2010 Abu Dhabi GP – Vettel, Webber, Alonso and Hamilton fight for the championship

Second Abu Dhabi GP was also the last championship race as in 2009, but this time the championship was not decided. On the contrary, for the first time in the history of Formula 1, the title race included four drivers.

Alonso in Ferrari was leading with 246 points, second was Webber in Red Bull with 238, third Vettel with 231, also in Red Bull, and fourth Hamilton in McLaren who had 222 points.

Red Bull had a 1-2 victory in Brazil one race before and McLaren had 32 points advantage ahead of third-placed Ferrari.

Most media wrote about the fact that Red Bull in the previous race in Brazil did not order Vettel to let Webber despite Australian being 14 points in front of him in the driver’s standings, but drivers kept their positions (Vettel first, Webber second) .

Several races earlier on the German GP in Hockenheim Ferrari asked Felipe Massa to let Fernando Alonso through.

Pole position was won by Vettel, the second was Hamilton, and third Alonso. Button was fourth and the worst placed title candidate was Webber who was fifth.

The leading duo retained their positions, and Button passed Alonso for third place. The first corners went without incidents and Schumacher attacked his team mate Rosberg on the outside of the sixth corner in the eighth place. Schumacher spun and collected Liuzzi. Both drivers retired and safety car came out.

During the safety car six drivers decided to change their tyres – Rosberg, Petrov, Alguersuari, Senna, Grassi and Klien, and they went back to the last six places. The first five drivers stayed in the same places as after the start.

Webber entered the pits after he touched the metal fence at the exit of the turn 19. Alonso soon followed him and returned in front of Australian. Although leading duo Vettel and Hamilton were on the worn softer tyres, they were still faster than Alonso and Webber on new harder tires. Alonso and Webber caught up with Petrov in Renault at the end of the 18th lap and stuck behind him.

Five laps later, Alonso attempts to overtake the Russian, but he had to give up, after he almost hit the rear end of Renault R30. Although he was visibly faster, Alonso was insufficiently fast on the straight and it cost him the championship.

Vettel won the race without any problems, 10,162 seconds in front of Hamilton and 11,047 s in front of Button. Rosberg was fourth, Kubica fifth and Petrov sixth.

Alonso was just seventh and Webber was eight and Formula 1 world champion was Vettel (256 points), with two points ahead of Alonso (254 points).

The German has thus become the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history. So far, this title was held by Lewis Hamilton, who became the champion in McLaren Mercedes in 2008. Vettel has beaten Hamilton’s record for 166 days with 23 years and 134 days.

Let’s mention that Red Bull made the right decision in the previous race in Brazil when it did not want to order Vettel to let Webber pass him because he had 14 points more than him. If Webber won in Brazil, and the order in Abu Dhabi remained the same, Red Bull would remain without the driver’s title because the champion would become Fernando Alonso with three points more than Vettel.

RESULTS

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP

CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP