Formula One news
Vettel closes season with superb victory
01 November 2009 / Results / PhotosSebastian Vettel drove a dominant race to victory in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as Mark Webber narrowly held off Champion Jenson Button to claim a 1-2 finish for the Red Bull team. The result confirms that Vettel finishes runner-up in this year's championship as McLaren beats Ferrari to third in the Constructors' race. Pole winner Lewis Hamilton retired with brake problems.
With Abu Dhabi and Yas Marina mixing the end-of-term feeling with a brand-new Formula One facility, the United Arab Emirates makes history by hosting the first ever F1 race to start in daylight and finish under lights. With last year's Champion, favourite for victory and KERS-shod Lewis Hamilton starting from pole position, Red Bull set off from second and third with Button behind Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello.
With pleasant ambient temperatures in the region of 30°C (86°F) and the track only a few degrees warmer as the sun set over the Arabian Gulf, it was a clean start on the run to Turn 1 although Barrichello's tapping of Mark Webber's rear wheel was an initial worry for Brawn as the right front wing end-plate few off into the direction of Button, just missing the World Champion.
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| Pole winner Hamilton was sidelined by brake problems |
With Hamilton leading but on a lighter fuel load than the Red Bull pairing behind him, Vettel continued to sustain a gap of approximately a second although a lock-up by Hamilton would soon prove to be far worse than it appeared; the 2008 Champion was suffering from right-rear brake problems, which soon resulted in a second pit-stop and retirement from the final race of the season. The Englishman does hold a top five result in the standings, however, as Kimi Räikkönen was also unable to score in an underperforming Ferrari.
With Vettel now released at the front and never headed for the rest of the evening, an embarrassing moment for Jaime Alguersuari saw the Spaniard drive into and subsequently waved through the Red Bull Racing pit box, which was mistaken for his own Toro Rosso crew just moments before Vettel came in. The Spaniard retired soon after with gearbox woes to join Hamilton on the sidelines.
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| Sébastien Buemi's final point moves him ahead of Adrian Sutil in the standings |
Rubens Barrichello, who had lost out to team-mate Button on the first lap, was unable to to challenge the rapid Vettel for runner-up spot this weekend as the Brazilian came home a quiet fourth for Brawn. Nick Heidfeld carried his BMW to a strong top five place with other notable performances in the points positions; Sébastien Buemi rounded off a superb weekend by picking up the final point, behind the Toyotas of Trulli and Kamui Kobayashi - the latter of which reached as high as third place in the first half of the race.
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Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica rounded out the top ten in their final races for the Wiliams and BMW teams on a track which presents a number of potential overtaking spots but seemingly failure to deliver such moves in this season's race. Renault also suffered a frustrating end to the season as an outbound Fernando Alonso, who was passed by team-mate Grosjean at the start, was the French team's best finisher in 14th.
Despite the best efforts of Button, who closed in to less than a second from Webber by the chequered flag, the Brawn driver's first podium since Italy came in the shape of third. At the front, Vettel - who won Red Bull's third consecutive race - produced one of the finest drives of the year to finish the 55-lap race just under 18 seconds clear of the his team-mate, setting a fastest lap on the penultimate tour. The result confirms that the German finishes runner-up in the championship with Button's championship-winning margin of 2009 being 11.
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