Vettel's domination reaches perfection in Abu Dhabi

The Yas Marina circuit is beautiful to look at, especially when the lights go on as darkness surrounds the track in what is uniquely the only dusk to night race on the Formula 1 calendar. Nothing unique about the result though as Sebastian Vettel took his seventh win in succession in a drive that matched the fantastic surroundings.

The only mistake he made all weekend was on his final qualifying run, allowing an inspired Mark Webber to snatch pole position with a brilliant lap. Vettel quickly put that right, a perfect start put him into the lead by the first corner and as is now tradition immediately opened up a gap.

He was untouchable today as he has been so many times, but the win was secured with an advantage of over 30 seconds making it a truly dominant win. If he hadn’t have had to stay measured and in control of the tyres I’ve a feeling he could’ve lapped the entire field today. He seemed to be able to set fastest laps at will even when others had stopped for much fresher rubber; another awe-inspiring performance matched with even better donuts than his championship win.

Behind there was plenty of action going on and plenty of intrigue with various strategy calls between team mates. You wouldn’t think Caterham really needed to employ team orders for instance but yet there were apparently intense discussions between Charles Pic who was being told to let his team mate Giedo van der Garde ahead and the pit wall.

van der Garde was the faster at this point in the race but I would have thought in their current situation of being pretty distant from the midfield and normally ahead of their main rivals Marussia that they could just have let them race. But even at the back it seems there are ways the team would like their drivers to behave. As for Marussia, Jules Bianchi finished ahead of Max Chilton. Chilton is being rumoured to go to Caterham at the moment, I would imagine because he has a lot of money behind him. It can’t be because of his driving surely, as in all fairness to him Bianchi has utterly destroyed him this year.

I’d also give Caterham’s two current drivers another year anyways as they have been reasonably evenly matched, van der Garde particularly has improved a lot as the year has gone on. Just as I thought it unusual that Caterham were employing team orders it was equally noticeable that Ferrari didn’t, at least not overtly.  

Fernando Alonso was stuck behind Felipe Massa for a large majority of the race and not once was there a sign that they were wanting the Brazilian to move over. Massa should be allowed to race anyway, he’s already said he’s driving for himself now and since he was told he was losing his seat he’s been on it, at least in qualifying where he’s been ahead of Alonso for five of the last six races.

Fernando has mostly got ahead in the races pretty easily, but it was a stirring performance from Massa today particularly his move on Lewis Hamilton who was trying to overtake Adrian Sutil's Force India but forgot about the Ferrari who sneaked ahead pulling the move that Lewis failed to do.

However it was a little odd that when Massa pitted for the final time he was not put on the soft tyres he had favoured from his first stint which he thought was going to happen. Staying on the mediums meant he didn’t quite have the immediate pace he needed to stay ahead of Alonso who stopped six laps later and was put on the softs which enabled him to instantly set about attacking the likes of Lewis Hamilton whom Massa had been trying to track down again.

Whatever the situation at Ferrari it was an incredible bit of driving when Alonso kept his foot to the floor exiting the pit lane despite almost being baulked by Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso and having to jump the kerbs which resulted in him being checked out in hospital after a 25g impact. Alonso eventually finished fifth while Massa claimed eighth.

Completing the podium today were Mark Webber in the other Red Bull and the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg. Rosberg has held an edge over Hamilton for the last few races and this continued today which is impressive as Lewis is usually very strong around here. At the start Rosberg got ahead of Webber after yet another poor start by the Aussie, but Webber is tenacious and never let the silver car out of his sight. He DRS’d Rosberg to claim a solid second spot for a Red Bull 1-2 while Rosberg just about kept clear of Romain Grosjean.

It’s been a strong end to the season for Webber, his pace has certainly lifted as his career winds down, but it’s saying something that in years gone by this would have probably won him a couple of races, this year though Vettel is just on a completely different level. Rosberg too is having a strong end to the year and is now only 16 points behind his team mate Lewis Hamilton who could only manage seventh.

Lewis struggled today, slipping back at the start before generally being out manoeuvred or stuck behind other cars like Gutierrez or Force India’s. He was quite downbeat about it which is expected because if a Mercedes was going to challenge the Red Bull’s this weekend you’d have thought it would be him. He’s still having braking issues though which will hopefully be sorted to his liking in 2014.

The Force India’s were back on fantastic form. Adrian Sutil ran strongly, his long first stint meant he was mixing it with the front runners for a long time before his tyres ran out of grip. Although he was lucky to keep his one point for tenth place after he looked to overtake Pastor Maldonado off the track.

