Hamilton laments lack of overtaking chances in Abu Dhabi

Lewis Hamilton has been forced to settle for second place behind Mercedes team-mate Valterri Bottas in the final race of the 2017 Formula 1 season and blamed the lack of overtaking opportunities at the Yas Marina circuit.

Having sealed up the F1 World Drivers' Championship in Mexico, Hamilton has failed to take a win since with a qualifying crash in Brazil forcing him to start from the pit lane while in Abu Dhabi he could not take pole position and remained stuck behind Bottas all race.

Hamilton says he 'gave it everything' during the race but was still unable to overtake his teammate on the way to Bottas' third ever F1 win.

“Big congratulations to Valtteri, he did an amazing job today to hold me off but it was a great race, I just gave it everything, every single lap,” Hamilton said.

In the cool-down room, Hamilton was heard saying changes needed to be made to the track to make it more possible to overtake. In theory, a car would need to be 1.4 seconds per lap quicker than the one in front in order to do so - a gap that didn't exist between the Mercedes teammates.

“It’s very hard to overtake here so once you get to the last sector, I struggled a little bit but I gave it everything.”

Aside from Daniel Ricciardo’s retirement from the Abu Dhabi race all of the top eight drivers effectively finished in their starting positions while the Yas Marina circuit has typically held races where overtaking has proven difficult to pull off.