The Finishing Straight - Abu Dhabi (by HappyDude88)

THIS will be the final edition of ‘The Finishing Straight,’ as I will be doing a comprehensive review of the 2011 Formula One season after next week’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

        The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was a race that provided the fans with some much-needed overtaking, but questions have been raised about the DRS (Drag Reduction System) and its worth following Sunday’s race.  All of the passing on Sunday was done artificially and for the sport, it isn’t a good thing.  On that sense, I would agree with Jacques Villeneuve and Eddie Irvine when they have already admitted how bored they’ve been with artificial passing this season.  However, what choice do you have on a circuit which is one of the dreariest on the current calendar?  I’d rather watch a procession around Imola than another event in Abu Dhabi.  The facilities are top class and probably the best in the business but the track is very second-rate.  Once again, Hermann Tilke’s race circuits let the audience down and configuration changes will be required to ever make a classic Grand Prix here.  We have to put up with Valencia every season being a snooze fest and no-one wants to see another example again.  It is shame to give the circuit the thumbs down, especially when you think of the spectacular twilight setting in Abu Dhabi.

SPECIAL: Setting is brilliant, but the racetrack is not great

        I’ve been a fan of DRS this season and it has at least made overtaking more possible on a number of circuits.  It has been a case of trial and error this season, which was always expected in its debut campaign.  We saw the device being used far too easily in Istanbul and Spa, yet it was still difficult to overtake in Melbourne, Barcelona and Monza.  DRS is part of F1’s bright future and I wouldn’t scrap it, but we need to make it the right spectacle for the fans and give the drivers a chance to defend their position without feeling the need to give it up without a fight.  Abu Dhabi was okay last weekend, because at least the artificial element meant it wasn’t a follow-the-leader event, but for the sport, we can’t have many races like this otherwise the predictability effect creeps in again.

        It has been well documented that Lewis Hamilton has had a tough 2011 season, both on and off the track.  However, Abu Dhabi showed signs that he was coming back to his best.  In India, he looked distracted all weekend as the speculation over his doomed romance with Nicole Scherzinger took centre stage.  The performance he gave on Sunday reminded us of why Lewis is world class and still on his day, one of the best drivers in the business.  Despite his rough times, he still has at least matched Jenson Button’s win tally of three for the season and Mark Webber’s fourth place in the drivers’ championship now looks vulnerable, with Hamilton just six points behind.  It is often said that bouncing back quickly from disappointment is one of the strongest points in an individual.  Hamilton has done that and in commanding fashion and I truly hope that he can use his success on Sunday as a real stepping stone to a better 2012 campaign.

LIMPING: Vettel tours home after his sudden tyre failure

       For once, Sebastian Vettel got a dose of bad luck at the weekend.  A sudden puncture on the second corner of the race ended his hopes of matching Michael Schumacher’s record for wins in a season.  By his incredibly high standards, Sebastian had a very scrappy weekend.  He crashed on Friday and looked unhappy with the car throughout practice.  As expected, he produced the perfect lap to earn another pole position in qualifying, but I never believed he would win on Sunday, especially when you consider how invincible he has been at Silverstone and Suzuka in the past and been beaten fair and square this season.  The cause of the puncture doesn’t look like it will be revealed, although my theory is low tyre pressure.  I’m only saying this, as Red Bull had significant problems with tyres in the early stages of the Belgian Grand Prix, with tyres close to structural failure too.  At least he saved his bad luck for when both championships had been sewn up.

        Race stewards have returned to their bad 2008 ways this season.  Why did Bruno Senna get a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags?  I never saw any evidence of this on the worldwide feed.  Perhaps he did, but if the evidence doesn’t come through our TV screens, no wonders why the normal fan would have a quizzical look on their faces.  Senna’s penalty seems harsh but the stewards didn’t come down hard enough on Pastor Maldonado.  Maldonado picked up a similar penalty and it was deserved, only for the clueless Venezuelan to then battle Jaime Alguesuari when the leaders were lapping the pair.  Not only that, he blocked Mark Webber and when Webber rightfully showed his displeasure, Maldonado was stupid enough to run side-by-side with the Red Bull in an episode almost as distasteful as his attempt to drive Hamilton into the wall during Belgian GP qualifying.  Generally, he has done well in a rubbish motorcar and has put Rubens Barrichello in the shade more often than not, but Maldonado has more lapses than anyone on the grid.  He needs to sort himself out; otherwise it could lead to a more dangerous occurrence in the future.  I’m sorry but his behaviour at the weekend deserved a black flag, get out of the car you naughty boy and head for the airport with your head held in shame.  A 25-second penalty added to his race time is a peanuts penalty.  Jean Todt has done so well in his FIA role, but giving the stewards more option to penalise those regular offenders with black flags and race bans has to be a priority for future.  It is the only way to teach lessons into some of these drivers.