The real Force India star though was Paul di Resta who regained his fantastic form from earlier in the year. Qualifying 11^th, he ran the softs to lap 20 then ran the last 35 laps on the mediums but kept them fresh enough to keep a decent pace and also do battle when needed. Alonso got him on the last few laps as he ran fifth, but he kept his sixth place from Lewis who just could not get past.

It was a timely performance from the Scot who has been overlooked with rumours he might not even be in F1 next year. The last two races will have nicely reminded people that di Resta is a driver who should be and deserves to be in Formula 1.

Romain Grosjean continued his good form with a mature drive to fourth place while his team mate Kimi Raikkonen went banzai after starting from the back of the grid due to his Lotus failing a front floor deflection test.

At the first corner he went for a gap inside van der Garde which was always 

going to close. His right front took a pretty tame hit but the angle hurt it more and Kimi was out of a weekend he nearly didn’t attend at all. At least he’ll be going to the final two races after discussions with the owners of Lotus, but to not have been paid at all this year just goes to show how much passions Kimi has for the sport.

Sergio Perez picked up ninth place and two points but it had looked like McLaren were going to get a lot more from the weekend. Jenson Button was out of it after damaging his front wing, but Perez had looked particularly quick all weekend but it just didn’t work out for him in the end.

Sauber meanwhile lost ground to Force India after what could have been a great result was stopped due to a drive through penalty for an unsafe pit release where Nico Hulkenberg nearly collected Perez. A shame because Hulk had looked very quick all weekend and looked set to finish ahead of the Ferrari’s at one point. 

A lot went on behind the runaway leader, so next time you see Vettel leading into the first corner, don’t despair, the race for victory may be over but behind there’s everything to play for. And as I’ve written several times now, no one can win forever but while he is it’s best just to admire someone who is truly at the top of his game.

Final result:

1. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull

2. Mark Webber - Red Bull

3. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes

4. Romain Grosjean - Lotus

5. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari

6. Paul di Resta - Force India

7. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

8. Felipe Massa - Ferrari

9. Sergio Perez - McLaren

10. Adrian Sutil - Force India

11. Pastor Maldonado - Williams

12. Jenson Button - McLaren

13. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber

14. Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber

15. Valtteri Bottas - Williams

16. Daniel Ricciardo - Toro Rosso

17. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso

18. Giedo van der Garde - Caterham

19. Charles Pic - Caterham

20. Jules Bianchi - Marussia

21. Max Chilton - Marussia

R. Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus - Accident

all photo's taken from autosport.com

The Abu Dhabi Forecast

So now Sebastian Vettel is world champion for another year, it’s all over isn’t it? Might as well pack up and go home now the title race is over for another year despite three races still to run. Well yes, you’d be foolish not to place a cheeky bet on Vettel making it nine race wins a row; if you enjoy a bet that is.

But this is Formula 1 and at some point people lose. They won’t always win. People once lamented that Michael Schumacher would win forever and no one else would get a look in. But no, in his last two seasons he lost the title, and in his second career he didn’t even win a single race.

Things change in sport, no one can win forever. With the pressure of the title race now finally done with, perhaps Red Bull’s and Vettel’s concentration will slip momentarily and allow others the chance for glory (unlikely).

We’ll see if there is any hope for that at this weekend’s race at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. It’s been on the calendar since 2009 and is now a dusk to night race. The tyres for the weekend are the soft and medium compounds which were used at India last weekend. As the race descends into darkness, although with hundreds of lights shining upon the circuit, it’ll be interesting to see how the tyre performance changes as the temperatures change when the sun goes out. It’ll still be hot though, the forecast is for the minimum temperature to be 23C this weekend.

There are two DRS zones this weekend between turns 7 and 8, with another one between turns 10 and 11. At a circuit which was hard to pass on and destroyed Fernando Alonso’s title hopes in 2010 as he struggled to pass Vitaly Petrov, it’s certainly worth having two DRS zones to make it slightly less, well dull.

So it’s guaranteed that the 2013 world champions Vettel and Red Bull will be up there fight for pole position and victory but who else will be in contention? Well I’m still hoping that Mark Webber will get a win in his final season of racing. He’s been a lot more competitive the last two weekends despite saying he is suffering with his motivation. It would be great for him to get one over on Vettel before his time in Formula 1 is up.

Never mind Red Bull for now though, even if they were to streak into the distance there’s still plenty of action out there to look for. The squabble for second in the constructors championship is an interesting one, with Mercedes ahead of Ferrari and Lotus closing both down.

Nico Rosberg was strong for the Mercedes team last time out, while Lewis Hamilton was a bit disappointed with his performance over the weekend. Lewis is always good in Abu Dhabi so I think he might have a chance of sneaking pole. It’ll also be interesting to see just the Mercedes team react to the increasing rumours of Team Principal Ross Brawn’s imminent departure.

