Did Vettel continue his dominating form after clinching the Championship? Was he still motivated to win? Join me below the fold and find out what went down in the desert yesterday…
Vettel dominates in Abu Dhabi, stretches race win streak to 7
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel continued his unstoppable form in the second half of 2013 one week after he and his team clinched the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships, running away from the field in seemingly effortless fashion to win the glittering day-into-night Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Not only did the German wunderkind win the race by more than 30 seconds over his closest pursuer, but with his seventh consecutive victory he tied for the second longest win streak (Alberto Ascari holds the record with 9 in a row over the 1952-3 seasons) and also for second all-time in total wins in a season with 11 to Michael Schumacher’s 13. With two races remaining, Vettel has a chance to rewrite the record books yet again and catch the great Ascari as well as his legendary countryman in what has been a magical season for the 26-year-old 4-time champion.
After winning the pole, Mark Webber had another characteristicly slow start bogging down as the lights went out. The Aussie was swamped and left behind by his Red Bull teammate and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg. But Webber was able to avoid trouble and overcome his chassis’s recent history of unreliability and drove to a strong 2nd place, eventually re-passing Rosberg, who finished 3rd, on lap 20. Rosberg, who is having a breakout season, continued to hound Webber to the end but could not overtake him, finishing 2.8 seconds behind the second place man.
Directly behind them in 4th was Lotus-Renault’s Romain Grosjean, who had another storming drive and has proven himself to be genuinely quick this year, displaying improved maturity as a driver after a season full of self-inflicted problems in 2012. But unfortunately for Lotus’ team aspirations in the Constructors’ Championship, teammate Kimi Raikkonen’s nightmare weekend continued. After starting from the back due to an illegal floor, the Finn contacted Giedo van der Garde’s Caterham on turn one of the opening lap and broke his front right suspension. Thus Raikkonen’s race was ended before it had really begun after a week in which he and his team had openly feuded about team orders, ulterior motives and unpaid salary. The second-guessing about possibly starting from the pit to avoid just such an accident can only add to the tension and it remains to be seen whether Raikkonen will in fact finish out the season for Lotus, although theoretically the pay issues have been ironed out.
Rosberg’s teammate Lewis Hamilton continued his late season mini-slump, albeit with a decent points scoring 7th place. Tire management seems to be the Englishman’s bugaboo and at various points in the race he was unable to quickly overtake ostensibly slower cars from Sauber, Force India and Torro Rosso, forcing him to ride in dirty air and increase the wear rate on his rubber. Ferrarri had a strong race although they failed to gain any ground on rival Mercedes in the points, as Fernando Alonso finished 5th and Filipe Massa grabbed 8th. Force India’s Paul di Resta had an excellent race enabled by extra long runs on his tires and nabbed 6th place. His teammate Adrian Sutil, following a similar long-run tire strategy, was also able to score a point by finishing 10th. McLaren’s Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10 coming home 9th, again outscoring his former World Champion teammate Jenson Button, who could only manage 12th.
Top 10 finishers here:
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 55 | 1:38:06.106 | 2 | 25 |
| 2 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 55 | +30.8 secs | 1 | 18 |
| 3 | 9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 55 | +33.6 secs | 3 | 15 |
| 4 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 55 | +34.8 secs | 6 | 12 |
| 5 | 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 55 | +67.1 secs | 10 | 10 |
| 6 | 14 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 55 | +78.1 secs | 11 | 8 |
| 7 | 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 55 | +79.2 secs | 4 | 6 |
| 8 | 4 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 55 | +82.8 secs | 7 | 4 |
| 9 | 6 | Sergio Perez | McLaren-Mercedes | 55 | +91.1 secs | 8 | 2 |
| 10 | 15 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 55 | +93.2 secs | 17 | 1 |
Full race results here at Formula1.com.
Team standings for the Constructors’ Championship here:
| 1 | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 513 |
| 2 | Mercedes | 334 |
| 3 | Ferrari | 323 |
| 4 | Lotus-Renault | 297 |
| 5 | McLaren-Mercedes | 95 |
| 6 | Force India-Mercedes | 77 |
| 7 | Sauber-Ferrari | 45 |
| 8 | STR-Ferrari | 32 |
| 9 | Williams-Renault | 1 |
| 10 | Marussia-Cosworth | 0 |
| 11 | Caterham-Renault | 0 |
Other news: Niko Hulkenberg’s race was ruined when he received a drive through penalty for unsafe release by his pit crew. The speedy German had been looking good for a points paying finish prior to that. However, despite that disappointment Hulkenberg received the good news after the race that Lotus’ management made signing him up for next year their number one priority. Highly respected by his peers and racing experts for his skill and technical feedback, it would seem to be a mutually beneficial arrangement for both parties, especially after the soap opera ending to the Raikkonen era.
The next race weekend is November 15-17 for the United States Grand Prix at the fantastic Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Fire up some BBQ, crack a Lone Star and don’t miss that race–the beautifully designed track instantly became one of the highlights of the calendar last year.