         Vitaly Petrov was the hero of the Red Bull pits last year, when his valiant defence of Fernando Alonso denied the Spaniard the world championship.  This season started so well for the Russian, with a wonderful podium finish in Australia but his campaign has gone downhill rapidly since.  In Abu Dhabi, he toured home in a distant 13^th and then launched a sensational outburst at his Renault team on Russian television, criticising them for a severe lack of development and dismal race strategies which have left him and his team-mate Bruno Senna, fighting too many losing battles.  Petrov has since apologised to the staff and Eric Bouillier has drawn a line under the matter, but he needs to control his drivers.  I understand Vitaly’s frustrations, but having a quiet word with Bouillier would have been better.  Speaking to the media like that doesn’t do any favours and it could throw his future with the team into doubt.  GP2 champion Romain Grosjean looked very competitive in Friday practice, Senna has kept him honest and of course, there’s the Robert Kubica factor.  Renault has more drivers than a job agency and errors in judgement like this from Petrov will not help his future prospects.  Wonder what Bouillier would have done if Nick Heidfeld had said this?  Sacked him would be the answer, oh wait, he did that earlier in the season. 

MOVING: Daniel Ricciardo continues to outperform Liuzzi

       The form of Daniel Ricciardo at the underfunded Hispania racing team has not gone unnoticed.  He is now outperforming Vitantonio Liuzzi on a regular basis and now it looks like he will be rewarded with a Toro Rosso drive next season.  This was a smart move by Dietrich Materschitz to place one of his promising youngsters in a new team to help develop his maturity and experience.  This news though means that Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguesuari might now be fighting for one seat in that team, which would be a tough break for both.  Buemi retired at the weekend with hydraulic problems.  It is his third retirement in the last four events, but all have been mechanical reasons and have cost the Swiss driver points in all of them.  Both Buemi and Alguesuari deserve another go at Toro Rosso next season, but it looks like one will be the unlucky loser and I fear for Buemi’s career, as he has been at the team longer and is older than his Spanish team-mate.  Formula One is a tough business and that is about to be proven again.  If Rubens Barrichello remarkably ends up staying on at Williams, both Adrian Sutil and Buemi, two very talented and solid Grand Prix drivers could be left in the wilderness.  It will be a tougher break for Sutil, considering he is staring at a top ten finish in the drivers’ championship, has outqualified Paul di Resta five times in seven races and picked up 60 per cent of Force India’s points.  Throw in Nico Hulkenberg into the mix, plus Grosjean, Senna and the possibility of Kimi Raikkonen returning to the F1 paddock and there will be some very disappointed and frustrated racers who won’t be on the grid come Melbourne next March.

         Driver of the day in Abu Dhabi was Fernando Alonso.  Hamilton may have won and is Driver of the Weekend, but Alonso’s performance on Sunday was sensational.  On Friday, the Ferrari was struggling to stay in a straight-line, let alone get around corners!  So, once again, Alonso surprised no-one, expect maybe himself with a gritty, fighting challenge to Hamilton and McLaren’s package superiority.  In that sense, it is a shame Vettel did retire, because it did deprive us of a classic three way scrap for the victory.  Perhaps Brazil will give us that chance next weekend.

2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Controlled Hamilton bounces back in style

SMILE: Lewis Hamilton was back on top form in Abu Dhabi

IN THE twilight of Abu Dhabi today, Lewis Hamilton reminded everyone just what a world class driver he really is.  He took full advantage of a rare bit of misfortune to strike the dominant Sebastian Vettel to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the United Arab Emirates.  It is the Brit’s third win of a troubled 2011 season, as he bounced back from recent traumas that have made his private life such a regular feature within the gossip columns of recent weeks.  Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and the second McLaren of Jenson Button completed the podium on the Yas Marina island; the first rostrum without a Red Bull driver for 20 races.