I think Ferrari are done this year I can’t see them getting anything other than the odd podium in the last three races. You’d have to say that purely on last weekend, Felipe Massa will give the scarlet squad just as good a chance at a podium as Alonso. Massa put in a polished performance and will give him encouragement as he looks to secure his 2014 seat.

If Romain Grosjean hadn’t struck out in Q1, then where might he have finished in India? Second probably, as he rose almost unnoticed to snatch the final podium spot from 17^th on the grid. I still think he might grab a win this year and I think Grosjean will get another podium this weekend, maybe even a win. Kimi Raikkonen on the other hand will probably just want to get one over on his upstart team mate. Actually, I doubt he’ll care, he was at risk of not even turning up as disagreements with the managers at Lotus have started to create tension, especially with Alan Permane who swore at Kimi over the radio last weekend.

However, Kimi won in Abu Dhabi last year, there’s nothing to say he can’t do it again. Lotus are strong, probably the second fastest at the moment, so if Red Bull slip up I think the black and gold cars will be there.

Watch out for McLaren as they look to confirm their improved performance from India. Sergio Perez did particularly well last weekend, while Jenson Button will be looking to somehow grab an elusive podium.

In the midfield battle I think Sauber still have the edge and I believe will be the fastest ahead of Force India and Toro Rosso who actually both outscored Sauber after Nico Hulkenberg’s retirement.

There’s still plenty of action to be had, and like I said before, in Formula 1 and sport in general, no one can win forever. Will Red Bull win the last three races? It would be a brave man to bet on that. 

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Kimi knows what he's doing in Abu Dhabi

Lotus have been strong all year, they’ve scored many podiums already but despite coming close hadn’t managed to secure a victory. In fact I thought their time had gone, the bigger teams had out developed them and they’d slipped away during the latter part of the season.

But they still thought it was possible. What was it they needed? Qualify on the first two rows, get a good start so they can exploit their race pace, and with a little bit of luck they should get the win they’ve deserved this year.

Kimi Raikkonen did all that and more to take control of a dramatic race in Abu Dhabi and win for the first time since the Belgium Grand Prix in 2009. It was a stunning performance, almost effortless as he did just enough to get the black and gold car to the chequered flag.

Starting from fourth on the grid after Sebastian Vettel had been sent to the back of the grid, he leapt into second behind pole sitter Lewis Hamilton. He didn’t quite have the pace of the McLaren at first, in truth no one did, Lewis was untouchable this weekend.

However, Kimi wasn’t exactly falling away, his race pace in Friday practice suggested there was more to come; he got into his rhythm and he was there running untroubled in second waiting for anything that might come his way.

After a safety car on lap 9 for a spectacular crash involving Nico Rosberg vaulting over the back of Narain Karthikeyan’s HRT, the race kicked back into life on lap 15 with Lewis streaking away again, but the Lotus was lurking not far behind. Five laps later the little bit of luck came for Kimi, Hamilton’s McLaren let him down again with a fuel pump failure. As he slowed, Kimi shot past into a lead he wasn’t to lose.

He does what he does best when he’s out in front and he controlled the pace, nothing could trouble him, even telling his engineer on the radio to ‘leave me alone, I know what I’m doing’. As Kimi exited the pits after his one and only stop, he was just ahead of Vettel who was travelling quickly but still to stop one more time.

This didn’t trouble him, not even after another safety car caused by Perez being overly optimistic did he get flustered. He bolted away from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso to get clear by a couple of seconds. And when Alonso began to eat into his lead as the laps counted down, getting to within a second at one point, Kimi kept his car pointing the right way, no little slides, in fact it was Alonso who got out of shape which perhaps cost him a chance of a last lap DRS grab.

A fantastic drive for Kimi, he’s deserved nothing less from an impressive comeback season. Despite the win though, he’s now out of the championship reckoning, but the Lotus team, once Renault, once Benetton seem to have a cycle.

1994/95 two drivers titles with Michael Schumacher, 2005/06another two with Alonso, I’ve a feeling this team are beginning to find their winning curve again, watch out for them next year. But that won't bother Kimi right now, he's probably more worried about where to party!

Vettel avoids calamity to charge through the field

This championship fight isn’t over yet though, and Red Bull have made sure of that as Sebastian Vettel, who had qualified four places in front of his main title rival Alonso was sent to the back of the grid for not being able to produce the required litre fuel sample.

Other factors with his Renault engine meant Vettel had tostop on the track after his final qualifying run, but once the car was returnedto the pits, like Hamilton in Spain, the stewards stripped his times away andthat was that.

