F1: 2020 season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – live!

Lap 16/55: Leclerc is overtaken again, by Stroll, but gets back within DRS range and swiftly overhauls back, to hold ninth.

Meanwhile Sainz is under investigation for driving too slowly in the pit lane, which would be a grievous blow to McLaren and a five-second penalty.

Lap 15/55: A fine overtake by Sainz of Leclerc puts Sainz up into eighth, as night falls over Yas Marina.

Lap 14/55: The two Mercedes are closer to Verstappen than they were now as racing resumes in earnest; this is a big test of nerve for the leader now. His advantage over Bottas is now just over a second, as he rallies to record the fastest lap so far.

Lap 13/55: If Albon can hold fourth, he moves up to sixth in the final championship standings. Hamilton in third still not happy with his car’s performance. The safety car’s about to end …

Lap 12/55: Phew. Time for a recap: 1 Verstappen 2 Bottas 3 Hamilton 4 Albon 5 Ricciardo 6 Norris 7 Vettel 8 Leclerc 9 Sainz 10 Stroll. The Mercedes, unlike most, have not pitted yet, nor has Ricciardo, but Vettel’s enjoying himself by the looks.

Hamilton’s a little disquieted too. “Car’s just not turning,” he says over the radio.

Lap 11/55: The top four all pitted there in fact, as did around half the race, and now the full safety car is out as they’ve not been able to shift Perez’s car off the track. There’s also a suspicion of oil on the track.

Verstappen and Bottas both go for an early pit stop, and Hamilton joins them, moving to medium compounds

Lap 10/55: Mechanical bother for Perez, the winner of the last race, who splutters to a halt in his last race for Racing Point. He looks devastated, if his gestures are owt to go by. Verstappen still leads.

Lap 9/55: A bold move by Gasly on Kvyatt down the back straight is rewarded and puts Gasly up to eighth.

Lap 8/55: Hamilton has closed the gap a little on Bottas, it’s now around four seconds. Stroll moves up into seventh.

Lap 7/55 A less eventful lap so here’s how they stand: 1 Verstappen 2 Bottas 3 Hamilton 4 Albon 5 Norris 6 Sainz 7 Kvyatt 8 Stroll 9 Gasly 10 Ricciardo

Lap 6/55: Red Bull look to have a power advantage here, though there’s a long way to go yet. At the back, Russell has been overtaken by Perez as Albon moves into fourth in that intriguing battle with Norris.

Lap 5/55: Verstappen hasn’t put a foot wrong so far, having got away well at the start, established a healthy lead down the straight and kept his pursuers at a decent distance. He leads by 2.5sec now

Lap 4/55: Norris and Albon is the closest battle up the top of the race so far, with the former maintaing a lead of around a second in fourth place.

Lap 3/55: Verstappen set an early fastest race lap on the second there, and is travelling well. He has just over two seconds on Bottas with Hamilton still third.

Lap 2/55: Magnusson and Russell move up at the back, to 17th and 16th respectively, while Gasly overhauls Ocon in ninth. Quite a bit of early overtaking action for this difficult track.

Lap 1/55: Verstappen handles that start well and gets some distance on the back straight; Bottas struggled initially but holds second. Vettel passes Leclerc further back.

Verstappen holds the lead at the first turn

The front three drivers are all starting on the medium tyres – we’re looking at a one-stop race for most today.

Some pre-race chat from Verstappen: “We a good lap yesterday and it’s nice to be on pole and now we need a very good race. I feel confident, I hope we can have a clean start and have a bit of fun out there.”

And then Hamilton: “I’m definitely feeling better today than I have done. It’s been an incredible year and season for us as a team, and I feel pretty chilled right now.” Of course he does

Knee-taking and anti-racism gestures completed before anthem-time in Abu Dhabi with the sun beginning to set.

Today also sees Sebastian Vettel’s last drive for Ferrari, for whom he won 14 GPs. “It will be emotional,” said the four-time world champion. “Especially with the mechanics, the guys in the garage. Obviously, in terms of results, it’s not really a high. So I’m looking forward to seeing the chequered flag.” Ferrari’s struggles have continued this season and they were off the pace again yesrterday, and Vettel’s back in 13th at the start, one behind his teammate Charles Leclerc.

How they line up on the grid:

1 Max Verstappen, Red Bull 2 Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes 3 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 4 Lando Norris, McLaren 5 Alexander Albon, Red Bull 6 Carlos Sainz, McLaren 7 Daniil Kvyat, AlphaTauri 8 Lance Stroll, Racing Point 9 Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri 10 Esteban Ocon, Renault 11 Daniel Ricciardo, Renault 12 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari 13 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 14 Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo 15 Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo 16 George Russell, Williams 17 Pietro Fittipaldi, Haas 18 Nicholas Latifi, Williams 19 Sergio Perez, Racing Point 20 Kevin Magnussen, Haas

Afternoon everyone. Only once in the past eight years has the final grand prix of the season had the drivers’ title riding on it, when Nico Rosberg held off Lewis Hamilton to clinch the championship in 2016, all of which has tended to give the Abu Dhabi race a slight Oval-Ashes-Test-in-the-90s vibe to it, a near-perpetual dead rubber. Such is the Hamilton supremacy, which seems to become more entrenched by the year, that the destination of the world title has of late been comfortably determined by this point.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a race worth watching this afternoon. Max Verstappen stealing through for pole yesterday gives us enticing looking front of the grid and lifted the hopes of Red Bull and Verstappen of a second race win of the season to add to their success in the 70th anniversary GP at Silverstone in August. And last week’s race, with its first-ever win for Sergio Perez and its foiled heroics of George Russell, was kind of fun too.

Hamilton meanwhile has ascended new heights in this strangest of years, and though he’ll have post-Covid grogginess to deal with today, you can’t rule anything out from him after a year in which he has transcended his sport, on and off the track, to the extent that even many non-petrolheads wouldn’t begrudge him a Sports Personality of the Year award next week.

Lights out 1.10pm!