Tom Clarkson
BBC Radio 5 live sports extra commentator in Abu Dhabi

DRS really helps around here. There are those two long straights.

If you get a good run out of the hairpin at the start of the lap, you have a good chance of overtaking.

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1. Bottas, 2. Hamilton, 3. Vettel, 4. Ricciardo, 5. Raikkonen, 6. Verstappen, 7. Hulkenberg, 8. Perez, 9. Ocon, 10. Massa, 11. Alonso, 12. Sainz, 13. Vandoorne, 14. Magnussen, 15. Stroll, 16. Grosjean, 17. Gasly, 18. Wehrlein, 19. Ericsson, 20. Hartley.

Uncle Yusuf‏: Last race of the season. Let’s hope it’s a befitting climax to an already eventful season.

Let's hope so!

Image source, Reuters

No-one can ever deny Lewis Hamilton's commitment to the cause.

He was trying so hard in the Spanish Grand Prix, a race he would go on to win, that he just could not find any words to describe it. That's why he's the world champion. Well, that and being an awesome racing driver.

Can any of these drivers finish in the points today?

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This is how it stands in the top 10 in the drivers' championship.

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BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Williams driver Felipe Massa speaking ahead of his final race before retiring: "I am looking forward to the race. It is the only thing in my mind.

"Hopefully we can celebrate the race after with a good result. It is a great moment."

We have just seen a spectacular flyby in Abu Dhabi.

Jeremiah Kariuki‏: What a colourful and splendid flypast by those colour smoking aircraft!

You're driving around for nearly two hours at 200mph and you can only hear from your engineer. So it can get a bit lonely when that voice vanishes.

That's what happened to Lewis Hamilton at the Hungarian GP as he lost contact with engineer Pete Bonnington.

"This radio stuff sucks," moaned Hamilton when contact was returned. "It's all a bit rubbish at the moment," was the rather sheepish response from Bonnington.

Abu Dhabi is not normally the place you would see bobble hats. But Force India decided to be a bit different.

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BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Sam Allardyce is at the grand prix!

"I am far too big to be a racing driver," the ex-England football manager told BBC Radio 5 live sports extra.

"It is very exciting to be here. I came to this one last year and had a wonderful time and couldn't wait to get back even if there is nothing on the race.

"Who would give this up to go back into football?"

Ocon v Perez was not the only lively team rivalry this season, as Max Verstappen, of Red Bull, took out Daniel Ricciardo, er, also of Red Bull, during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

"Sore loser" was the second half of Ricciardo's response. The first half was less friendly.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Yas Marina

Image source, Getty Images

Robert Kubica is not the only driver in with a chance at Williams - Russian Sergey Sirotkin, Renault’s reserve driver, is also taking part in the test, and also in the frame, joining Sauber’s Pascal Wehrlein, ex-Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat and reserve driver Paul Di Resta.

“Sergey is somebody we haven’t done any work with before, so he’s a new prospect we’re looking at and we’ll see where that takes us - whether it’s short term or longer term,” Lowe said. “I think he's an interesting driver - we were talking to his management and we like his profile.”

The meaning is clear between the lines. Williams really want someone with experience and proven quality to support Lance Stroll, who continues to struggle at the end of his rookie season.

It will be Kubica unless something dramatic happens in the test, and Sirotkin could well have a role as a reserve driver or Friday practice driver. As for Di Resta, Kvyat and Wehrlein, Lowe says Williams have plenty of data on them from their racing careers - although Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said he thought Wehrlein's hopes were “tiny”.

BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner: "I am hopeful and reasonably confident we should have a better race car (than qualifying).

"Mercedes will be in their own race, Ferrari we might be able to have a go at.

"All gloves are off in this last grand prix. I hope for people at home it will be an exciting one."

Tom Clarkson
BBC Radio 5 live sports extra commentator in Abu Dhabi

The confidence is building with Valtteri Bottas now. He has had a torrid time, particularly since the summer break.

It was a real shot in the arm to get pole in Brazil two weeks ago and has carried that momentum into this week.

On the face of it this is a dead rubber but it is so important. Whatever momentum you can build in this Grand Prix you can carry through the winter months.

McLaren's Fernando Alonso getting a bit moody with the team. Wait, haven't we already done this one?

An agitated Alonso was heard at the United States Grand Prix wondering just what the plans were for the rest of the race.

"It would be nice to know what strategy they were doing." "Plan B" was the message, which was clearly to not finish the race because of an engine problem.

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We are live on BBC Radio 5 sports extra right now with live commentary and you can listen along by pressing the play button at the top of the page.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Yas Marina

Image source, Getty Images

Daniel Ricciardo was clearly thrilled to qualify fourth - not just because splitting the Ferraris, but also because he beat team-mate Max Verstappen, which will have given him a fillip going into the winter after a season in which the Dutchman has beaten the Australian at a ratio of nearly two to one on Saturday afternoon.

“I was happy with that,” Ricciardo said. “I thought we had the pace and I would have been disappointed if we couldn’t show it. I really thought if I put a good lap together we could sneak ahead of at least one Ferrari. Seb had a bit too much, but I was happy to get Kimi. Nice way to close out the year, hasn’t been the perfect year in terms of qualifying, in terms of what I expect from myself, but it was nice to finish with a good lap.”

His race pace was not as strong as that of Mercedes or Ferrari in Friday practice, but Ricciardo is hoping he might be able to get into the fight for a podium. Verstappen was more than 0.3secs back in sixth after a weekend spent complaining about poor balance. He is expecting a difficult race.

Max Verstappen has posted a message on Twitter, and he starts off in sixth place, but hoping for another good race, after coming inside the top five in each of the past five races.

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Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer at Yas Marina

Strategy? A sure-fire one-stop unless something dramatic changes. One engineer joked that they would do a non-stop on the ‘super-soft’ if they could, as it would be the fastest race and the tyre would easily do the distance, but of course the rules prevent it.

Even the so-called “ultra-soft” tyre will do the majority of the race if needed.