Lewis Hamilton took an easy win in Abu Dhabi today. He started in second place but took leadership right after a punctured rear tyre caused Vettel to retire. Vettel had an excellent start and everything seemed to be determined right from turn one. But turn two added some interest to what seemed to be a boring race. Vettel saw his rear left tyre exploding. He managed to drive to the pits only to discover that his rear brake ducts and car's floor had been damadged, thus causing him to retire.
Lewis Hamilton took first place and remained there until the end. Fernando Alonso tried very hard to catch the Briton, pushing his Ferrari to its limit and beyond. This just wasn't enough. McLaren was quickest most of the time, with the Spaniard gaining some ground at the end of each stint. Alonso had passed Jenson Button and Mark Webber for P3 at the beginning of the race.
Jenson Button was placed third, after a quiet race, managing to keep Mark Webber behind him in P4. In the middle of the race they had a fight, which ended with their pit stops, as they had chosen different strategies for the last stint. Webber took on a third set of softs, adding one more stop to his race, risked but did not manage to get past the Briton. Felipe Massa had a chance to get in front of Webber, but destroyed his race when he spinned in the first corner close to the end of the race. He rejoined the race but eventually lost his place to Webber.
The race has been a boring race, with no overtaking, at least among the top drivers. Th two DRS zones could not make the difference, as the differences between the top drivers prevented them from using it during the whole race. The final classification will give a nice taste to the battle for "the best of the rest", between Button, Alonso, Webber and Hamilton, which will come to an end at the final race of the season in two weeks in Brazil.
The race results are as follows :
01. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h37:11.886
02. Alonso Ferrari + 8.457
03. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 25.881
04. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 35.784
05. Massa Ferrari + 50.578
06. Rosberg Mercedes + 52.317
07. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:15.900
08. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:17.100
09. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:40.000
10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
13. Petrov Renault + 1 lap
14. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
15. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Senna Renault + 1 lap
17. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
18. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
20. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps
Did Not Finish
Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 49
Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 19
D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 18
Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1
