Oliver Rowland (DAMS) has won his third feature race win of the season at the Yas Marina Cirucit, Abu Dhabi. He is followed by Artem Markelov (RUSSIAN TIME) and Antonio Fuoco (PREMA Racing) completes the podium.
Good start for pole sitter Artem Markelov, who stays in the lead after turn 1. He is followed by Nyck de Vries, both keeping their starting grid position. While Oliver Rowland got up to third position, in front of Ghiotto, Nato and Matsushita. Both Prema lost positions at the start, with Leclerc in 7th and Fuoco 8th. Further back, Roberto Mehri and Nabil Jeffri bot stalled on the grid.
After 5 laps Charles Leclerc, who started on the harder compound, was already up in 4th. De Vries, who was also running that compound, took the lead away from Markelov, while Leclerc managed to take 3rd position from Rowland. Both Markelov and Rowland then decided to pit, the latter one managing to pass the Russian one lap later.
When Nyck de Vries made a mistake while in the lead, Leclerc took advantage to take the position and he quickly made up a gap of 6 seconds between them. Both drivers then waited until 7 laps from the end to pit, to take full advantage of the fresh tyres. Leclerc came out 3rd, while de Vries came out 5th, although he quickly took 4th from Antonio Fuoco. At 5 laps from the end, the gap between Leclerc and race leader Rowland was 14 seconds.
In the end, the alternative tyre strategy from Leclerc and de Vries didn’t work out as well as expected. Leclerc had to settle for 4th, after giving a free place to teammate Antonio Fuoco. While de Vries had to settle for 6th, finishing behind Ghiotto.
Rowland dominates the race until the end topping it with a beautiful win, finishing in front of Markelov. Fuoco completes the podium, followed by teammate Leclerc. Ghiotto, de Vries, Latifi, Matsushita, Albon and King complete the top 10.