However, the famous surname has also been making headlines due to 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti, who’s title-winning Lotus 79 chassis number four is going to be sold at auction.

The famous car will be sold live at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by Bonhams, with the car expected to fetch a staggering £5.25-£7.68 million.

Andretti’s car is worth a sensational amount due to it being the only existing F1 car to have won the title with an American driver behind the wheel, with Phil Hill’s 1961 championship-winning Ferrari believed to have been destroyed.

READ: Ferrari boss says he’ll ‘argue in front of the FIA’ with Toto Wolff

The beautiful car was powered by a 3.0-litre Ford-Cosworth DFV V8 engine, with the Lotus 79 having been virtually unbeatable.

Andretti claimed five victories once the British automaker introduced the Lotus 79, after using their 1977 car, the Lotus 78, for the opening five rounds of the season.

When the Lotus 79 was introduced, Andretti claimed victory in Belgium, Spain, France, Germany and Netherlands, whilst he retired in Sweden, Great Britain, Austria and the United States.  

The auction house’s global director of motorsport, Mark Osborne, “vividly remembers” watching the truly iconic car, with the 1978 season having been what got him “hooked” on the pinnacle of motorsport.

READ: McLaren explain the significance of a ‘fire up’ ahead of 2023 car launch

“I vividly remember, as a boy, being perched on the edge of my seat watching the ‘Mario and Ronnie Train’ of Colin Chapman’s beautiful black and gold cars dominating the 1978 Formula 1 World Championship with victory after victory,” said Osborne.

“I have been hooked on Formula 1 ever since. This car, 79/4 or JPS22 as the sponsors preferred, ticks every conceivable box. From its ‘Superstar’ driver and crown-clinching Grand Prix success to its JPS livery and pivotal trend-setting innovation, Mario’s Championship winner from 1978 stands not only as one of the most significant cars of the 3.0-litre F1 era, but of Formula 1 itself.”

The 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix takes place November 24-26 at the Yas Marina Circuit.

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Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain all featured in the season just gone, while Qatar also made its debut in 2021, as the sport grows more and more across all parts of the globe.

Major events in the Middle East usually come with their controversies, with some fans disagreeing with Formula One’s decision to race in countries with primitive views, such as the illegality of homosexuality.

Lewis Hamilton wore a rainbow helmet in protest of the prosecution of homosexuals in Qatar last year, and with the FIFA World Cup currently being hosted in the same country, the same argument has once again come to the fore.

READ: ‘Toto’: Christian Horner attempts odd joke at Mercedes boss

Teams have been strongly advised against wearing rainbow armbands in support of the One Love campaign, while the deaths of migrant workers who build the stadiums to host the matches have seemingly been swept under the carpet by Qatari officials.

Toto Wolff has been asked for his thoughts surrounding football’s biggest tournament being hosted in a country with such issues, and has put somewhat of a positive spin on sport being hosted in the Middle East.

“I’m still of the belief that when you have such a big sporting even in a country, it puts the spotlight on that country,” explained Wolff.

“I think that can trigger change, because things can’t be hidden any more, and that’s the kind of positive that I think a sport can do. Things are being addressed.

“Is it like we want it to be? No. Is it the kind of cultural standards that we have in Europe? Maybe not.”

Wolff has suggested that change is already happening as a result of Formula One’s increased involvement in the Middle East.

READ: Billionaire says Mercedes deserve more credit for Lewis Hamilton’s success

“Where we go, and the people I speak to, I see process and I see change. That’s maybe because we are Formula 1, where we go may be different, but I see that we have an impact,” he told reporters.

“I can’t judge the football. I read the newspapers and the headlines. We can just try, where we go to show our presence, to interact with the leadership, and not to hide away.”

Formula 1 will remain involved with the Middle East for the foreseeable, after F1 extended their deal to race in Bahrain until 2036 earlier this year.

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The German has had a stellar career in F1, winning four back to back drivers’ championships with Red Bull before spells with Ferrari and Aston Martin.

The 35-year-old has been begged to reconsider his decision to retire after he rolled back the years in the final rounds of the season with a succession of ‘Driver of the Day’ performances.

Vettel took part in the traditional donuts on the grid with the top three drivers after the race and delivered a heartfelt retirement speech to the fans, in which he reflected on his illustrious career.

READ: ‘I will use it’: Max Verstappen not planning change for 2023

Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle has now given the disappointing opinion that he does not think Vettel will ever return to race in Formula 1, after reading into the Germans speech after the Grand Prix.

“I do remember a quite emotional interview with Fernando Alonso on the grid in Abu Dhabi 2018 as he was saying farewell, and he’s just signed a new two-year agreement taking him to at least the end of 2024… but there was more of a finality about Seb’s words and actions suggesting he won’t be back on the grid,” argued Brundle.