The team chose to start him from the pit lane, lengthened 7^th gear giving him more top speed, and told him to attack. Attack Vettel did, but almost to calamity. He hit Bruno Senna in the early laps, slightly damaging his right front wing end plate, but he could live with it, the charge continued.

During the first safety car period though he got caught out by Daniel Ricciardo’s Toro Rosso slowing down suddenly while trying to warm his brakes, Vettel swerved to avoid him and took out a polystyrene sign damaging the other side of his front wing.

The team had no choice but to pit him switching him onto a 2 stop strategy but now he was down to the back of the pack again. It looked like it was going to be a long day for Vettel, he seemed impetuous and rattled.

That all changed though, he belted through the field, slicing his way ahead so quickly that by the time everyone had made their single stops and then he stopped for a second time he was still lying fourth. Then came the second safety car closing the leaders up, Vettel was right behind the podium places and had fresher tyres with 12 laps to go as the race restarted.Could he win this?

Well, no, but I think he could have. A late dive around the outside of Button was a brave move with three laps left, it got him on the podium, but despite reeling off a few fastest laps time would run out on him.It was a fantastic drive from the back though, and it would have been fantastic to see him catch Alonso and have the title challengers wheel to wheel.

As damage limitation missions go, it was pretty much as successful as you can get. To lose only three points to Alonso after the Saturday dramas has got to be considered a job well done.

Alonso always fighting

After qualifying Alonso must have been feeling a bit glum, he was four places behind Vettel, with a car which is just not as quick. But as Alonso said to the BBC, statistically something was going to go wrong with Red Bull at some point, and go wrong it did, not quite as much as he might have liked, but any closing of the points is a good thing at this point.

Alonso put in another terrific drive, his commitment to the cause can never be doubted. Starting from 6^th he was into 5^th past Jenson Button after the first corner as the McLaren slid wide. Later round the lap onto the second DRS zone although it was not yet activated, he slipstreamed Mark Webber, moved to right squeezing into Ferrari sized gap between the Red Bull and the edge of the track, left his braking very late and was through and after Pastor Maldonado.

He got him too as the Williams’ tyres faded and Lewis Hamilton was retiring, leaving him second. He kept Button at bay, and then went Kimi hunting for the win, utterly focused as he slid his car after the Lotus.

He looked delighted with his second on the podium, Ferrari needed to get one over on Red Bull after four races of trailing behind. But they need more, despite producing one of the outstanding seasons of driving, Alonso cannot compete with Vettel with this car any more.

That has been plain to see for a while now, they need updates that translate to the track, which they’re not getting at the moment.It’s still all to play for and you should never doubt that Alonso can still perform one more miracle to take the title.

Lewis a class apart in Abu Dhabi

A word must be said about Lewis Hamilton. He has driven brilliantly this year, but has been let down by his team. I believe he should be up there challenging for this championship, but this is motor racing where it’s hardly ever fair.

He dominated this weekend from the start taking a fantastic pole position and looked untouchable, but for the second time in five races a car failure robbed him of another win.

A team like McLaren shouldn’t be having these issues as regularly as they have this year, they’ve stopped this year being a contest between the best three drivers on the grid.

Jenson Button salvaged a 4^th place from the day and if it hadn’t of been for the second safety car might have had third, but he wasn’t anywhere near the pace of Lewis this weekend.

There were some incidents

Well there a few crashes in this race. The Force India’s came together, knocking the Williams of Senna out the way as well. Nico Hulkenberg’s day was done after that.

Rosberg and Karthikeyan’s shunt was probably the most spectacular incident of the day. While the second 

safety car was caused by Sergio Perez’s Sauber forgetting Romain Grosjean was on the inside while fighting Paul di Resta, which concertinaed everyone together causing Mark Webber to smack the side of the Lotus and that was that; wreckage strewn everywhere.

Webber had already had a number of incidents, he got spun round by Maldonado as he closed the door on him and then banged wheels with Felipe Massa, a fun day for Mark.

Rest of the top 10

Despite the incident with Webber, Maldonado scored his best result since his win. Generally he kept out of trouble and should be satisfied with 5^th.

Kamui Kobayashi rose nine places avoiding the carnage to grab 6^th, while Felipe Massa recovered to 7^th holding off Senna who also made a decent recovery drive after being spun round at the first corner.

Paul di Resta was running strongly before the Perez incident but still grabbed a couple of points while the final point went to Ricciardo,who managed to keep a last lap charge from Schumacher behind who had dropped out of 7^th after suffering a puncture. Another sad day for the retiring champion.

Right then, two races to go and ten points in it, it’s all getting a bit tense, can’t wait for America.

all photo's taken from autosport.com