ABU DHABI -- The main talking points from qualifying from the final race of the 2017 season, where Valtteri Bottas beat teammate and new world champion Lewis Hamilton to the final pole position of the year.
Shock: Lewis Hamilton has looked like the Mercedes driver to beat all weekend but it was teammate Valtteri Bottas, (who has endured a difficult second half of the season, to say the least) who stole it at the end. It's his second pole in a row after Brazil, where Hamilton spun out in Q1, but beating the new four-time world champion in a straight fight in Q3 will be a welcome boost for the Finn going into Sunday's race and into the long months of F1's off-season.
Shocker: Kimi Raikkonen really should have secured a lockout of the second row for Ferrari, but he was knocked down to fifth in the closing seconds by Daniel Ricciardo. Though Red Bull looked like it could be in the mix during FP2 on Friday evening, Raikkonen had looked to be in good form and his Ferrari really shouldn't have come under pressure from the former world champions. The Finn was only beaten by a fraction of a second but it's probably a fitting final qualifying session of 2017 for a driver who has struggled to maximise the performance of his car on a consistent basis.
Felipe farewell: Assuming we don't have another remarkable series of events this winter to coax him out of retirement again, Felipe Massa has now completed his final qualifying session in an F1 weekend. The Brazilian acquitted himself very well, turning in a good lap late in Q2 to progress to the top-ten shootout. He'll start 10th on the grid for his final race.
Advantage Renault: Renault comes into the final race of the season knowing it needs to out-score Toro Rosso by five points to claim sixth in the championship. Nico Hulkenberg delivered a strong performance to qualify seventh, though Carlos Sainz was uncharacteristically below par and will line up 12th. Both Toro Rossos were eliminated in Q1, so will need to fight through the field for points. Keep your eye on that fight tomorrow, it could get very tense indeed...
Burnout, anyone?: It's been a long F1 campaign and, for the most part, a thoroughly enjoyable one with the resurgence of Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton's title fight with Sebastian Vettel. But with the title fight now over, it was a hard qualifying session to really get excited for. If Abu Dhabi's media centre was anything to go by, that feeling was shared by a fair few others -- a flat atmosphere lingered, occasionally broken by muffled oooohs and aaaahs at different points. Another reminder that F1 would enter dangerous territory if Liberty Media ever came good on its promise to expand the calendar in future.
Star of the session: This has to be Bottas. For much of the last few months he's been in the shadow of his teammate but he emerged in spectacular fashion in Abu Dhabi. Lots of drivers play down the importance of momentum in Formula One but don't underestimate how much Bottas needed this -- although converting into a win on Sunday evening remains an absolute must for car No. 77.