UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Vettel wins Abu Dhabi

Webber denies Button late

Sebastian Vettel has won the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in style to sign off his 2009 season as the World Championship runner up. He beat home team mate Mark Webber for the third 1-2 Red Bull of the year, while Jenson Button rounded out the podium to confirm his status as the best driver of the season.

Lewis Hamilton lead the race early on from pole in his Mercedes powered McLaren, but was unable to pull a substantial gap on Vettel who kept pace with the superior car. Webber had an eventful first lap tripping over the front of Rubens Barrichello who suffered a damaged front wing in his Brawn car. This would temporarily slow Rubens down and allowed the World Champion to get past and hunt down Webber.

Robert Kubica in his final race for BMW got a good start and moved past Jarno Trulli but struggled to match pace with the front 5 cars, while Kobayashi in his second race made a brilliant start to get ahead of the faster Kimi Raikkonen.

At the first round of stops the race changed complexion dramatically as Vettel and his Red Bull team managed to jump Hamilton and take the lead. Hamilton was soon to stunningly retire from the race while in second with vibrations and brake problems, leaving Webber to cruise into second spot. Kobayashi was again proving a handful for Button in the second race running as he stormed into third spot thanks to his strategy.

The middle part of the race was very uneventful apart from the mistake of Alguesuari who was about to park his car in the garage, when he mistakenly drove into the Red Bull pit just as Vettel was about to pit. The young Spaniard would end up retiring with a gear box issue on circuit.

In the closing laps Vettel was untroubled as he pulled away from Webber who was experiencing problems with brakes and rear tyres. This allowed Button to climb onto the back of the Red Bull and produced a fantastic end to one of the best Formula One seasons in a few years. It was neck and neck until the final lap when Button made three attempts to pass on the long straights, but Webber was more than up to the task and forced Button wide, eventually holding onto second.

Barrichello finished his season off with a solid fourth place while Nick Heidfeld came from the clouds to finish fifth and show that he is still a quality driver. Japanese sensation Kamui Kobayashi gained his first points in F1 with a brilliant sixth place, beating his more experienced team mate Trulli who was seventh. Sebastien Buemi ended the season with a good drive as well picking up the final points paying position, almost guaranteeing him a spot in the team next season.

The season may have ended with a Red Bull victory, but the year clearly belonged to Brawn GP in their first official season as a team. Jenson Button won a well deserved championship thanks to stellar driving early in the year and careful management in the second part. Update F1 wishes to congratulate and thank all the drivers and teams for the spectacular racing this season and hope that it will return just as good next season.

Written: Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:12:52