      From the outset of practice on Friday, McLaren turned up in Abu Dhabi and looked very fast.  Vettel bounced back from a rare lapse which saw him crash on Friday to record another pole position in qualifying yesterday.  However, those who presumed it would be another Sunday stroll for the German were about to get the shock of the season so far.  

DEMISE: Vettel's tyre begins to deflate, ending his race very early

     He charged into the lead after a perfect start, but entering turn two, recognised a problem with the rear of his car.  A rear tyre suddenly deflated and sent Vettel spinning onto the grass.  Hamilton probably couldn’t believe his luck as he inherited the lead; a position with which he only relinquished during the pitstops.  Sebastian limped home with the flailing rubber doing sufficient damage to the rear bodywork and rear wishbone, therefore ending his race in the pits.  It is his first DNF since the cruel engine failure he suffered in Korea last October.  It also means that Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a season can now not be broken.  A bemused Vettel and the team tried to find out what caused the instant puncture, with suspicions of low tyre pressures or debris off the turn one kerb.  As I write this, the cause is still unknown but the champion took his disappointment on the chin and stayed on the pitwall for the remainder of the event to watch proceedings.

       With Vettel out, it gave Hamilton the chance to assert himself at the front of the field again and what a good feeling it must have been.  A charging Alonso overtook Button on the first lap for second and kept the sister McLaren honest throughout the race.  However, Hamilton had better pace and more luck in the traffic to keep a secure lead of between three to five seconds throughout the 55-lap race.  As darkness fell, Red Bull’s problems deepened.  A dreadful nine second pitstop for Mark Webber cost him a shot at the final podium spot.  He seemed very cautious under braking throughout; suggesting that all was not well with the Australian’s car either.  With Button having a major KERS failure from lap 12 until around mid-distance, a significant opportunity was missed for a frustrated Webber.  Felipe Massa briefly took up the challenge, but he faded badly in the final stint and a pathetic spin at turn one had race engineer Rob Smedley shaking his head at another basic error from his driver.  Massa’s mistake allowed Red Bull to do a three stop strategy and enable Webber to pit on the final lap and put the less favourable prime tyre on.  Like at the Nurburgring with Vettel in July, the plan worked and left Massa marooned in fifth place. 

       Back infront and Hamilton completed the distance with little trouble to record his first win since the German Grand Prix in the summer and move him within six points of Webber’s fourth place in the driver’s championship.  Having experienced tough times both in his family and the split from girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger in recent weeks, Hamilton has had to experience a lot this season and he will be delighted with this performance.  He paid special tribute to his mum, who was there this weekend and celebrating her birthday too, making it a very happy Lewis on the podium.  Both he and Button wore the British poppy with pride too in memory of our soldiers on remembrance weekend in the UK.  Alonso seemed pleased with second place which keeps him just ten points shy of Button’s second place in the driver’s battle.  Behind Webber and Massa, Nico Rosberg had one of his strongest events of the season to finish sixth for Mercedes GP.  Team-mate Michael Schumacher survived a late race puncture to come home in seventh ahead of Adrian Sutil, Paul di Resta and Kamur Kobayashi.  Sutil and di Resta’s finishes came on different pit strategies and all but secures Force India a best ever sixth place in the constructor’s championship.  Koabyashi’s point was his first since the Nurburgring race eight races ago, but that is significant, as it moves Sauber back ahead of Toro Rosso in the constructors by a single point.  Sebastian Buemi was unfortunate not to beat all of them, as a suspension failure ended his day early.  There was also a notable effort from Rubens Barrichello, who came home 12^th from the back of the grid in an uncompetitive Williams, beating both Renault’s and Jaime Alguesuari’s Toro Rosso.

        Only one race remains now in the 2011 season, which is the Brazilian Grand Prix in a fortnight’s time.  For Lewis Hamilton, this is the perfect tonic and he will be aiming for similar success at Interlagos; a happy hunting ground for both McLaren drivers in the past.  Hopefully, Sao Paulo can provide everyone with a special finale which this season ultimately deserves.  

