Having equalled the record for the highest number of poles in a single season, and on a circuit that was expected to test the overtaking gizmos to their limits, it looked as though Vettel was set to take yet another win in his extraordinary season. It didn’t quite work out that way.
Starting from pole, Vettel made a great start but found himself at a standstill and perpendicular to the track at turn two. He’d picked up a right rear puncture and spun off – he managed to make it back to the pits, but the shredded tyre had ripped a good portion of the back of his car to pieces, resulting in Vettel’s first retirement since Korea in 2010. This left Hamilton who had started second, in the lead by nearly three seconds from Alonso and Button at the end of the first lap.
Alonso started to close the gap on Hamilton over the first few laps but the closest battle on the circuit was between Button and Webber, with the Aussie passing the Brit very briefly on lap four but falling victim to the McLaren’s speed advantage in a straight line in the second of the circuit’s DRS zone. Button had broken Webber’s tow on lap ten and started to set about getting on terms with the two world champions in front of him, Hamilton was now over seven seconds in front, with Alonso pursuing him just over two seconds behind.
Unfortunately, Button’s car developed KERS problems, allowing Webber to close onto the back of him. Webber again managed to get in front of Button for all of one corner, with Button locking up under braking. Webber nipped past into the left-right-left at the end of the second straight but the wily Button wasn’t giving up and cut back inside for the next corner retaking the position. The first round of pit stops took place without drama for the leading trio, but when Webber pitted, the team struggled with his right rear and he ended up sat on the jacks for ten seconds – around seven seconds longer than the average pit stop. This left Massa in fourth chasing after Button’s third place which should really have been fairly easy to take. With the KERS not working in the McLaren, Jenson was doing well to keep ahead of Massa with an ailing car.
Up at the front, Hamilton was looking to be back on form this weekend and had now decided that setting consecutive fastest laps looked like a bit of fun. He set three on the trot and opened out a further two seconds over Alonso – his lead now at around five seconds on lap 31.
After his prolonged wait in the pits, Webber was now back trying to get fourth place from Massa and again nearly managed to pull it off, only for Massa to take the place back in the second DRS zone. This allowed Button to increase his lead over Massa to nearly six seconds, helped in part by his KERS system deciding it wanted to play again, albeit only for a lap or two at a time.
Button was the first of the frontrunners to put the hard tyres on – Webber had pitted a lap before but put the option tyres on to try and make up time using the faster rubber. He therefore began to take enormous chunks of time out of his opposition, setting the fastest lap and closing onto the back of Button very quickly.
Hamilton pitted from the lead on lap 41, but Alonso carried on and would attempt to use his softer tyres to leapfrog Hamilton. Webber made his move on Button on lap 43 and took fourth from him. He then made short work of Rosberg who also had another stop to make, and took third place. He still had to make another pit stop to fit the prime tyres but looked like he might just wrest fourth place from the grips of Massa. He was aided no end by Massa’s decision that going forwards round the first corner was boring, so he’d try and do it backwards. It didn’t prove any quicker, but Webber must’ve admired Massa’s innovative technique – it gifted him fourth place. Alonso in the meantime hadn’t opened enough of a gap to Hamilton and had used up his tyres, so he pitted and relinquished his lead to Lewis.
Webber came in for his final pit stop on the last lap, rejoining in an easy fourth place, shortly before Hamilton took the chequered flag from Alonso and Button. Massa wound up in fifth ahead of Rosberg and Schumacher, with Sutil and Di Resta behind them.
Hamilton turned up in Abu Dhabi and immediately looked on top form, which he carried through to the race. Even if Vettel hadn’t dropped out, the ease with which Hamilton could turn on speed when he needed it suggests Vettel would’ve struggled to win. It would’ve been fun to watch the race between the two of them. Ah well, there’s always Brazil…
Source: enterf1.com Stuart McCann