Red Bull Racing take a dominant 1-2 victory at the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel took his fourth and final victory of the 2009 F1 season at the coruscating Yas Marina Circuit. Mark Webber made it a perfect day with second place, hounded all the way to the flag by the charging Brawn of world champion Jenson Button. The race that started in daylight and finished under floodlights was a first for Formula One, but the fourth time this year Red Bull have recorded a maximum – though this one was harder-fought than most.
The race began with Lewis Hamilton in pole position and, barring disaster, no expectation of anyone challenging his KERS-assisted McLaren - it had dominated qualifying. Vettel started alongside him, marginally heavier but publicly voicing little hope of mounting a challenge; McLaren had looked very convincing all weekend. They both got away well, as did Mark Webber from third on the grid, though his race nearly ended prematurely when Rubens Barrichello clattered into his rear left tire at the first corner. Barrichello sustained minor damage but Mark escaped unscathed. Barrichello would soon lose his position to teammate Button, but otherwise the front runners held station.
Something interesting happened in the first few laps - or rather something didn’t happen, which was itself interesting. Hamilton failed to pull away from the chasing Red Bulls. The advantage conferred by his KERS boost was obvious on the long, long back straight, but Vettel and Webber were doggedly pursuing. Vettel’s gap to the leader hovered around the one-second mark and stayed there right through the first stint, while Webber was the fastest man on track.
With the top ten all running two-stop strategies, Hamilton came in from the lead on lap 17. Webber did not, suggesting that he would have one more lap. Perhaps more significantly, the heavier-fuelled Vettel would have two laps to haul himself into the lead. He immediately began setting fastest sector times.
'I certainly wasn’t going to make it easy for him.' – Mark Webber
Webber came in on lap 18, but emerged in Hamilton’s slipstream; meanwhile Vettel pushed his advantage with a fastest lap. He came in for his stop, it went like clockwork and he emerged in front of the McLaren. In the end it wasn’t even close.
Would Hamilton be able to respond? If the McLaren could get into the wake of the Red Bull, then the extra power of KERS might have made for a compelling battle. Sadly for the neutral it never materialized. Hamilton retired from the race with brake problems, leaving Red Bull running first and second with no apparent challengers.
Elsewhere there were battles royal up and down the order. Many of the midfield were planning on only stopping once, which meant the middle stages of the race were dominated by uneven but compelling contests, many of which involved Kamui Kobayashi, Toyota’s reserve driver standing in for the injured Timo Glock. Kobayashi had picked the pocket of Kimi Räikkönen at the start to advance to tenth place, and was the leading one-stopper. With others stopping earlier, he found himself embroiled in a series of out-of-sequence fights.
Jenson Button, pitting from fourth found himself rejoining the race track immediately in front of the Japanese youngster. Kobayashi is no respecter of reputation and immediately attacked. He and Button fought a spectacular wheel-to-wheel battle, the heavier Brawn struggling to retain its position. Twice Button defended successfully, the third time Kobayashi made it stick. When everything shook out he would be running in the rarefied atmosphere of third position until his one and only stop pushed him back into the midfield.
Räikkönen received a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane while Robert Kubica had problems of his own with a second set of tyres that didn’t want to work. The Pole had a spin and attempting to recover position, engaged in a wheel-slapping skirmish with Sébastien Buemi. Buemi was the sole Toro Rosso runner, Jaime Alguersuari having retired with a gearbox problem. The pair went nose-to-tail down the straight into the Marina section, Kubica attempted a pass around the outside, a move than had worked for him earlier in the race, but Buemi held a very aggressive line, leaving Kubica with nowhere to go. The BMW-Sauber driver spun into the runoff area.
'I’ll be trying to kick his ass.' – Sebastian Vettel
Coming into the final stint, the top four in the Drivers’ Championship were also the top four on the track; Vettel leading Webber by a comfortable margin, with Button in third and Barrichello fourth. Webber was being swiftly overhauled by Button. All four had changed to the ‘option’ tire at their second stop, and the change saw the chasing Brawns suddenly much quicker. Button began to reel in Webber by a second a lap; the gap closed to five seconds, then four, then three then nothing at all.
On the final lap the Briton was close enough to launch an all-out attack at the end of both long straights. Webber went defensive early in the run up to turn eight, taking the inside line. Button tried to go around the outside but couldn’t make it stick. It was closer at turn 11 where the pair were side by side, but again Webber held firm. With Vettel crossing the line to take victory, the pair completed the lap in line astern. Both men would later express pleasure with a fight both tough and fair.
“When you’re getting caught you have to make sure you don’t make any mistakes – and I certainly wasn’t going to make it easy for him,” said a grinning Webber.
“I was a little disappointed not to make it stick,” added a rueful Button, “but I’m on the podium at the final race of the season, and that’s fantastic.”
Behind them Barrichello finished comfortably fourth, with Nick Heidfeld ending the tenure of BMW-Sauber on a high with fifth. Kobayashi came an excellent sixth, one place ahead of team-mate Jarno Trulli, while the final point went to Buemi.
The last word was reserved for Vettel who, having driven the perfect race, ensured Red Bull Racing finish the season with three straight wins. “My priority coming here was to secure second in the Drivers’ Championship. To do it with a victory was fantastic! Jenson and I are off to Beijing now for the Race of Champions – where I’ll be trying to kick his ass!”
With the moon high in the sky and the Yas Marina Circuit lit up like a spaceship, the mood in the paddock was serene this evening. The show has been good this year: arguably the best of the decade. For the drivers there is enforced downtime with no testing until the New Year. For the teams it’s a somewhat shorter gap, the battle for dominance in 2010 resumes on Tuesday.
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