F1 classic races - Abu Dhabi

IN A new series, I will be looking back at six classic races every weekend from the country about to stage an event in the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship.  As Abu Dhabi has only staged two Grand Prix races, here is a selection of races between 1991 and 2010 of events that no longer feature on the F1 calendar, plus one event in Abu Dhabi.  Enjoy the archive!

1995 – Argentina

WINNER: Damon Hill (Williams Renault), 2^nd: Jean Alesi (Ferrari), 3^rd: Michael Schumacher (Benetton Renault)

HAVING spun out of a comfortable lead through suspension failure in Brazil, Damon Hill’s response came with a crushing victory on F1’s return to Argentina.  The first event at Buenos Aires in 22 years also brought a new pole sitter in the shape of young Scot David Coulthard.  Electrical problems curtailed his race, but his presence on the Grand Prix scene was here to stay.  Hill played the patient game in the early stages and then set a string of quick laps around the pitstops to build up a commanding lead.  Jean Alesi recovered from causing a first corner pile-up, which led to a race stoppage to finish second ahead of an off-colour Michael Schumacher, who had to settle for third, over a minute behind his chief rival.  Gerhard Berger produced a brilliant recovery from a dreadful 81.7 second pitstop to claim the final championship point in the second Ferrari.

1997 – San Marino

MAIDEN: Victory for Frentzen in 1997, his high point at Williams

WINNER: Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Williams Renault), 2^nd: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 3^rd: Eddie Irvine (Ferrari)

WITH no points from the first three races, Heinz-Harald Frentzen was already under pressure to deliver at Williams.  His response at Imola was impressive, as he held off a faster Ferrari of Michael Schumacher to claim his maiden F1 success.  Jacques Villeneuve had started on pole position for the fourth race in a row, but gearbox problems intervened at his second pitstop.  Schumacher had jumped Frentzen at the start, but quicker pit work from Williams got their man out infront and he grittily held on until the chequered flag.  Gerhard Berger’s 200^th Grand Prix ended early, when he spun on a damp patch on lap four.  Eddie Irvine kept rising star Giancarlo Fisichella at bay to secure a double podium finish for Ferrari on home soil.

1998 – Austria

WINNER: Mika Hakkinen (McLaren Mercedes), 2^nd: David Coulthard (McLaren Mercedes), 3^rd: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)

WET qualifying for the first time since Belgium 1994 provided a jumbled up grid, which had Giancarlo Fisichella on pole position, Jean Alesi a brilliant second for Sauber and the likes of David Coulthard languishing back in 14^th spot.  Coulthard was then involved in a collision with the two Arrows cars on the first lap, limping back with damage.  Front row men, Fisichella and Alesi’s races ended on lap 22, with a collision at the Remus Curve.  For a while, Michael Schumacher looked likely to overwhelm Mika Hakkinen, but he ran wide on lap 17, bouncing across the gravel and ripping the front wing off his Ferrari and dropping him back to 15^th.  After a feisty and exciting scrap with his brother, Ralf – he used team orders to pass Eddie Irvine and recover to third, behind Coulthard, who stormed back to second.  However, Hakkinen was untroubled at the front to record his fifth win of the season, to show his true championship mettle.

2003 – USA

WINNER: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2^nd: Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren Mercedes), 3^rd: Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Sauber Petronas)

WITH three men in the title running, the 2003 US Grand Prix in changeable conditions played a significant role in the destination of the championship.  A collision with Rubens Barrichello on the third lap handed the stewards with a difficult decision on whether to penalise Juan Pablo Montoya.  He was given a drive-through penalty and by being on the wrong tyres when conditions worsened, his championship hopes died.  The mixed weather played into the hands of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher.  Despite only qualifying 7^th, the German showed his class again in such variable weather to claim his sixth victory of the season.  Kimi Raikkonen kept his mathematical hopes alive by finishing a strong second, while Heinz-Harald Frentzen benefited from a brilliant call to change to intermediates at the right time, by getting an unlikely podium finish for Sauber.  His reward was the sack!  Jenson Button was on course for a maiden podium finish, until his BAR Honda engine expired whilst running second at half-distance.  A European heatwave mid-season had handed the initiative in 2003 to the Michelin runners, but at Indy, Ferrari played their wild card of the Bridgestone intermediate tyre which took Schumacher to the brink of achieving more history.

2006 – Bahrain

ENOUGH: Excellent pitwork kept Alonso ahead in 2006....just!

