Photo Credit: Mercedes GP |
Photo Credit: Nissan/Infiniti |
With Sebastian Vettel removed from the event, the second-place starting McLaren-Mercedes car of Lewis Hamilton inherited the race lead. While Hamilton's McLaren soared to the front, teammate Jenson Button immediately fell victim to a challenging Ferrari piloted by Fernando Alonso. Alonso took second place on the race track ahead of the first lap completion. Button fought an issue with his KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) hindering the Englishman's performance through the remaining 54 laps of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Behind Button through the event, the remaining Red Bull-Renault wheeled by Mark Webber campaigned the team colours in 4th place. Resorting to a three-stop strategy, Webber held off running the medium compound Pirelli tires until the last laps of the race. Running third at the time, Webber's lap 54 pit stop dropped the Red Bull Racing car out of the podium position. This grand prix was the first Formula 1 race of the season to be lacking representation by the Red Bull Racing team.
With exception of a few laps during pit stops, Lewis Hamilton flew around the 5.554-kilometer Yas Marina Circuit to a comfortable 8.4-second victory over Fernando Alonso. Leaving the Ferrari driver Alonso lonely on the podium, Jenson Button soldiered to a third place finish. As Mark Webber crossed the line for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 4th, the Red Bull Racing car was followed by the Ferrari of Felipe Massa along with the two Mercedes GP vehicles seeing Nico Rosberg ahead of Michael Schumacher.
An honourable mention in the finishing results of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix goes to the Williams F1 machines of Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado. Starting on the 12th and final row of the race due to an oil leak on Barrichello's car and a grid penalty on Maldonado's vehicle, both drivers made massive improvements to just miss the points-paying top-10. Brazilian Rubens Barrichello surged 11 positions to 12th while Pastor Maldonado climbed 9 spots to 14th in the final running order.
Capping the 2011 edition of Formula 1, the Brazilian Grand Prix is set for November 27th.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Race Results
- 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren
- 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari
- 4 Jenson Button McLaren
- 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing
- 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari
- 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP
- 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP
- 14 Adrian Sutil Force India
- 13 15 Paul di Resta Force India
- 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber
- 17 Sergio Perez Sauber
- 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams F1
- 10 Vitaly Petrov Lotus Renault GP
- 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams F1
- 19 Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso
- 9 Bruno Senna Lotus Renault GP
- 21 Heikki Kovalainen Team Lotus
- 20 Jarno Trulli Team Lotus
- 24 Timo Glock Marussia Virgin Racing
- 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT F1
- 22 Daniel Ricciardo HRT F1
- 18 Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso
- 25 Jérôme D’Ambrosio Marussia Virgin Racing
- 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing
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