times world champion will be hoping for a good final race in the Scuderia. It's been a poor year for Ferrari. Can they end it on a high?

Verstappen gets away well! All 20 cars get around the opening lap and Verstappen has a good lead. Bottas still in P2 and Hamilton behind him, although Bottas struggled off the line AGAIN!

The drivers are off on their formation lap. What wil the final race of the 2020 season have in store for us? Can Verstappen convert his pole position? Will Valtteri Bottas shut up his critics by taking the chequered flag?

It's been a good year for Lando Norris. He has built on an impressive rookie season and has achieved some good results for McLaren. He will have a new teammate in Daniel Ricciardo next season. The Lando-Carlos Sainz bromance comes to an end today. It's been something!

It's time for the national anthem down on the track. The drivers observe F1's 'End Racism' campaign for one last time this season. That will be one of the memorable things of 2020 in the sport. F1's messaging on the Black Lives Matter movement has been mixed, at best. Must do better.

This might also be the last we see of Sergio Perez for quite some time. The Mexican has enjoyed an excellent season, picking up his first ever race victory in Bahrain last weekend, but he doesn't have a seat in a car for next season. There is still speculation about a potential switch to Red Bull, though...

It's day for eras ending. Sebastian Vettel is racing in a Ferrari for the final time. The German is leaving the Scuderia after the end of the 2020 season and is making the move to Racing Point. Vettel was unable to find his best form for Ferrari, but he is still renowned as one of the best drivers in the sport.

Of course, the main storyline that caught the imagination last weekend in Bahrain was George Russell filling in for Lewis Hamilton, who was missing through Covid-19, for Mercedes. Russell came close to pulling off a sensational race victory, but he suffered some terrible luck. There was a chance Russell could have been racing for Mercedes again today, but Hamilton is back and the youngster is back at Williams.

Good afternoon and welcome to Eurosport's LIVE coverage of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix! It's the final race of the 2020 Formula 1 season. Who will end it on a high? Max Verstappen has pole position, but the two Silver Arrows are behind him in P2 and P3. Ominious.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen seized his first pole position of the year in the last qualifying session of the Formula One season in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Valtteri Bottas qualified alongside the Dutch driver on the front row for Mercedes, with seven times world champion Hamilton qualifying third on his return from a one-race absence due to Covid-19.

It's the first time in the modern turbo hybrid era that Mercedes have failed to secure pole at Yas Marina.

Verstappen's display around the 5.5km long lap earned him only the third pole of his career and his first since last year's Brazilian Grand Prix.

It was only the second time Mercedes had been denied pole this season and the first time all year that a non-Mercedes powered car will start from the front, with Lance Stroll having started on pole for Mercedes-engined Racing Point in Turkey. It ended the Brackley-based team's streak of six straight pole positions in Abu Dhabi.

"Mega, mega lap," team boss Christian Horner told Verstappen on the radio. "That's the first non-Mercedes pole this year."

Verstappen was delighted at the end of a difficult season.

"The whole year when you're behind, getting closer it's getting sometimes a bit frustrating," the 23-year-old said. "Very, very pleased with today."