Raikkonen Takes First Win in Abu Dhabi

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix proved to be one of the most exciting races of the season. The attrition was high at the front and the back of the field, and Sebastian Vettel put in a historic performance. 

If you missed the news yesterday, the FIA stewards ruled that Vettel's car did not have enough fuel in it when he stopped on track after qualifying. They voided his third place qualifying position and gave the team the option of either starting from the rear or from the pit lane. The team chose the pit lane. That means that all of the drivers below him move up a place, and it gave Fernando Alonso his best chance possible to pull a lead over Vettel in the World Drivers' Championship. 

Just before the race began, Pedro de la Rosa's car was pushed from the grid to the pit lane because the team could not get the tire warming blanket off the car. It would also start from the pit lane. 

Bruno Senna and Nico Hulkenberg crashed out immediately after a collision in the first corner. Senna was able to continue, but Hulkenberg was out. That brought out a local yellow. On the first lap, Alonso was able to pass Webber for fourth place. Romain Grosjean had a front right tire puncture. Raikkonen had an amazing start and was up to second place by lap three after starting in fourth. Webber was the big loser at the start; he dropped to fifth by lap four. 

By lap seven, the running order was as follows: Hamilton, Raikkonen, Maldonado, Alonso, and Webber. Vettel had gone from 23rd to 13th in that time. 

On lap 9 there was a massive crash between Nico Rosberg and Narain Karthikeyan. It put a massive amount of debris on the track. Rosberg was following Karthikeyan, and Karthikeyan's car suddenly slowed. Rosberg was too close to react and slammed into the side of Karthikeyan, which launched the Mercedes into the air briefly with ripped off the wheels on the left side of his car. 

The green flag came back out on lap 15, and Webber immediately attacked Alonso. It was a close fight for a few corners, but Alonso was able to stay ahead.

On lap 20, Hamilton pulled off track with an unknown problem. That put Raikkonen in the lead, Maldonado second and Alonso third. A lap later, Alonso passed Maldonado to take second. That left 32 laps for Alonso to fight for the top. There was a 5.4 second gap between them. A few laps later, Webber was going to pass Maldonado; he hit Maldonado and spun the car. That allowed Button to gain a spot, and he was able to make the pass on Maldonado, which brought Button up to third. And Webber was done to seventh. 

By lap 26, Webber attempted a pass on Massa. There was contact, but both cars were undamaged. However, a moment later as Massa was going over the curbs, he spun the car, which gave Webber the place. At this point, Vettel was up to seventh place, just behind his teammate Webber. Webber was asked by the team to move aside. 

Up front, Raikkonen had an over 20-second lead on Alonso when he pitted and was able to come out first. Amazingly, Vettel was now in second place just 1.3 seconds behind Raikkonen. 

Remember Vettel started from the pit lane meaning that he started on completely fresh tires. He came in during the safety car period and has stayed out since then, while all of the other drivers around him pitted. There were 22 laps to go at this point. 

There was another major incident on lap 39 involving Webber, Perez, Ricciardo and Grosjean. It brought out the safety car. Perez was passing Grosjean and Paul di Resta on the same corner. He made the pass initially but was tapped by Grosjean afterward. Webber was right behind them and hit Grosjean during the melee. Webber and Grosjean were the only cars knocked out of the race. Perez was able to continue, and di Resta was completely unharmed. Perez received a 10 second stop and go for causing the incident. 

This played directly into the hands of Vettel. The safety car condensed the field, and he had just pitted. Vettel was in fourth. There were 16 laps left. 

The safety car came in on lap 42 with 13 laps to go. The running order was Raikkonen, Alonso, Button and Vettel. Vettel raced hard against Button and finally made the pass with 4 laps to go. Meanwhile, up front Alonso had pushed up to Raikkonen and cut the gap to just over a second. 

However, Alonso was not able to make the pass and the final finish results were Raikkonen, Alonso and Vettel. 

No one can say that this was a boring race. Vettel gained 21 positions over the course of the race, and Raikkonen took his first victory for the season, the first victory for Lotus of the season and is the eighth different winner this season.