“In a German interview, he said that he would be disappointed if he did feel the need to come back because then he would likely have failed on what he plans to do next.”

A late retirement from Lewis Hamilton saw Vettel move up into P10 in the final race of the season, ensuring that the German bowed out of Formula 1 on a high.

Vettel has had a villain to hero character arc in Formula 1, initially having his haters for challenging British hero Hamilton, before showing his true side and maturing with age to become one of the most loved drivers on the grid.

READ: Lewis Hamilton drops retirement hint as he opens up on family ambition

“Like us all, he has mellowed of course but he’s always had that classic ‘old head on young shoulders’ demeanour and has been a pleasure to encounter and interview over those 15 seasons,” said Brundle in a touching tribute.

“He’s a class act as a driver and as a person and that’s why everyone had come to admire and respect him. My personal favourite was when he felt cheated with a penalty at the end of the 2019 Canadian GP and he moved the 1^st and 2^nd finisher boards around in parc ferme. Classic.”

The 35-year-old has said that he wants to focus his energy and free time on his family, which makes him unlikely to return to Formula 1 any time soon.

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Instead of Max Verstappen, this time it was Carlos Sainz who forced the 37-year-old off of the track, this time making contact in the process.

Hamilton was launched up into the air as he went over the raised kerb at the chicane, similar to his incident with Fernando Alonso in Spa, but unlike his battle with the Alpine driver he was not forced to retire as an immediate result of the airtime.

With only a few laps to go in the Grand Prix, the seven-time world champion was forced to retire from the race, which led to some fans to speculate whether Hamilton’s collision with Sainz had worse long term effects than initially feared.

READ: Max Verstappen breaks silence on him ‘forcing’ Sergio Perez out of Red Bull

Mercedes have now addressed the suggestions that Sainz was the cause of their driver’s retirement, suggesting that it was a mechanical failure rather than damage.

“There was surprisingly little damage from that first lap incident,” explained James Vowles.

“The bib, the area under the car did take a massive impact as a result of it and that won’t be good. The front wing endplate again had a knock, but generally speaking it was fine aerodynamically.

“What happened at the end of the race is actually a loss of hydraulic pressure and had not relation or no bearing to that first lap incident.”

READ: Team boss set to replace Mattia Binotto refuses to deny Ferrari move

In an attempt to positively reflect on Hamilton’s retirement, it was the first time in the 2022 season that a Mercedes car had been forced to retire because of a mechanical failure, which becomes an even more impressive statistic when you consider that Fernando Alonso was forced to retire from six races himself.

Hamilton has said that he is happy to see the back of the W13, with his 2022 car giving him no end of problems over the course of the season, and very rarely having the pace to challenge the front runners of Red Bull and Ferrari.

As the 37-year-old chases his record breaking eighth world title, Hamilton will be hoping that his team can provide him with a car capable of challenging Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc on a regular basis.

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The 35-year-old ended the season with a flurry of ‘Driver of the Day’ awards after rolling back the years at multiple race weekends.

The season finale was no different with Vettel making it all the way through to Q3 in his Aston Martin, before coming home in P10 to score a point for his team despite an ineffective strategy choice.

Fernando Alonso joked before the race that he would allow his friend through at the start of the race and protect him in his final Grand Prix, and Vettel has now claimed that he was aware of his fellow drivers not wanting to take him out of his final race.

READ: Russian Ferrari driver makes admission about his F1 chances

“You could feel that a bit with Fernando, he was very generous at the beginning,” said Vettel when asked if he thought the other drivers were nervous about ending his final race early.

“After that the Saubers fought very hard because the wanted to defend the constructors’ [position].

“It was a shame I was stuck behind Esteban at the beginning because I thought we had a better deg but then we stayed out way too long and lost so much time.”

It initially looked like the 35-year-old would finish his swansong empty handed, however a late retirement from Lewis Hamilton due to a hydraulic issue saw Vettel pick up a free position and move up to tenth place.

The solo point he scored was not enough to take Aston Martin ahead of Alfa Romeo in the championship, which was their aim for the race, which Vettel as has was a shame as a different strategy could have yielded a different result.

“It is obviously very nice [to score a point],” said the German.

READ: Sergio Perez’s father told to ‘stay out of it’ as Lando Norris linked to Red Bull

“It would have been great for the team to get sixth in the constructors’ but we threw it away with the strategy we chose.

“We did everything we could at the end.”

While Vettel has said that he does not plan to return to F1, he has admitted that in a couple of years he is not sure how he will be feeling, after time away from the sport he loves.

