Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2012

Alonso finished .825 seconds behind Kimi, unable to catch the Lotus in the remaining laps. His DRS was wide open but he simply did not have enough time for the much needed win. Those extra points would have come in very handy in the final total. Alonso’s been there before.

Sebastian Vettel drove the race of the season, starting from dead last in the pit row, overcoming obstacles and wing changes to finish third and retained his lead in the world championship. He still has ten point s over Alonso.

It was an amazing race in anyone’s book, one of those landmark events that will stand out among dozens of F1 races in the last few years, one that even old timers will recall. One needed coffee to stay awake during the Abu Dhabi event. The battle of the ex-world champions is creating pure excitement and entertainment like rarely before. While there have been other seasons with multiple world champions on the grid, few of the champions have had so many competitive cars under them. This year, every one of the ex-champs has a potential race-winning machine. Only the most famous of them all, Schumacher, has failed to perform brilliantly this year. He finished 11th after a good but ineffectual performance at Abu Dhabi.

It is getting late in the season. One could feel the tension, even through thousands of miles of telecommunications medium. Palpable is the word. It was a race filled with accidents and incidents, perhaps most notably Webber, who consistently found himself entangled and eventually on lap 37 did it up well enough to break the rear suspension and retire. Most spectacularly was Rosberg, who went out flying on the first lap, just about destroying the Mercedes. In total, Grosjean, Webber, Karthikeyan, Rosberg and Hulkenberg were out of the race due to accidents.

Tire strategy was crucial and among the leaders, it was Vettel who played the rubber right, changing to soft yellows mid-race while everyone was on the mediums, giving him the opportunity to pass Button for third only three laps from the finish. The question was, how did Vettel come from 19th place to third? The pace of the race and the numerous incidents (with two safety cars) was so brisk that it was hard to keep up with the changing positions. After the race, David Coulthard asked Vettel if he thought he’d see the podium after starting from dead last. “Yes, in fact I did.” Coulthard should have known better than to ask

I had to check back, but it was only two races ago that we commented that Räikkönen was now ripe to win another Grand Prix and he did, taking command of the race shortly after the unfortunate Hamilton retired from the lead with a blown engine. He held off a charging Alonso to the final lap, taking the Lotus-Renault where no man had been before, proving to everyone that he still had the right stuff. Like Vettel, Räikkönen knew it all along. On lap 25 when he inherited the lead from Hamilton, no one aside from Kimi thought that he would keep the lead. On lap 35, when Vettel had moved from last to 2nd, no one aside from Kimi thought that he would keep the lead. On lap 55, with Alonso less than one second behind, no one aside from Kimi thought he would keep the lead. Center on the podium Kimi acted as if he has always been there. Perhaps he’ll be there again, but it’s tough going.

In any event, the championship is now between Alonso and Vettel, with odds on Vettel to take his third title. We’ll be there for the final two, and Texas is up next in two weeks.

Race Results

1	RÄIKKÖNEN	Lotus-Renault	1h45m58.667s
2	ALONSO	Ferrari	+ 0.8s
3	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 4.1s
4	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 7.7s
5	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	+ 13.0s
6	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 20.0s
7	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 22.8s
8	SENNA	Williams-Renault	+ 23.5s
9	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	+ 24.1s
10	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	+ 27.4s
11	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	+ 28.0s
12	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	+ 34.9s
13	KOVALAINEN	Caterham-Renault	+ 47.7s
14	GLOCK	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 56.4s
15	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 56.7s
16	PETROV	Caterham-Renault	+ 64.5s
17	DE LA ROSA	HRT-Cosworth	+ 71.7s
18	PIC	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 14 laps, engine
19	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	+ 18 laps, accident
20	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 18 laps, accident
21	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 36 laps, fuel-pressure problem
22	KARTHIKEYAN	HRT-Cosworth	+ 48 laps, accident
23	ROSBERG	Mercedes	+ 48 laps, accident
24	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	+ 55 laps, accident
Fastest Lap	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	1m43.964s

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	255 Points
2	ALONSO	Ferrari	245 Points
3	RÄIKKÖNEN	Lotus-Renault	198 Points
4	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	167 Points
5	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	165 Points
6	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	153 Points
7	MASSA	Ferrari	95 Points
8	ROSBERG	Mercedes	93 Points
9	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	90 Points
10	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	66 Points
11	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	58 Points
12	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	49 Points
13	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	46 Points
14	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	43 Points
15	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	43 Points
16	SENNA	Williams-Renault	30 Points
17	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	12 Points
18	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	10 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	RBR-RENAULT	422 Points
2	FERRARI	340 Points
3	McLAREN-MERCEDES	318 Points
4	LOTUS-RENAULT	288 Points
5	MERCEDES	136 Points
6	SAUBER-FERRARI	124 Points
7	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	95 Points
8	WILLIAMS-RENAULT	73 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	22 Points