MOTORSPORT: Ricciardo happy heat's on in Abu Dhabi

Daniel Ricciardo is looking to end his first season with Renault on a high, even though he inevitably will wind up lower in the Formula 1 World Championship than since his early days in Red Bull's junior team Toro Rosso.

Ricciardo’s main mission this weekend at the season finale in Abu Dhabi is to help the French manufacturer's factory team withstand the pressure from Honda-powered Toro Rosso and the Mercedes-powered Racing Point team for fifth place in the constructors' championship.

The carsales global ambassador also needs to stave off Racing Point's Mexican Sergio Perez and McLaren's British rookie Lando Norris to hang on to ninth in the driver standings.

After his 14th place with Toro Rosso in the 2013 championship, Ricciardo twice was third in the driver standings and never lower than eighth in his five years with Red Bull Racing before his shock move to Renault.

McLaren, which was another option for Ricciardo when he decided he wanted out of Red Bull, already is assured of finishing ahead of Renault in the constructors' championship this year using the same Renault power unit as the factory team.

In a major rebound this season, McLaren has snatched the fourth place Renault occupied last year, with 140 points to 91 ahead of Sunday night's Abu Dhabi race.

Toro Rosso has 83 points and Racing Point 67 and either could overhaul Renault if Ricciardo and German Nico Hulkenberg, in his last F1 start, can't lock away fifth for the French team.

Ricciardo says his season has been "interesting, for sure", with "some good times as well as some difficult periods".

He has taken great confidence from a recent string of points finishes after his best result of the season, at Italy's Monza in September, and Renault's pace at Montreal, Canada, mid-season.

He says Renault's form of late in Brazil and the US "bodes well and puts us in a good direction for next season".

"I'm looking forward to ending this season on a high and Abu Dhabi has always been a pretty good track for me," Ricciardo said.

"Having a race that starts at dusk and goes into the night is always cool.

"There's a bit of pressure on us in the race for fifth in the constructors' championship, but it means we have something to fight for – and I like that."

Frenchman Esteban Ocon, who missed out on a drive in F1 this year after Riccirado's move to Renault, will replace Hulkenberg as the Australian's teammate next season.

The entire driver line-up for next year is already complete with the Williams team confirming Canadian Nicholas Latifi as its replacement for departing Robert Kubica, whose return after almost a decade out of F1 has been disappointing.

Latifi, 24, is running second in the Formula 2 championship with four wins in his fourth season in the category.

Like F1's other Canadian Lance Stroll, Latifi has a billionaire father who early last year bought 10 per cent of McLaren.

Meanwhile, Mercedes – already the world champion constructor for the sixth straight year since the introduction of the V6 hybrids – is reportedly upset that runners-up Ferrari didn't use its power of veto to scupper the rules for 2021.

Six-time world champion driver Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes teammate and this year's runner-up, Finn Valtteri Bottas, will start the Abu Dhabi race from the back of the grid because of a penalty for using a new power unit.

Ferrari's drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc were called to Maranello after the Brazilian GP, in which they collided five laps from the end, and ordered never to repeat the disaster that cost the Prancing Horse a big haul of points and cash with neither car finishing.

Leclerc, 17 points ahead of Vettel and 11 behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen, says Vettel should not have swerved left at Sao Paulo's Interlagos track, triggering contact, but that "I could have done a better job of avoiding him".

He says the pair will be less aggressive with each other from now. "We need to give each other a bit more space."

Toyota 86 racer Lachlan Gibbons, of Sydney, has won a trip to compete at the Japanese company's racing festival at its Fuji Speedway on December 15 for winning the Kaizen Award in the Australian series for 86s this year.

While Gibbons, 23, was only ninth in the series, he set the fastest lap in two of his 14 races.

Toyota says the Kaizen Award "embodies the Toyota philosophy of continuous improvement on and off the track".

Gibbons has ambitions of racing in GT and sports cars in Europe and Asia, particularly in 24-hour events.

Aaron Borg, Luke King and Tim Brook were the top three drivers in this year's Toyota 86 series and another five-round, 15-race calendar has been confirmed for next year, starting at Victoria's Winton circuit in early June.