Tagged: Night Race

Vettel wins Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in Style 0

Abu Dhabi / F12009 / Formula 1 / Race / Red Bull

Vettel wins Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in Style

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel took a dominant victory at the 2009 season finale in Abu Dhabi this evening, beating team-mate Mark Webber home by 17 seconds to secure the team’s fourth 1-2 finish in impressive style. After a largely processional race, Webber and champion-elect Jenson Button brought the race to life in the closing laps with a nail-biting duel, with Webber somehow managing to hold off the faster Brawn.

At the start, Lewis Hamilton kept the lead from pole position, with the rest of the field slotting behind in grid order. Despite expectations of Hamilton cruising into the distance, the Briton was unable to shake off the challenge of Vettel in the opening stint, and duly lost the lead after the first round of pitstops, before retiring with brake problems soon after.

Hamilton takes pole at the first ever Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 0

Abu Dhabi / F12009 / Formula 1 / KERS / Mclaren / Qualify

Hamilton takes pole at the first ever Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has claimed pole position for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this evening in the Middle East, after going over two thirds of a second quicker than his nearest rival in qualifying. Despite leading Q1 and Q2 earlier in the qualifying hour, strong competition from Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber forced the Briton to go for broke, and ultimately eased ahead of the Red Bulls to take his fourth pole position of the season.

With the tyres proving difficult to warm up for a single-lap run, all drivers opted for one multi-lap stint on the harder tyre in Q3, with Hamilton emerging from the pitlane in time for just four flying laps compared to his rivals’ five. After scuffing his first flyer by running wide at turn 17, Hamilton bolted to the top of the timesheets with a 1m41.773s on the second time of asking.

Hamilton takes second win of 2009 season at Singapore Grand Prix 1

F12009 / Formula 1 / KERS / Mclaren / Race

Hamilton takes second win of 2009 season at Singapore Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton cruised to a comfortable Grand Prix victory in Singapore tonight, claiming the ten points on offer after a faultless drive from pole position. Starting at the front of the grid, with KERS and a considerable fuel load on-board meant Hamilton was always going to be the firm favourite for victory, but the Briton had to work hard for his reward at the toughest race on the F1 calendar.

At the start, Hamilton got away cleanly and led by the first corner while behind, Nico Rosberg benefitted from starting on the clean side of the track to jump Sebastian Vettel. Further behind Webber was able to hold off the stern challenge of Fernando Alonso on the opening lap, but only by running off the circuit. Ninth-place Barrichello made a super getaway to gain two places by the end of the first lap, while team-mate Button crucially got past Nakajima to climb to 10th.

Hamilton on pole for Singapore Grand Prix 2

F12009 / Mclaren / Qualify / Singapore

Hamilton on pole for Singapore Grand Prix

Hamilton had been on the pace throughout the session, and was the last to post his first timed lap in Q3, taking provisional pole. But with only one run remaining for all drivers, Rubens Barrichello brought out the red flags when he crashed at turn 5, damaging the left side of his car. Although he was able to emerge unscathed from the crash, the red flag meant the session was effectively over, with just 26 seconds left on the clock.

Hamilton then claimed pole thanks to his initial lap of 1m47.891s, with the rest of the top ten also decided on the first run of flying laps. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel took second place alongside Hamilton with a 1m48.204s, followed Nico Rosberg (1m48.348s) producing a fantastic performance in his Williams. The German had gone quickest of all in Q2, setting the weekend’s fastest time at 1m46.197s, but fell back slightly with race fuel in Q3.