WINNER: Fernando Alonso (Renault), 2^nd: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 3^rd: Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren Mercedes)

THE first race of 2006 saw four teams arriving in desert believing they had equipment that was good enough to win the season opener.  McLaren’s chances took a knock when a rear wing failure saw Kimi Raikkonen spin out in Q1.  Starting 22^nd, he charged through the pack to finish third.  Honda’s Jenson Button had an great scrap with Juan Pablo Montoya throughout the race, eventually winning the dice to come home in fourth.  Even Williams threatened serious pace, with debutant Nico Rosberg coming home a sensational 7^th and recording fastest lap, the youngest driver to do so.  In the end, the battle for victory came down to a fight between Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.  Schumacher claimed pole position in the new knockout qualifying formula and led the first two stints of the race.  Despite heavy traffic, Alonso’s Renault team produced a top-class pitstop that was just enough to squeeze out ahead of Schumacher.  Alonso won the race, but Schumacher and Ferrari had shown that they were going to be serious challengers again in 2006. 

2010 – Abu Dhabi

WINNER: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing Renault), 2^nd: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes), 3^rd: Jenson Button (McLaren Mercedes)

FORMULA ONE’s first ever four-way title showdown ended with a nail-biting and tense finale in Abu Dhabi.  The favourites for the title were Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber, with the Spaniard eight points clear going into the final event.  The outsiders were Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, with both men qualifying on the front row.  A nasty accident between Michael Schumacher and Vitantonio Liuzzi on the first lap brought the Safety Car out and sent cars such as Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov into the pits to make their mandatory pitstops.  As the softer tyre began to wear out, both Webber and Alonso pitted early, handing the initiative to Vettel.  Ferrari had made a strategy blunder and covered off the wrong Red Bull driver.  This allowed Rosberg and Petrov to jump the pair and with the lack of overtaking opportunities, both drivers remained stuck behind the Russian for the rest of the afternoon.  Vettel won the race and with both Alonso and Webber failing to finish in the top four, it was enough for Sebastian to become the youngest ever F1 world champion.  Red Bull did the double and it began the Vettel dynasty in Formula One.

Sebastian Vettel - A legend in the making

# a special blog on the new double world champion replaced my regular Finishing Straight blog on the Korean Grand Prix.

THE word greatness is often used far too much in sport.  So too is the word, legend.  In the world of Formula One, you can only be considered a true great in the sport if you win the world championship twice.  Winning the title back-to-back is even harder to achieve, especially when you think of the current Formula One field.  The paddock may have been deprived of Robert Kubica this year by his pre-season rally accident, but this current crop of F1 drivers is probably the best in-depth we have had for over 30 years.  Multiple winners Rubens Barrichello, Mark Webber and Felipe Massa, combined with superb British champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button and former conquerors of Grand Prix racing, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.  So, this makes Sebastian Vettel’s record-breaking achievements in 2011 all the more special.  He truly is a legend in the making.

       Vettel’s F1 career has been full of highs and he made a name for himself from day one in an F1 cockpit.  He set the fastest practice time in Turkey 2006; his first appearance on a Grand Prix weekend as a third driver for BMW Sauber.  When Kubica was ruled out of the 2007 US GP following his aeroplane-like crash in Canada, Vettel stood in for the Pole.  He became the youngest driver to score a world championship point, coming home eighth.  BMW were keen to hold on to this starring talent, but Sebastian was part of the Red Bull young drivers programme and he ended up in a Toro Rosso later in the season, replacing Scott Speed from the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards.  A few races later, he starred in Japan, running a stunning third in the wet at Fuji Speedway before crashing into the back of Mark Webber’s Red Bull behind the Safety Car.  The youngster was devastated and had be consoled by his team for the embarrassing crash, but he bounced back in stunning style to record an outstanding fourth place finish just seven days later in Shanghai.

       Paired with Sebastian Bourdais for the 2008 season, Vettel struggled in the early races to repeat his form from the beginning of 2007.  Unbelievably, he was involved in three first lap accidents which took him out on the first lap in three of the first four races (Australia, Bahrain and Spain).  Once Toro Rosso produced a new car, he started to show his true class, in a car which frankly, would have been doing well to beat Honda and Williams.  Sebastian began a string of points scoring finishes from Hockenheim onwards, but it was Monza 2008 that really made him into a real star of the future.

