Vettel crowned youngest F1 champion @ Abu Dhabi

Whoooooaaa!!! What a race!! Exciting stuff @ Abu Dhabi.. One of my Best race filled with tension and excitement!! Kudos to Vettel and Red Bull!!

All started well for Sebastian Vettel who had never led the championship this season to be the youngest F1 drivers’ champion. He started off from pole with Lewis behind him, Button overtook Alonso to move into third position while Webber hung on to his fifth position. The major incident of Lap one was Schumacher’s mistake when his car touched his team mate Rosberg’s car and spun out. Force India’s Liuzzi slammed into Schumacher’s car and parked it over the Mercedes and nearly took off Schumacher’s head but both the drivers emerged out safely.

Lap 2 saw Hamilton nudge Vettel but no damage was caused to either of them. The same lap saw the safety car come out on track. While the safety car was still on track Rosberg, Petrov, Alguersuari, Di Grassi, Senna and Klien all pit which later played to the advantage of Petrov and Rosberg. This move can also be counted as one of the turning points of the race out of many.

Safety car left the track in lap 6 and Vettel started to extend his lead at the top ahead of Lewis. Meanwhile Kubica started to make his way up the track slowly while Button was moving away from Alonso.

Lap 11 saw Webber struggling with his rear tyres when his slicks started to grain and went into the pits to change to the harder ones but this pit stop saw him slip to sixteenth position. Two laps later Ferrari made its first mistake and brought Massa into the pits and he regained the race in seventeenth position behind Alguersuari. The second mistake came after two more laps when Ferrari brought Alonso into the pits which saw him come ahead of Webber but before the determined and rock solid Vitaly Petrov of Renault. Petrov was the menace for Alonso costing him the driver’s championship who held him back till the end of the race.

Hamilton pit on lap 23 and emerged fifth behind Kubica and Kobayashi while two laps later race leader Sebastian Vettel made his championship winning pit stop and emerged second behind Jenson Button who was yet to pit. Meanwhile Alonso was struggling to get past Petrov with his race engineers also urging him to do so over the radio. By lap 26 Hamilton had gotten past Kobayashi and was making his try at Kubica. But the Renault driver was also very solid and did not allow Hamilton to pass through.

Alonso was struggling to get past Petrov and the frustration was showing on him with him running wide on many occasions in the process of trying to overtake Petrov. Hamilton was also getting frustrated as he was getting held back by Kubica. Lap 32 saw him panic telling the engineers on the radio that he might have damaged his front tyre but the team told him to hold back unless there was any emergency and he did so. The Renault were dictating the championship results leaving both Ferrari and McLaren frustrated and this was playing to the advantage of the Red Bulls.

Button finally pitted on Lap38 to emerge in fourth position behind team mate Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was finally relieved when Kubica pitted on lap 46 and he could move into second position. Kubica emerged from the pits behind Rosberg in sixth position ahead of team mate Petrov. This meant Alonso’s dreams were virtually done unless for some miracle as he had to pass both the Renault cars and also Button to win the championship.

But in the closing stages there was some unlikely hope for Alonso when Hamilton started lapping a second quicker than Vettel but all those hopes were laid to rest when Vettel increased his speed to clinch the checkered flag.

Incredible Finale!! Incredible race!!

Heartbreak for Alonso!! Poor Alonso must be feeling let down by his team!! Despair for Ferrari and Alonso fans!!

He never led the championship this season but the only time he led it was when he won it!!

Hats off to the youngest champion of the world F1 drivers’ championship at the age of 23!! “German Blood” as they call it!! (Courtesy: Facebook post by Himakiran)

“We are the champions” was being played in the pit garage of Red Bull (courtesy: BBC) and it is party time for them!!

All results and pics courtesy www.formula1.com

Drivers Championship Standings -

The Constructors Championship Standings -

Results -