Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel won an action packed Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which made him the second German after Michael Schumacher to win the F1 World Championship. A frustrating and luckless race for Alonso and Webber who finished 7^th and 8^th meant that Vettel finished on 256 points, 4 more than Alonso and 14 more than Webber. Hamilton’s second place finish could only keep him on 240 points while his McLaren teammate Jenson Button took the other place on the podium.

The race started in the most dramatic fashion with Button passing Alonso within a few seconds after the lights went off thus relegating the Spaniard into 4^th. Lower down the grid, Nico Rosberg’s nudge on his teammate Michael Schumacher sent the seven times World Champion into a spin and Vitantonio Liuzzi ran into the Mercedes thus prompting the introduction of the safety car which saw a flurry of cars dive into the pits.

After the initial round of pit-stops, Webber was the first among the others to enter the pits from 5^th position. This prompted Ferrari to counter by bringing in Alonso. But this move proved to be a disastrous one for both the Championship contenders as they fell behind a gaggle of cars. Alonso was frustrated for more than 40 laps as the Renault of Vitaly Petrov didn’t allow him to pass.

Meanwhile Hamilton was kept in 3^rd place till Lap 47 until Robert Kubica made his necessary pit-stop. Kubica rejoined the race in 5^th place behind Button and Rosberg and most importantly in front of the trio of Petrov, Alonso and Webber. Alonso’s numerous moves to get past Petrov failed to materialize while Vettel drove a near perfect race to secure his fifth and by far the most important win of the season – a win that made him the youngest World Champion in history.

Tags: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, F1 World Championship, Fernando Alonso, Formula One, Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel, World Champion