It started with a shocker on Lap 1 as Sebastian Vettel suffered a puncture coming out of Turn 1 as Lewis Hamilton then lead the way Vettel looked on as the pack drove away. His race was over before it really began, very different from last year’s celebration scenes and his first retirement since Korea 2010.
From then on the battle for 1st was between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, while Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button suffered KERS problems throughout the race, making way for Mark Webber to battle with the 2009 champion for 3rd position.
Lap 18, Jerome D’Ambrosio was the second driver to retire the pits because of a mechanical failure, shortly followed by Sebastien Buemi on Lap 19 due to hydraulic problems.
McLaren continued to be on top form with pit stops compared to Red Bull and a bad stop for Webber cost him the fight for the front.
Lap 33 and Williams rookie Pastor Maldonado served a drive through penalty for ignoring blue flags and was under investigation again after ignoring them for a second time.
Lap 48 and Daniel Ricciardo was the last of the retirements while Heikki Kovalainen takes over a second out of Renault driver Bruno Senna’s time, who ended the race in 16th - not the results the team are looking for.
Webber pitted at the last opportunity possible for Hard compound tyres and took 4th place ahead of Felipe Massa while the podium saw Fernando Alonso in a McLaren sandwich - 1st place went to Lewis Hamilton, 2nd Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button 3rd.
Fastest Lap: Mark Webber: 1: 42.612
Lewis Hamilton crosses the finish line.
The podium (L-R) Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button.
The cars under the flood lit lights and Abu Dhabi sunset.
Last but not least, Jenson and his Movember making it's F1 appearance...
See you for the last race of the season at a track that holds so many great, exciting memories - Interlagos, Brazil!!
(Side Note: Sorry for the lack of updates and briefness of this post, have been ill and no focus to write blog posts)
No comments:
Post a Comment