The 2020 season was profoundly shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed after the aborted Australian round, forcing a revised calendar. The Bahrain Grand Prix was moved to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix's original date, pushing the season finale back by two weeks. Due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in the UAE, organisers confirmed the race would take place behind closed doors.
Lewis Hamilton returned to the cockpit after having missed the previous round in Sakhir, where he had been replaced by Williams driver George Russell following a positive COVID-19 test. Hamilton was cleared to race after testing negative. Romain Grosjean, who had been injured in a fiery crash at the Bahrain Grand Prix, was replaced by Pietro Fittipaldi for a second successive race. Mick Schumacher drove for Haas in the first practice session in place of Kevin Magnussen, and Robert Kubica replaced Antonio Giovinazzi at Alfa Romeo Racing. The race marked the 100th Grand Prix start for Haas and the 400th for Renault.
Sebastian Vettel started his final race for Ferrari from thirteenth on the grid, with the team having announced his departure at the end of the season. This was also the final race as Racing Point for the Silverstone-based squad and as Renault for the Enstone team; both were rebranded for 2021, as Aston Martin and Alpine respectively.
Verstappen claimed pole position for the first time since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix and only the third time in his career. It was the only pole of the 2020 season achieved by a car not powered by a Mercedes engine, and the first time since 2013 that Mercedes had not taken pole at Yas Marina. Bottas and Hamilton qualified second and third, with Lando Norris fourth for McLaren, Alexander Albon fifth in the second Red Bull, and Carlos Sainz Jr. sixth.
Charles Leclerc received a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Sergio Pérez at the Sakhir Grand Prix. Pérez and Kevin Magnussen were required to start from the back of the grid for exceeding their power unit element quotas.
Verstappen led every lap from lights to flag. Bottas and Hamilton completed the podium with the top three finishing in grid order. Albon overtook Norris for fourth place, with Norris fifth ahead of teammate Sainz in sixth — results that secured McLaren third place in the Constructors' Championship, the team's best finish since 2012 and the first time since 2015 that a team outside Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull had finished in the top three. Racing Point's Sergio Pérez retired from ninth with a technical problem on lap 9, removing a threat to McLaren's constructors' position. Daniel Ricciardo took seventh for Renault and achieved the fastest lap, with Pierre Gasly eighth.
Kimi Räikkönen's Alfa Romeo finished twelfth, ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Vettel. Pietro Fittipaldi finished nineteenth and last, two laps down, in what proved to be his final Formula One start. The race was also the last for Daniil Kvyat, whose AlphaTauri contract was not renewed; he was replaced by Yuki Tsunoda for 2021.
Verstappen was pleased with the result but cautious about his team's prospects: he did not expect Red Bull to be title challengers in 2021, a prediction that proved incorrect when he won the Drivers' Championship that year. Hamilton acknowledged he was not feeling fully recovered from COVID-19 but was grateful to be racing. George Russell noted that readapting to the Williams after driving the Mercedes at Sakhir was considerably harder than the initial adjustment had been.
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