ABU DHABI -- Valtteri Bottas won in Formula One's dead-rubber finale, a race which signified not only the end of the season but the end of the series as we know it.... Here are the main talking points from 2017's finale.
Not-so-shocking: A drab race at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina circuit, which has everything an F1 venue could ask for except from a good circuit. Its facilities are some of the best (if not the best) on the calendar but it's remarkable that, effectively given a clean sheet of paper, circuit chiefs produced a track which rarely creates an entertaining spectacle. Let's hope next season's finale at Yas Marina has the sort of tense title showdown the venue and the sport deserves.
Shocker: Renault had a lot riding on the result of the race but didn't help its own cause very much. Having struggled to fit Nico Hulkenberg's right-rear tyre at his sluggish pit stop, the team then failed to fit Carlos Sainz's front-left correctly as he left the box for his own. Despite preventing his car from slamming into the wall in the pit lane Sainz didn't get much further -- fortunately for Renault, it still managed to jump Toro Rosso for sixth.
End of an era: The final race of 2017 represents the last time we'll see a few things. Veteran driver Felipe Massa has called time on his career but it's fair to say F1 will literally never look the same again. Not only is it the last time we see cars without cockpit protection, ahead of the introduction of Halo next year, F1 also used the podium ceremony to introduce a new logo -- replacing the iconic 'Flying 1' -- ahead of a significant rebrand planned for the 2018 season. Watch this space, F1 is going to look very different next year.
Midfield battle: There might not be many fingernails left at Renault, but the French manufacturer just managed to overhaul Toro Rosso for sixth position in the championship. Toro Rosso and Haas, the only other two teams in that fight, failed to finish with either car in the top ten meaning Nico Hulkenberg's sixth position was enough to settle it.
Best battle: Romain Grosjean and Lance Stroll's battle for 13th in the opening stint was brilliant. In a battle which lasted several laps, Grosjean hounded Stroll and nearly made it stick on lap 9, only to be thwarted by two excellent pieces of defensive driving by the Williams rookie.
Not to be denied, Grosjean finally got by on the 12th lap, going wheel-to-wheel with Stroll for most of the middle sector and making it stick out of the second chicane. Fair and clean racing from both drivers.
Driver of the day: Valtteri Bottas has been a man under pressure for a while but he delivered in fine style to round off the season with a win. Though we will never know the extent of how much they were actually racing, he spent much of the race under pressure from Lewis Hamilton and held firm -- a perfect way to silence some of his doubters and go into 2018 ready to launch a proper title challenge.