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Yas, it’s Hamilton

The German became a Formula One World Champion. A year on and after a second title in the bag this season, the Red Bull driver saw the other side of the coin.

The German became a Formula One World Champion. A year on and after a second title in the bag this season, the Red Bull driver saw the other side of the coin.

The 24-year-old, starting from pole, slid off the track because of a tyre puncture at the second corner of the first lap which prematurely ended his race.

At the other end of it, as the sun went down at the beautiful Yas Marina Circuit, it seems like Lady Luck seems to be looking up to Lewis Hamilton.

The McLaren driver, who has had a difficult year on the track and off it, drove a flawless race to win the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday night.

The Briton, a World Champion in 2008, benefited from Vettel’s misery but still drove a perfect race to almost lead from start to finish and take the chequered flag after 55 laps for the third time this season.

It was his first win since the German Grand Prix this year. His previous victories this season came in China and Germany.

The bullet-proof Red Bull of Vettel suffered the first blip since Korea last year. It was his second retirement after engine trouble put an end to his race at the Korean Grand Prix.

He had also spun at Turn 1 during Friday’s free practice.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who qualified fifth, drove a brilliant race to finish second. Alonso overtook McLaren’s Jenson Button at the start and never looked back. Button, who was involved in an interesting battle with Red Bull’s Mark Webber, finished third for the third time here at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Webber, who had initially overtaken Button and had held on, had to relinquish that spot after making his third pit stop in the final lap of the race. His chance of a podium after Vettel’s early retirement, had diminished after the team had fumbled with his first stop. They left him stationary for almost 10 seconds which virtually put an end to his podium hopes.

The race got going with a track temperature of 31 and a humidity level of 57 and there were plenty of overtaking maneuvers at the top of the field at the start and later on during the race in the middle of the grid.

It was a clean start by pole-sitter Vettel, second-placed Hamilton and third placed Jenson Button before Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso got ahead of Button on the outside at Turn 1 after passing Webber at the start. There was also a fierce battle between Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher before Rosberg got ahead.

Vettel’s lead was short-lived after spun out in the second corner following a puncture to the rear right tyre. He crawled back to the pits but the damage was severe that he had to retire from the race.

Hamilton had slowly got to a 2.6 second lead over Alonso and a 8.6 second lead over Button and 10 seconds on Webber. Button was 4.9 seconds behind Alonso. Webber made a move on Button on Lap 15 but the later got it back at the corner. Race leader Hamilton pitted on Lap 17 and was followed in by Alonso and Button. Webber took the temporary lead as Hamilton and Alonso rejoined in second and third.

Webber pitted in the next lap and Hamilton took back his spot and had built a gap of 3.3 seconds over Alonso. Hamilton had an 18-second lead over Button.

Webber rejoined in fifth behind Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. On Lap 30, Webber made a move on Massa but the latter got his position back at the turn.

By Lap 32, Hamilton had built his lead over Alonso to five seconds. Webber was hot on Massa’s tail in the battle for fifth and the gap was just 0.2 seconds but increased to two seconds because of backmarker Williams’ Pastor Maldonado, who was also earlier given a drive-through penalty for ignoring the blue flags.

Webber made his second pit stop on Lap 36 and rejoined in sixth behind Rosberg. Button pitted in the next lap and rejoined in fifth, sandwiching himself between Rosberg and Webber.

Webber battled Button for third and finally made his move stick at the corner of the turn eight and nine chicane, by going on the inside. It appeared that their tyres had touched as Webber exited the corner. Temporary race leader Alonso had built up a lead of 20 seconds but he couldn’t get ahead of Hamilton after he had pitted on Lap 43.

Webber was looking good for third but had to make his final stop which he did on the final lap as Hamilton raced to victory. -james@khaleejtimes.com

RESULTS

(Driver, nationality, laps completed, time)

1. Lewis Hamilton, Britain, McLaren, 55, 1 hour, 37 minutes, 11.886 seconds. 2. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Ferrari, 55, 1:37:20.343. 3. Jenson Button, Britain, McLaren, 55, 1:37:37.767. 4. Mark Webber, Australia, Red Bull, 55, 1:37:47.670. 5. Felipe Massa, Brazil, Ferrari, 55, 1:38:02.464. 6. Nico Rosberg, Germany, Mercedes, 55, 1:38:04.203. 7. Michael Schumacher, Germany, Mercedes, 55, 1:38:27.850. 8. Adrian Sutil, Germany, Force India, 55, 1:38:29.008. 9. Paul di Resta, Britain, Force India, 55, 1:38:52.973. 10. Kamui Kobayashi, Japan, Sauber, 54, 1:37:13.417. 11. Sergio Perez, Mexico, Sauber, 54, 1:37:26.738. 12. Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, Williams, 54, 1:37:27.448. 13. Vitaly Petrov, Russia, Renault, 54, 1:37:31.300. 14. Pastor Maldonado, Venezuela, Williams, 54, 1:37:54.633. 15. Jaime Alguersuari, Spain, Toro Rosso, 54, 1:38:05.938. 16. Bruno Senna, Brazil, Renault, 54, 1:38:34.408. 17. Heikki Kovalainen, Finland, Lotus, 54, 1:38:37.753. 18. Jarno Trulli, Italy, Lotus, 53, 1:37:53.904 19. Timo Glock, Germany Virgin, 53, 1:38:23.176 20. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Italy, Virgin, 1:38:55.177.

Not classified: Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, Hispania, 48. Sebastien Buemi, Switzerland, Toro Rosso, 19. Jerome d’Ambrosio, Belgium, Virgin, 18. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Red Bull, 1.< Fastest lap: Mark Webber, Australia, Red Bull, 1 minute, 42.612 seconds on lap 51.

Drivers’ standings

1. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Red Bull, 374 points. 2. Jenson Button, Britain, McLaren, 255 3. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Ferrari, 245 4. Mark Webber, Australia, Red Bull, 233 5. Lewis Hamilton, Britain, McLaren, 227 6. Felipe Massa, Brazil, Ferrari, 108 7. Nico Rosberg, Germany, Mercedes, 83 8. Michael Schumacher, Germany, Mercedes, 76 9. Vitaly Petrov, Russia, Renault, 36 10. Nick Heidfeld, Germany, Renault, 34 11. Adrian Sutil, Germany, Force India, 34 12. Kamui Kobayashi, Japan, Sauber, 28 13. Jaime Alguersuari, Spain, Toro Rosso, 26 14. Paul di Resta, Britain, Force India, 23 15. Sebastien Buemi, Switzerland, Toro Rosso, 15 16. Sergio Perez, Mexico, Sauber, 14 17. Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, Williams, 4 18. Bruno Senna, Brazil, Renault, 2 19. Pastor Maldonado, Venezuela, Williams, 1

Constructors’ standings

1. Red Bull, 607 points.

2. McLaren, 482

3. Ferrari, 353

4. Mercedes, 159

5. Renault, 72

6. Force India, 57

7. Sauber, 42

7. Toro Rosso, 41

9. Williams, 5