The most exciting and thrilling season of Formula One history wrapped up in a very dramatic manner at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix earlier this month. The Yas Marina circuit served as a brilliant venue to host the last race of the season. The festive and jubilant air of Emirates gave a perfect celebration to the well deserved new World Champion, Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, who became the youngest World Champion in the sport’s history.
Although everything about the race weekend is marvellous and worth talking about for long, yet some of the men came out as exceptionally lucky. At the same time, there was no shortage of ill-fated drivers and teams that would remember this day for long for the hard luck that hit them.
Sebastian Vettel – The youngest Formula One champion
The Arabian sunset brought a brilliant dawn in the German driver’s career.
A very well deserving victory came his way as he cruised through the Yas Marina Circuit leading the caravan of cars. The 23-year-old has started ten races of the season from the pole position, while he bagged victory in five.
Vettel entered the last race of the season at the third place in the drivers’ championship and 11 points adrift of the leader. The top two drivers, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber both had better chances but the young lad had an unmatched determination and focus.
Red Bull – The Winners
Red Bull Racing has stood as the worst enemies of ‘team orders’ all through the season. The team management proclaimed before the last few races that they would prefer losing both the championships rather winning with cheating. However, their intentions have always been suspected.
Just a few days ahead of the final race, Webber very openly stated that if he wins the title it will be “inconvenient” for the team. There had been many instances during the final stage of the season, where Red Bull could have followed team orders and let Webber bag the first victory of his career however the team never changed its mind. But then, the best must prevail, and to be honest Webber never showed that he was a better driver than his team-mate.
At the end of the day, the team is happy. Just in their sixth season with the sport, the Austrian team has bagged both the World Championships.
Lewis Hamilton - 2nd on the podium
It was almost unbelievable. Lewis Hamilton walked out of the race without showing any stunts on the track. All the drivers kept safe from him and the British driver was able to see the chequered flag, although that was not really expected of him.
He was clearly impatient and restless. There was no reason why the aggressive young man who went to the track with a do or die situation in his head, accepted second place, but he did. The 2008 World Champion has shown some very belligerent races this season which has mainly cost him his second championship.
However, at the end of the day the McLaren team as well as the driver were happy to have secured second podium position, as it was already clear that championship has slipped out of their grips.
Jenson Button –The title defender
The title defender entered the last race of the season with the championship hopes already gone for him. As the Formula One entered Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Button stood at 5th place in the charts, and was 42 points adrift the charts’ topper, Fernando Alonso.
Before heading for the race, he told the media that he is only looking forward for a fun-filled last round of an unforgettable season.
At the end of the day, the third place on the podium was a good enough ending of the season. The icing on the cake was his girlfriend Jessica Michibata, standing in the paddock clapping for the driver as he showered champagne on the podium.
To be continued...
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