Top 10 F1 races in the past 15 years

2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

It was the 18th race of the season and the championship leader Sebastian Vettel started the race from the pit lane because he had stopped in the final qualifying the previous day due to lack of fuel. It was a huge test of his driving skills, and only a podium finish would keep his chances for the driver’s title alive.

The other title contender, Fernando Alonso, who had led the championship for a large part of the season before Vettel overtook him, was sixth on the grid. This starting position for Alonso was threatening for the other drivers; for some unknown reason, he comes out very strong when he starts fifth or sixth.

Christan Horner had said in one of his interviews that Vettel was the only one in the garage who was confident of making it to the podium. And he did that.

Starting from the pit lane, he was running second behind Kimi Raikkonen on second position by lap 31, which was an unbelievable sight. His pit stop in lap 37 put him down to fourth position, behind the McLaren driver Jenson Button. The British driver had no idea that he was going to be overtaken by a 25-year-old racer who was less experienced when compared to him. In lap 51, Vettel passed him cleanly and beautifully to get his goal, the third position, and stood on the podium with the second runner-up’s trophy, making his team very proud.