Formula One Highlights: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Raceday.
Part 4
The action from the final race of the season continues. The bid for the driver’s championship still hung in the balance – Who would blink first?
Fernando Alonso was right on the back of Petrov as the race headed to lap 20. This also allowed Webber to catch right up with the Ferrari as well. It was plain that if Alonso were to win, he needed to overtake on track.
Another lap went by and the Spaniard was still struggling to get past the Renault – in all fairness, he hadn’t made an attempt yet. The team radio sprang to life as Ferrari reinforced the importance of getting ahead of the Polish driver.
The battle was extremely close in the mid field right from Rosberg in 8th to Webber in 12th – Hardly 4 to 5 seconds separated the 5 drivers. All the cars involved in the battle had pitted apart from Hulkenberg in 9th. Crucially for the championship, Alonso was in 11th and his closest rival in the standings, Webber, was in 12th; right at the back of the pack!
Lap 24 saw the Ferrari lose patience with the slow moving car ahead. Alonso tried to overtake Petrov – made a crazy lunge down the inside and nearly got knocked out. There was plenty of runoff area that saved the Spaniard, thankfully for the scarlet team and his well wishers. He recovered without losing any place. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton entered the pits and rejoined the track in 5th spot. Vettel was expected soon as well; probably the next lap by the looks of it as Red Bull prepared for his pit stop.
The race leader dived into pit lane as Jenson Button took over P1. The Red Bull rejoined in 2nd; ahead of Hamilton as the Red Bull camp went bonkers over the efficient stop and go. Elsewhere on track, Kobayashi and Kubica were in a tight scrap for 3rd place and Hamilton was right behind the battle – Each and every place needed to be fought for on the day which made it perhaps, the perfect conclusion to the 2010 season.
With a clear set of track in front of him, Jenson Button on provisional pole, set the fastest lap of the race on the wearing out softer tyres. It was indeed stunning pace from last year’s world champion. Kubica got past Kobayashi on the outside to take 3rdspot. Both drivers still needed to pit though.
A lap later, it was Lewis Hamilton’s turn to make his move on the BMW. The Briton got past Kobayashi to take 4th. Further back, Alonso was still stuck behind Petrov. He was close but didn’t seem to have the pace to make a move – Renault had bounced back superbly after the fiasco in qualifying, it seemed. Turning our attention to McLaren, Hamilton set a quickest first and second sector time as he got some much needed room on track after taking P4.
Jenson Button or his softer compound tyres showed no signs of tiring as the McLaren pit crew was still unmoved in the team garage. However, it was still a matter of time as he was losing his lead over Vettel and Hamilton. Button was lapping the 1 minute 44’s while Vettel and Hamilton were comfortably in the 1 minute 43’s.
New tyre ware was making its difference as Hamilton had caught up with 3rd placed Kubica. Looking at another Renault battle though, Alonso ran wide once again while chasing Petrov – It was obviously extremely frustrating for him as he continued to ‘struggle’ in his quest to overtake the car ahead. It was starting appear that pitting early was not entirely a sound decision by the Ferrari think tank. Alonso was losing ground on the cars ahead of him and there was growing concern that the title was slipping away from his grasps.
Stay tuned for lap 30 and onwards...
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