ABU DHABI, (Reuters) – Germany’s Sebastian Vettel led Red Bull to a one-two finish at Abu Dhabi’s stunning new circuit yesterday to bring down the chequered flag on a Formula One season like no other.
The 22-year-old German beat Australian team mate Mark Webber by 17.8 seconds under the Yas Marina floodlights to become the first winner in the oil-rich emirate and cement second place in the championship.
“The priority was to secure second place and we succeeded,” said Vettel, still sweating with exertion after the sport’s first day-to-night race. “To do it with a win is the best.”
While Vettel chalked up his fourth victory of the season, Red Bull completed a hat-trick — having won the previous two races in Japan and Brazil — and their fourth one-two after starting the year without ever having stood on top of the podium.
Britain’s Jenson Button, who clinched the title in the previous Brazilian Grand Prix for his championship-winning Brawn GP team, rounded off his season with third place after hunting down Webber and chasing him nose-to-tail in the closing laps.
A mere 0.6 of a second separated the two cars at the chequered flag.
“It was a great race, I really enjoyed it,” said Button. “This race was a bonus for me. I came here to enjoy myself, which is exactly what I did.”
HAMILTON
RETIRES
It was Button’s first appearance on the podium since Italy last month after a season that started with him winning six of the first seven races for a team that emerged at the 11th hour from the remains of departing Honda.
The Briton ended the season with 95 points to Vettel’s 84, an unthinkable outcome at the end of last year when he ended the campaign with just three points after McLaren and Ferrari battled for supremacy.
McLaren’s outgoing world champion Lewis Hamilton had led from pole position but the Briton’s hopes of becoming the first winner in Abu Dhabi vanished after 20 laps when he retired with a brake problem.
“There was a problem with the brakes, I couldn’t stop the car,” Hamilton told the BBC. “I was locking and locking and locking and it was harder than ever to drive the car.
“It’s a shame as the car felt so good these last couple of days but we haven’t had many brake problems this year so there you go.”
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, likely to move from Brawn to Williams for next year, finished fourth with Germany’s Nick Heidfeld fifth in BMW-Sauber’s last race before the German manufacturer leaves the sport.
Japanese stand-in Kamui Kobayashi, replacing the injured German Timo Glock, scored his first points in Formula One with sixth place for Toyota ahead of veteran Italian team mate Jarno Trulli in seventh.
After just two races, Kobayashi could also claim to be his country’s top driver with Williams’ Toyota-backed driver Kazuki Nakajima ending the season with a dismal tally of no points from 17 starts.
Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi, a Bahrain resident for much of the year, took the final point for Toro Rosso in eighth place.
McLaren secured third place overall in the constructors’ standings, one point ahead of Ferrari but well behind champions Brawn and Red Bull. Toyota were fifth while BMW-Sauber leapfrogged Williams for sixth place.
The race, against the stunning backdrop of the most lavish circuit in Formula One, was low on thrills or incidents other than Button’s determined chase of Webber and Hamilton’s unexpected retirement after threatening to run away with victory.
Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari was the only other retirement, doing so in some embarrassment after pulling up at the Red Bull garage instead of his own at his first pitstop and leaving without refuelling.