It Wasn't An Abu Dhabi Ding Dong

As many of the drivers expected, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix didn't deliver much overtaking and the main drama took place on the first corner. For the first time this season, Sebastian Vettel didn't finish on the podium or finish the race. The Pole sitter made a good start, maintaining his lead but suffered a right rear puncture after the first corner and his wheel was too damaged to continue out of the pits. Fernando Alonso had also made a good start, overtaking both Mark Webber and Jenson Button to fit neatly into second place behind Lewis Hamilton.

There was a recurring theme throughout the race, people overtaking but then losing that place almost instantly on the DRS zone. It started on lap four with Webber overtaking Button before the activation point and Button easily regained his place with his rear wing open. Webber's race got worse as a poor pit stop on lap eighteen allowed Felipe Massa into fourth place.

Sebastian Buemi became the second retirement on lap twenty with a rear suspension failure and Jerome D'Ambrosio followed him three laps later to make it three retirements. As the race progressed, the only 'racing' incidents that were inquired were drivers ignoring blue flags. Pastor Maldonado was the first culprit as he was redeeming himself after his engine penalty on lap 30. Webber overtook Massa on the same lap but again Massa immediately regained the place in the DRS zone. Bruno Senna was also guilty of ignoring blue flags seven laps later and was also issued a drive through penalty.

Massa slipped to fifth during the pit stops and Webber was also finally able to overtake Button into fourth on lap 42, Nico Rosberg hadn't pitted at that point. Webber was the only one not to have pitted onto the compulsory hard tyre and needed a sufficient time gap to be able to keep his place. He was guaranteed fourth place on lap 49 when Massa span out but was able to continue despite losing a lot of time. Daniel Ricciardo was the fourth retirement on lap 52 when found himself beached in the gravel. Webber left it until the final lap to come onto the harder tyre but he didn't gain a big enough gap to retain third, allowing Button to stand on the podium. Race result:

1.Hamilton (McLaren), 2.Alonso (Ferrari), 3.Button (McLaren), 4.Webber (Red Bull), 5.Massa (Ferrari), 6.Rosberg (Mercedes), 7.Schumacher (Mercedes), 8.Sutil (Force India), 9.Di Resta (Force India), 10.Kobayashi (Sauber), 11.Perez (Sauber), 12.Barrichello (Williams), 13.Petrov (Renault), 14.Maldonado (Williams), 15.Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), 16.Senna (Renault), 17.Kovalainen (Lotus), 18.Trulli (Lotus), 19.Glock (Virgin), 20.Liuzzi (Hispania) DNF: Vettel (Red Bull), Buemi (Toro Rosso), D'Ambrosio (Virgin), Ricciardo (Hispania).