While the Abu Dhabi race has not always been an exciting
one, we have seen before it is possible to overtake here, if a little
difficult. Unlike other races here, there was plenty of action going on, but
Sebastian Vettel was clear of it during the first lap as he recorded another
win.
A weekend to forget
Kimi Raikkonen had the worst weekend of his season. After
the outburst in India, he almost didn’t show up – and missed the media events
on Thursday. He only just made it to the first session and the pace wasn’t
there. After a decent qualifying, he was demoted to the back and in the race,
retired on the first lap. Financial issues have also come to light again and
Kimi threatened not to race for the last two races if it wasn’t fixed. Safe to
say he won’t miss Lotus next season!
The Britons Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton didn’t have the
best race either. Lewis got stuck in traffic and had no grip at points
throughout the race, and had to settle for a points finish when, realistically,
he should have been fighting for the podium. It’s not the first time he’s had
problems in Abu Dhabi, but let’s hope it’s the last. Button suffered front wing
damage at the start again and that ruined his race but Sergio Perez salvaged a
couple of points for the McLaren team.
Ferrari’s performance returns?
This was a good event for Ferrari – and boy, did they need
it! Their poor run of form recently has raised many questions about the team,
he decision to bring back Raikkonen and on Fernando Alonso’s future. They had
poor pace in the practise sessions but the differing conditions make those largely
redundant. Qualifying brought an improvement but the race was where we saw what
Alonso and Felipe Masssa are capable of in a poor car.
It’s a shame, because Massa was brought in first when he was
running ahead of his teammate but given the structure of the Ferrari team, and
the speed Alonso had afterwards, it’s not surprising. Where Massa will go next
year has yet to be confirmed but I hope he’s around for a while yet.
Plenty of action
Paul Di Resta managed a decent result again to help counter
his run of bad form and increase hope for his future in F1. While I definitely
saw more of his teammate, Adrian Sutil, Di Resta got the better result with his
one stop and gives him great momentum in the final two races.
Nico Hulkenberg was once again in the thick of it. It was
another strong showing that will increase his chances of getting the Lotus seat
for 2014. However, the drive through penalty ended his hopes for a strong
finish. It had to happen – the release was not safe, proven by moving away from
the tarmac with the McLaren just behind.
It was looking good for Romain Grosjean to get another
podium, but this time, the one time he needed the one stop strategy to work, it
didn’t. Still, fourth is a brilliant result and keeps my hopes alive that he
can maybe scrape a win before the season ends.
Summary
There wasn’t much need to see or hear much about Vettel
throughout the race after the first corner. It was a dominant race from him
once again and shows why he already wrapped up the championship. Two races left
this season and if he wins both he equals more records. It was a good weekend,
more exciting than we’ve seen for a while!
Results
1 – S. Vettel (Red Bull)
2 – M. Webber (Red Bull)
3 – N. Rosberg (Mercedes)
4 – R. Grosjean (Lotus)
5 – F. Alonso (Ferrari)
6 – P. Di Resta (Force India)
7 – L. Hamilton (Mercedes)
8 – F. Massa (Ferrari)
9 – S. Perez (McLaren)
10 – A. Sutil (Force India)
11 – P. Maldonado (Williams)
12 – J. Button (McLaren)
13 – E. Gutierrez (Sauber)
14 – N. Hulkenberg (Sauber)
15 – V. Bottas (Williams)
16 – D. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)
17 – J. E. Vergne (Toro Rosso)
18 – G. van der Garde (Caterham)
19 – C. Pic (Caterham)
20 – J. Bianchi (Marussia)
21 – M. Chilton (Marussia)
22 – K. Raikkonen (Lotus) – DNF
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