Formula One Highlights: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Raceday Part 1
Bettor.com welcomes you to the highlights of the final race of the season. After 18 races done and dusted, the fate of the driver’s championship was down to the feature at Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi.
However, before starting our in depth look at the action on Sunday, let us first get educated about the 300 km/h battle that went down during qualifying with a look at the bigger picture that saw the championship hanging in the balance.
Sebastian Vettel secured his 10th pole in the final race of the season - the 15th pole for Red Bull out of 19 races. However, it was an extremely disappointing performance from Vettel's Red Bull teammate, Mark Webber, who was six tenths slower and only managed
5th on the grid.
Turning our attention to the rest of the top runners as Lewis Hamilton qualified 2nd, followed by Alonso, who grabbed 3rd in the dying moments of qualifying, and crucially placed himself ahead of Webber. Jenson Button qualified 4th, also ahead of Webber,
providing a bonus buffer to Alonso, and a blow to Webber's track position.
The target was straightforward for Alonso. He required 2nd to seal his third drivers championship. But apart from that, the situation looked rather complicated, especially for Red Bull. If Vettel won the race, Alonso was supposed to finish fifth or below
for the German to win the title. This meant a little extra from the likes of Hamilton, Button and Webber to fill the places in between.
In the apparent unlikely scenario of Webber taking pole, Alonso needed to finish 3rd or below for the Australian to win the championship. And for Hamilton to win the championship, he not only needed to get all 25 points, but also required Alonso to NOT score
any points, and hope for some misfortune to the Red Bull drivers.
The possibilities were endless. So, without further ado, let us start with the highlights package of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from the Yas Marina circuit...
The warm up lap begans! A little down the pecking order, it was interesting to watch out for the constructors battle between Force India and Williams for the constructors championship - just one point separated the two teams. We'll keep you updated on that
as the feature progresses.
The five red lights illuminated and as they went out, the season finale was underway. Sebastian Vettel led Lewis Hamilton into turn 1! Mark Webber remained in 5th. Alonso was down to 4th.
To add to the drama, there was a huge incident – Michael Schumacher spun out, and Liuzzi, apparently unsighted and subsequently unable to avoid the impact, drove straight into him.
The Force India was parked right on the top of the Mercedes, and very nearly hit Schumacher. However, both drivers were safely out as both pit garages, the crowd and more importantly, all those related to the two drivers, were able to breathe a sigh of relief.
On the downside, it was the end of their campaign for the 2010 Formula One season.
After an action packed first lap, nearly half a dozen drivers entered the pits, including Vitaly Petrov, Nico Rosberg and some of the drivers at the back end of the grid. Replays showed Rosberg and Schumacher making contact, causing Schumacher to spin out.
Now we knew the two Mercedes and German compatriots were close, however, this was verging on bizzare. The most important part, still, was that no one was hurt. It was ideally going to be the end of the season, it would have been ironic had it ended a career.
One could criticize Michael Schumacher for being too old for the sport, but this was definitely not how anyone would have pictured him conclude his ‘comeback’ season.
There was already enough drama in the first two laps of the race to last an entire lifetime! With 70 laps of the feature to go, the championship battle was still on.
Stay tuned...
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