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After a second half of the season full of twists, turns and plot twists, it was appropriate Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes rounded out the 2019 Formula 1 campaign by returning to dominant form in the Abu Dhabi finale.
To underline his advantage, Hamilton even nailed fastest lap with two laps remaining on well-worn hard Pirellis. This was a crushing, emphatic full stop to a season in which driver and team again demonstrated their supremacy, even when others were capable of going quicker.
That Ferrari's fuel use was catapulted back to front and centre by the pre-race bombshell that F1 technical delegate Jo Bauer had referred it to the stewards was also appropriate in a season blighted by suspicions over its engine advantage. This was because the FIA had discovered a "significant difference" between Ferrari's declaration of how much fuel there was in the car - a requirement since a lengthy technical directive was issued in February requiring teams do this and the means by which it would be measured - and the real amount in Charles Leclerc's Ferrari. The team was later fined €50,000 for under-declaring the fuel mass by 4.88kg - potentially 4.4% more energy on board relative to the 110kg in-race fuel limit.
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