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Unfortunately for the energy drink giants it was not to be, as Charles Leclerc finished the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of the Mexican, and therefore beating him to the runner up spot behind Max Verstappen.

It could all have been different for Perez however, after his teammate had the chance to let him overtake in Brazil, which would have seen the 32-year-old go to Abu Dhabi ahead of Leclerc instead of level.

Verstappen refused to follow the team orders, and once again had to chance to help out in Abu Dhabi, where he could have dropped back to hold up Leclerc and Perez closed him down in the latter stages of the race, which one again he decided against.

Nico Hulkenberg opens up on challenging Haas switch

“No, there was not, but also that is quite a tricky call to make,” said the Dutchman when asked if the team ever made the call to drop him back into Leclerc.

“You also don’t want to end up… of course, you can possibly block but is that fair racing?” he said, despite the fact Perez used the same tactic to help him win his 2021 crown in Abu Dhabi.

“I think not the nicest way going out of the season, like that. And it looked like Checo was catching him enough to try and actually get a move but then he lost quite a bit of time with that bit of a fuss between… was it Pierre [Gasly] and Alex [Albon]?

“I was watching the screen. But yeah, unfortunate.”

READ: Nico Hulkenberg opens up on challenging Haas switch

After the drama in Brazil, Perez once again took to the team radio to express his frustration at him teammate, as he initially wanted Verstappen to allow him to pass after the first round of pit stops for those on at two stop strategy.

“Yeah I’m being held up by Max,” he said to his race engineer on lap 29, as he felt he had the pace advantage over the Dutchman.

Team principal Christian Horner has told reporters that any feud between the two drivers has now been settled, after the pair sat down to discuss their disagreement following the race at Interlagos.

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The retiring German found himself sat in P16 and on the verge of elimination coming towards the end of Q1.

Vettel only had time for one more lap attempt, and had to make it count if he wanted to have any chance of making it through to the next round of qualifying, which he looked to be doing following and impressive first two sectors where he improved on his previous lap time.

Coming into the final two turns of the Yas Marina circuit the 35-year-old was forced to put his trust in other drivers getting out of his way, as multiple drivers were slowly making their way towards the start/finish straight to begin their final flying lap.

READ: Guenther Steiner says he played mind games with Nico Hulkenberg over 2023 seat

Vettel was forced to avoid both Alpines, an AlphaTauri, a Red Bull and a McLaren as he made his way to the end of his lap, with all drivers doing a very good job to keep out of the racing line and stop the four-time world champion from losing any time.

“How is that possible, three times in a row I get these people,” he said over the team radio, clearly frustrated by the traffic.

Sky Sport’s David Croft described Vettel’s evasive action as “like an arcade game,” as he was forced to slalom between a quarter of the grid.

READ: ‘Luckily I wasn’t Lewis Hamilton’: Kevin Magnussen reveals bizarre fan incident

Vettel flew up the timing screens to fifth fastest following the completion of his lap, possibly helped by a slipstream that he may have picked up by following some of the cars in question, as he comfortably advanced on to Q2.

Aston Martin team principal Mike Crack confirmed that Vettel is not putting his feet up just yet, claiming that his driver is more determined than ever to help the team finish the year on a high and beat Alfa Romeo in the constructors’ championship. 

Vettel’s P9 start for the main race will give him a good chance of helping his team overhaul the five point gap to their rivals, and Valtteri Bottas starting in the bottom five after a poor qualifying for the Finn with add further confidence to the Aston Martin team.

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The team went into the Brazilian Grand Prix last week with a large gap to the Scuderia, but a stunning one-two finish spearheaded by George Russell saw the team close that gap to just 19 points.

Mercedes have looked impressive in free practice, with both their drivers finishing all three sessions in the top four.

The Silver Arrows have qualified fifth and sixth, behind both Red Bulls and Ferraris, and Toto Wolf has suggested that that is probably where they would have expected to have been come the end of qualifying.

READ: Max Verstappen questioned for ‘odd decision’

The Mercedes team boss has revealed that the team have a ‘table of doom’ which helps the Silver Arrows determine which tracks their car is better suited to, and where they think the W13 may struggle.

“So we have this internal table of doom, which kind of forecasts whether we are good at the track or not in terms of our simulations,” he explained.

“Mexico was, we thought, the best track in the season. And we were performing well. Brazil was right there, like with Austin, but came in better than we thought.

“Abu Dhabi, in the table of doom, is pretty much in the middle. It’s not Spa or Monza. So if we correlate with the table of doom, it means we understand we are going to.

“If we outperform the table of doom I’m obviously happy, but also questioning what happened to getting it right with our forecasts. So the truth is, I don’t know where we are lacking – straight-line speed, particularly against the Red Bull when they turn on the engine.