      On a weekend where the championship challengers struggled in unseasonably wet conditions, Vettel came to the fore.  He delivered an impeccable performance on Saturday to become the youngest driver ever to earn a Formula One pole position.  24 hours later, he drove away from the faster McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen with consummate ease.  He won the race at a canter, to become the youngest driver to ever win a Grand Prix.  It was one of the finest drives I’d ever seen in Formula One and many in the Monza paddock that weekend had the same opinion.  Further point’s finishes in Singapore, Japan and Brazil earnt Sebastian eighth place in the championship final positions, whilst Toro Rosso ended up ahead of senior team, Red Bull in the constructors championship. 

     With David Coulthard going into retirement, Vettel was the perfect fit for the senior Red Bull squad, moving to the team for 2009.  In China, he overcame reliability problems in qualifying to take the team’s first pole position.  On raceday, foul weather conditions greeted the drivers and teams, but once again, Sebastian’s control at the front was total.  He showed his true class to record Red Bull’s first ever race victory.  It was a 1-2 for the team too, with Webber following his new team-mate home.  He also won from the front at Silverstone, Suzuka and Abu Dhabi to finish an excellent second in the drivers’ championship, only being knocked out of the championship running by a poor Q1 in Brazil which saw him drop out of contention.  He did make mistakes, such as colliding with Kubica in Australia and crashing at Monte Carlo, but the potential of this new German was really coming through.

      2010 started frustratingly for the Vettel/Red Bull partnership, thanks to reliability problems.  A broken exhaust saw Vettel limp home to fourth in Bahrain and a loose wheel nut sent him spinning out of the lead in Melbourne.  He won in Malaysia, but struggled with the Red Bull chassis and started to come under pressure in the team from team-mate Webber.  It triggered an extraordinary collision between the team-mates in Turkey.  He also drove into Jenson Button’s sidepod at Spa, labelled after that race by McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh as “the crash kid.”  However, he came back with fourth at Monza and crushing victories in Japan and Brazil to leave him with a chance of the championship going into the final event in Abu Dhabi.  It was a four-way title shootout and Sebastian drove like a champion all weekend.  He started on pole and won the race.  With an early Safety Car period allowing the likes of Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov to leapfrog Fernando Alonso and Webber, it was enough for Sebastian Vettel to be crowned the 2010 FIA Formula One World Champion; the youngest in the 60 year history of the championship.

      This season, he has been in a class of his own.  The signs were ominous with dominant victories in the first two races in Australia and Malaysia.  A risky tyre strategy nearly paid off in Shanghai, but this time, he had to settle for second behind a hard-charging Hamilton.  After a heavy crash in Turkey practice which ruled him out of any dry running on Friday, he returned to Istanbul Park 24 hours later to take pole position by nearly half a second.  Race victory was a formality.  Vettel’s best two wins of the season came in Spain and Monaco, when his package was not the fastest on raceday.  In the latter, he held off the stiff challenges of Jenson Button and Alonso, having been on a worn set of Pirelli tyres for nearly 60 laps.  Canada brought a rare chink in the armour, running wide on the last lap to allow Button in for a gigantic victory.  He stormed to victory in Valencia and when he couldn’t win, Sebastian would consistently finish second, as he did at Silverstone and in Hungary.  In between this was a torrid home event at the Nurburgring, where he was second best to team-mate Webber all weekend and had to settle for fourth; the only event in 2011 when he hasn’t finished on the rostrum.  After a run of races without a win during the summer, he recovered to win at Spa, Monza and Singapore, again leading all three from the front.  A cautious third place at Suzuka by his own high standards was good enough to secure his second world championship and success last time out in Korea means he can still match Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a season, set in 2004.

       In qualifying, he has the natural ability of Senna to set a lap when it is required.  He has shown he can overtake to win races like in Barcelona on Massa and Button and Alonso in Belgium.  When he gets infront, he seems to be able to coast to victory without any trouble.  With 100 per cent reliability and a sensational pitcrew around him, it’s no wonder why he has been the one to beat in 2011. 

