- 04 Nov 12, 15:37#332138
For Kimi Raikkonen, the victory. For Sebastian Vettel, a Fernando Alonso-esque damage-limitation operation to retain the lead of the World Championship from the Spaniard. And for the rest of us, two hours of edge-of-the-seat drama as Abu Dhabi produced the grand prix of the year.
Who ever doubted the Yas Marina circuit? After a couple of relatively mundane grands prix, this was F1 back with a bang as Raikkonen held off Alonso's desperate late charge to claim the first victory of his comeback and Lotus' first since 1987, while Vettel pickpocketed third place from Jenson Button with three laps remaining to retain a ten-points lead of the championship.
It was a race which had everything - everything, that is, except for a deserved victory Lewis Hamilton after his McLaren team, not for the first time this season, failed him - literally so, with a power failure on his MP4-27 forcing Hamilton into retirement from the lead of the race.
What it did have, however, was everything else that a great race requires: great racing between the leading protagonists, controversy galore with usual suspects Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean to the fore before Sergio Perez and Paul di Resta sparked a chain reaction of mass carnage and the afternoon's second Safety Car deployment, the best radio message of the year as the Iceman Raikkonen as dismissed advice from his Lotus team with the unforgettable assurance of "I know what I am doing", and a hearstopping collision between Narain Karthikeyan and Nico Rosberg which sent the Mercedes airbone but thankfully ended without injury.
But most pertinently of all, it was a race which saw Raikkonen deliver a searing reminder of his quality and Vettel salvage a podium position after starting from the pitlane following his expulsion from qualifying.
The World Champion rode his luck, losing his front-wing end plate with a clumsy lunge up the inside of Bruno Senna on the first lap before making an emergency stop after crashing in a brake-marker when a hard-braking Daniel Ricciardo caught him unawares as the field meandered behind the first Safety Car.
Forced onto a different strategy from the one-stopping frontrunners, Vettel's second stop - taken on account of his team's belief that his tyres would fall off the proveerbial cliff with ten laps still to run - proved to be perfectly timed as Perez tagged Di Resta and Romain Grosjean, sending the Lotus spiralling into the Red Bull of Mark Webber, whose faint title hopes ended with his retirement, and prompted another reappearance of the Safety Car.
At that stage, Vettel was fourth, but running on soft tyres, it was immediately apparent that he would only be going forwards against the mediums-shod Button and after five laps of relentless harrying he found a way past the McLaren to claim his place on the podium.
"He drove an unbelievable race," endorsed Christian Horner. "I would have been happy with eighth. Any doubters who said he couldn't race have definitely been proved wrong today."
How different it might have been but for the two Safety Cars and a splew of retirements, but a champion makes his own luck and the championship is once again in his grasp after dodging the bullet that seemed to be heading his way on Saturday night.
More to follow...
Who ever doubted the Yas Marina circuit? After a couple of relatively mundane grands prix, this was F1 back with a bang as Raikkonen held off Alonso's desperate late charge to claim the first victory of his comeback and Lotus' first since 1987, while Vettel pickpocketed third place from Jenson Button with three laps remaining to retain a ten-points lead of the championship.
It was a race which had everything - everything, that is, except for a deserved victory Lewis Hamilton after his McLaren team, not for the first time this season, failed him - literally so, with a power failure on his MP4-27 forcing Hamilton into retirement from the lead of the race.
What it did have, however, was everything else that a great race requires: great racing between the leading protagonists, controversy galore with usual suspects Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean to the fore before Sergio Perez and Paul di Resta sparked a chain reaction of mass carnage and the afternoon's second Safety Car deployment, the best radio message of the year as the Iceman Raikkonen as dismissed advice from his Lotus team with the unforgettable assurance of "I know what I am doing", and a hearstopping collision between Narain Karthikeyan and Nico Rosberg which sent the Mercedes airbone but thankfully ended without injury.
But most pertinently of all, it was a race which saw Raikkonen deliver a searing reminder of his quality and Vettel salvage a podium position after starting from the pitlane following his expulsion from qualifying.
The World Champion rode his luck, losing his front-wing end plate with a clumsy lunge up the inside of Bruno Senna on the first lap before making an emergency stop after crashing in a brake-marker when a hard-braking Daniel Ricciardo caught him unawares as the field meandered behind the first Safety Car.
Forced onto a different strategy from the one-stopping frontrunners, Vettel's second stop - taken on account of his team's belief that his tyres would fall off the proveerbial cliff with ten laps still to run - proved to be perfectly timed as Perez tagged Di Resta and Romain Grosjean, sending the Lotus spiralling into the Red Bull of Mark Webber, whose faint title hopes ended with his retirement, and prompted another reappearance of the Safety Car.
At that stage, Vettel was fourth, but running on soft tyres, it was immediately apparent that he would only be going forwards against the mediums-shod Button and after five laps of relentless harrying he found a way past the McLaren to claim his place on the podium.
"He drove an unbelievable race," endorsed Christian Horner. "I would have been happy with eighth. Any doubters who said he couldn't race have definitely been proved wrong today."
How different it might have been but for the two Safety Cars and a splew of retirements, but a champion makes his own luck and the championship is once again in his grasp after dodging the bullet that seemed to be heading his way on Saturday night.
More to follow...
A fan of many forms of motorsport. Also made the first post in 2014 on this forum.
off?, you only ever come on here to take swipes at members who don't happen to support Lewis Hamilton, if you have nothing useful to say, stay the 
