Quite a spectacle Abu Dhabi, it looked fantastic and the people who were there say it was fantastic.
The worst thing about it was the race itself, aside from the start and the end it was rather dull.
Hamilton had qualified on pole after a sensational lap that saw him over 6tenths up on the rest of the field and just on lap shorter than the Red Bull's. It was one of the lap's of the year quite simply.
So at the start we had a brilliantly set up and close tactical fight between Hamilton,Vettel and Webber with Button lurking just behind. Barrichello, in 5th was strugglin after whacking Webber's right rear at the first corner, damagin the Brawn front wing and thus causing him considerable understeer all race. Webber got away undamaged.
Ruben's had begun the year smacking into Webber at Turn one in Melbourne, and ended it by smacking into Webber at Turn One in Abu DHabi. Now think how many people did Button run into and yo get a sense of the difference between the two drivers and why one won the championship and 6 races, and the other won 2 races and finished 3rd.
Button and Ruben's pitted first, followed by Hamilton, Webber and Vettel, Vettel's longer stint saw him emerge clear in front of Hamilton and a battle Royal for the final race of the year was set.
But it never materialised. Hamilton's Mclaren suffered a right rear brake problem and with two stops from 200mph down to less than 100, leaving him out on the track was a risk nobody was going to take.
Hamilton pulled into the pits and into the garage and every viewer's race was over.
Vettel cruised to the win, while behind him, Button encountered new friend Kobayashi after pitting for his first stop, with Button coming off worse as he outbraked himself at the end of the first long straight. But as world champion, Button didn't care, the gloves were off and it was time to enjoy racing again.
And he certainly did enjoy it, as Mark Webber began to struggle on the option tyre with still 15 laps to go, Button started reeling the Aussie in, after Button made his second stop with 13 laps to go. Webber was in sight. Vettel was gone and in a race of his on, but Webber was there for the taking.
Half a second, sometimes more, lap after lap, and with 4 laps to go he was almost on the Red Bull's rear wing. On the final lap, battle had begun. Webber was really struggling to slow the car down in the big braking zones, squirming and twitching almost every time. Button knew he would get past if he had a chance.
That chance came along the first straight on the final lap, Webber took the inside line, the dusty line on poor tyres. Button had the outside, cleaner line.
Thundering down to turn 7, Webber somehow, miraculously held his car in a straight line and it was Button who got out of shape, just as he had against Kobayashi.
But it wasn't over yet,Button got a better drive out of the chicane and was alongside Webber again on the second straight, but again Webber made the world champ choose, go round the outside where its cleaner, or go inside where it is dirty.
Button went on the outside and heading to the braking zone was a considerable margin ahead. Maybe he could of come across and squeezed Webber slghtly, but Button stuck to his line and held it for the next chicane, but incredibly, so had Webber.
But coming out of the chicane Webber was struggling once more and Button got alongside. They disappeared behind an advertising board,side by side.
Webber emerged first, had Button backed out or had Webber outbraked him? A bit of both I suspect.
For the rest of the lap Btton could do no more and finished just half a second behind Webber.
It had been a fantastic last lap from both men. Button showing us just how much of a racer he really is.
Their smiles, body languages and interviews after the race showed how much both men had enjoyed the fight.
Vettel meantime, said his car was a pleasure to drive and that he was sad to see the season end, and he isnt the only one.
Behind the top 3, Barrichello and Heidfeld had quiet drives to 4th and 5th, Heidfeld overtaking team mate Kubica in the championsip.
Kobayashi drove a storming one stop race to finish ahead of team mate Trulli who had started in the top 8! The japanese driver has surely bagged himself a seat at the japanese team.
The final point went to Buemi, another quiet, but very strong drive to round off his year.
Rosberg, Raikkonen, Kubica, Alonso, Nakajima and probably Kovalainen and Grosjean, said goodbye to their respective teams on a very low key note,all struggling throughout the race.
The only drive of note outside of the points was Tonio Liuzzi, who comfortably got the better of Sutil.
So, that was 2009, quite a season for both good and bad reasons, but all in all a success!
Bring on Bahrain!
1. VETTEL Red Bull
2. WEBBER Red Bull +17.8s
3. BUTTON Brawn +18.4s
4. BARRICHELLO Brawn +22.7s
5. HEIDFELD BMW +26.2s
6. KOBAYASHI Toyota +28.3s
7. TRULLI Toyota +34.3s
8. BUEMI Toro Rosso +41.2s
9. ROSBERG Williams +45.9s
10. KUBICA BMW +48.1s
11. KOVALAINEN McLaren +52.7s
12. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +54.3s
13. NAKAJIMA Williams +59.8s
14. ALONSO Renault +69.6s
15. LIUZZI Force India +94.4s
16. FISICHELLA Ferrari +1 lap
17. SUTIL Force India +1 lap
18. GROSJEAN Renault +1 lap
19. HAMILTON McLaren +35 laps
20. ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso +37 laps
1. Jenson Button Brawn GP 95
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 84
3. Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 77
4. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 69.5
5. Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 49
6. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 48
7. Nico Rosberg Williams 34.5
8. Jarno Trulli Toyota 32.5
9. Fernando Alonso Renault 26
10. Timo Glock Toyota 24
11. Felipe Massa Ferrari 22
12. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren Mercedes 22
13. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 19
14. Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 17
15. Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari & Force India 8
16. Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 6
17. Adrian Sutil Force India 5
18. Kamui Kobayashi Toyota 3
19. Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 2
1. Brawn GP 172
2. Red Bull Racing 153.5
3. McLaren Mercedes 71
4. Ferrari 70
5. Toyota 59.5
6. BMW Sauber 36
7. Williams 34.5
8. Renault 26
9. Force India 13
10. Scuderia Toro Rosso 8
No comments:
Post a Comment