      What Sebastian Vettel has achieved not just this season, but in his entire Formula One career is truly remarkable.  We shouldn’t be moaning at the domination of one driver at the front, we should be hailing and witnessing one of the true legends of this great sport show their genuine class.  The Vettel dynasty in Grand Prix racing has only just begun; it looks like Schumacher’s records could be beaten after all.

2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Fabulous Sebastian clinches maiden title

SEBASTIAN Vettel became the youngest ever Formula 1 world drivers’ champion, after a copybook driver to victory today in Abu Dhabi.  Under the twilight in the desert, Vettel led from pole to overhaul his nearest rivals, Spain’s Fernando Alonso, team-mate Mark Webber and Britain’s Lewis Hamilton in F1’s first four-way title showdown.

SPIN: Schumacher facing the wrong way before Liuzzi's impact

Vettel made a clean start and showed a lot of confidence to chop an advancing Hamilton into turn one, who had made a slightly better start.  Alonso, who started eight points clear at the start of the race, lost third place to Jenson Button’s fast-starting McLaren and his day slowly disintegrated into one of frustration.  Whilst the leaders safely got around the first few bends, Michael Schumacher’s nightmare comeback season came to a premature end, in dramatic circumstances.  Blocked by Rubens Barrichello’s defensive Williams, Schumacher got on the power out of turn four too quickly and spun his Mercedes wildly in the middle of the pack.  Caught between Sebastian Buemi and Nico Hulkenberg, Vitantonio Liuzzi had nowhere to go and used the Mercedes as a launch pad.  The luckless Italian crashed into the German and landed almost on top of Schumacher’s helmet.  Luckily, both drivers escaped a potentially disastrous outcome unhurt, but the Safety Car had to come out to clear the mess up.

CRUCIAL: This pitstop cost Alonso a third title

During the pace car procedure, Nico Rosberg, Vitaly Petrov and Jaime Alguesuari all elected to pit and remove the weaker race tyre, and this would play a significant factor in the final outcome.  After five laps under yellows, racing resumed and it became clear that Webber’s fading challenge was all but over.  Under pressure from the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa, he clouted a guardrail and headed for the pits.  He then got trapped behind the slower Toro Rosso of Alguesuari and with it, Australia’s hopes of a third world champion in history went away.  Strangely, Ferrari still saw Webber as a threat and elected to get rid of their blistering soft tyres and pit both Massa and more crucially, Alonso.  However, although they kept Alonso ahead of Webber, the Spaniard emerged behind both Rosberg and Petrov, both not needing to pit again.  Despite getting behind Petrov down the backstraight, the Renault’s excellent traction and outstanding f-duct meant that the Russian had little trouble in keeping the championship leader behind him.

With Alonso and Webber floundering in the midfield, this was Vettel’s chance and as the graining stage of his tyres disappeared, he went faster and faster.  His only threat for the win came from Hamilton and when the young German emerged from the pits ahead of Hamilton, separated by Kamur Kobayashi and Robert Kubica, the title was all but his.  Despite some concerns over his radio, he seemed untroubled and coasted to an easy win, his fifth of the season.  Hamilton and Button finished nose-to-tail to complete the rostrum and wrap up second spot for McLaren in the constructors championship.  Now, Vettel had to wait and see if he had done enough.

He had, as Rosberg finished an excellent fourth for Mercedes and Kubica’s strategy to start on the harder of the two tyre compounds paid off massively, as he managed to wind up in fifth, after only lining up 11^th on the grid.  His rookie team-mate Petrov backed the Pole up with sixth, a drive that might well have saved his F1 career.  Seventh place for Alonso was never going to be enough, and his childish behaviour at blaming Petrov by gesturing furiously towards the blameless Russian on the slowing down lap couldn’t have been missed.  Webber wound up a disappointing eighth, simply not quick enough to merit the championship, whilst Alguesuari held off Massa all afternoon to finish an excellent ninth for Toro Rosso, his first points since Barcelona in May.

CELEBRATION: Vettel celebrates a historic achievement

However, the day and the season have belonged to Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing.  Many congratulations to Sebastian on achieving history and there is bound to be more titles to come in the future.  However, aside from the team orders controversy at Hockenheim, the real winner this year has been Formula 1.  It has been a sensational season, quite possibly the best yet in its 60-year era and we only have to wait sixteen weeks until it all happens again.

Roll on Bahrain and Sunday 13^th March 2011!