READ: Daniel Ricciardo opens up on potentially his final race in Formula 1

“But I would never say we are not in the mix but rationally, probably not right there.”

With both Ferrari’s starting Sunday’s race ahead of the Mercedes, it will most likely take a DNF from either Carlos Sainz or Charles Leclerc for Mercedes to have a real shot at leapfrogging them in the championship, but as Toto Wolff has said, never say never.

Lewis Hamilton will be desperately hunting for his first win of the season as he looks to prevent his first ever winless season in Formula 1.

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It initially looked like the 35-year-old would be eliminated in Q1, before a stellar late lap saw Vettel fly up the timing screens and give fans one last glimpse at his single lap pace.

Vettel currently holds the record for most pole positions in a single season, and his performance in Abu Dhabi will have reminded everyone exactly why he holds this record.

It was not plain sailing for the retiring German however, after he has to deal with heavy traffic when attempting his flying laps in each of the three sessions, with Red Bull in particular getting on Vettel’s nerves.

READ: Lewis Hamilton lashes out at Kevin Magnussen

Vettel had to dodge and weave five cars in the last sector of his final Q1 lap, with Yuki Tsunoda doing very well to vacate the racing line going into the final corner of the Yas Marina circuit.

The four-time world champion’s main frustrations came when he repeatedly encountered slow moving Red Bulls when approaching the final corner, as both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were winding up for a fast lap attempt.

The Red Bull drivers were going too slow for Vettel’s liking, as he took to the team radio to express his annoyance at his repeated encounters that were jeopardising his laps attempts.

“How is that possible? Three times in a row I get these people,” he exclaimed over the radio.

“They don’t back off. It’s a tenth in the last corner!”

Vettel’s former employers fortunately did not affect his progression through the sessions, as he dealt with the traffic on track to storm his way to P9 on the grid.

READ: Ferrari’s ‘year of tension’ explained as Mattia Binotto to be sacked

Aston Martin will be delighted with Vettel’s final qualifying session, as Valtteri Bottas failed to escape Q1 in his Alfa Romeo, giving the Finn’s team a disadvantage going into Sunday’s race.

Alfa Romeo are currently only five points ahead of Aston Martin in the constructors’ championship, meaning that Vettel has a chance to end his career on a high with the opportunity to help his team leapfrog their rivals at the final race of the season staring him in the face.

Vettel’s teammate Lance Stroll will also be starting the race ahead of both Alfa Romeo drivers, putting the battle for sixth place arguably in their own hands.

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Ferrari have had much the better car for the majority of the season, however mechanical failures and strategy errors have seen the Silver Arrows chip away at their position in the championship, as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have been consistently scoring points all season.

FP2 saw Russell and Hamilton finish second and fourth respectively in the session standings, but the older of the two Brits was lucky to avoid a serious collision with Kevin Magnussen which left the seven-time world champion outraged.

Hamilton was in the middle of a fast lap, while the Haas driver was slowly making his way around the Yas Marina circuit, and while there seemed to be a large distance between the two drivers, a DRS assisted straight followed by some late braking from the Brit saw the cars go too close for comfort.

READ: ‘Luckily I wasn’t Lewis Hamilton’: Kevin Magnussen reveals bizarre fan incident

Magnussen was going too slow and in the wrong part of the track for Hamilton’s liking, as he proceeded to pull alongside the Haas driver after the near miss to make a hand gesture towards the Dane, clearly showing his frustration.

Sky Sports commentator David Croft suggested that Hamilton had every right to be annoyed with the pole sitter in Brazil.

“I understand why [Hamilton was annoyed], Kevin Magnussen was going very slowly in the middle of the track and is still ahead of him,” he explained.

“Hamilton had DRS and was closing at a rapid rate of knots of Kevin Magnussen.”

The W13 has once again looked competitive in Abu Dhabi, after upgrades first brought to Austin last month took the car’s performance up a notch, finally giving the Mercedes drivers a chance to compete with the Red Bulls and Ferraris.

READ: Revealed: Full extent of Max Verstappen ignoring team orders

Hamilton has claimed that he is not thinking about his 2021 heartbreak, which saw his record eighth title snatched away from him in controversial circumstances, ahead of this weekend’s Grand Prix, as he focusses only on the present.

His teammate George Russell spearheaded a one-two in Brazil and team boss Toto Wolff has told the media that there will be no special treatment in Abu Dhabi to help Hamilton avenge his 2021 disappointment. 

Should Hamilton fail to win at the Yas Marina circuit, then he will have completed his first ever season in Formula 1 without a victory, a record which he will not be looking to break.

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