Vettel’s gift to Hamilton – Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix!!!!!!!

Fortune finally smiled on Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate race of the season when he won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as Sebastian Vettel’s luck ran out. The McLaren driver made the most of the spin Vettel suffered exiting the very first corner of the race at the Yas Marina Circuit. Vettel suffered a right rear puncture and was forced to retire for the first time this season. So Vettel’s dream attempt to match Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 victories in a single season shattered in the first lap itself. It was a big ‘oh-no’ moment for fans like me who were betting high on Vettel since he equaled the maximum pole position record set by Nigel. Yesterday only Vettel had snatched pole from Hamilton by just 0.141 seconds but Hamilton had been performing strongly here all weekend and ran a controlled race to capture his third win of the season to match Button. During yesterday’s press conference it was evident that Lewis Hamilton had victory on his mind and he wasn’t his effervescent self but determined to win. On the other hand Vettel was hoping to win this time around too. But hoping and winning are two different things. Anyways Vettel’s loss was Hamilton’s gain. The Englishman had lost out on victory at its inaugural 2009 race when he was forced to retire. There was some irony, then, that Vettel, who won the two previous races, retired to gift Hamilton the lead. It was one of my best races – to hold off one of the best drivers in the world is very tough to do Lewis Hamilton It was really sweet to see Hamilton dedicating his win to his mother Carmen. Hamilton’s victory was his third of 2011 but much-needed in the context of a difficult season he had had, who was criticised for the number of collisions he has been involved in this year. Hamilton took the chequered flag comfortably ahead of Ferrari’s Fernnado Alonso, with his another team-mate Jenson Button claiming the third podium place.

It was a rare sight not to find any Redbull driver on the podium since Button finished third ahead of Webber. Webber ran in third for much of the race but the he was switched to a three-stop strategy and ran until the final lap before making his obligatory stop for the harder ‘medium’ tyres, which put him back behind Button for the final podium place. Till the 54th lap I was hoping to see at least one Redbull team member on the podium but I guess it’s not always in their hands.I am not too happy seeing my favourite star not winning this much expected to win race but that’s why sports are so unpredictable. I am now hopeful that he makes up for this loss in the last race of the season – Brazil Grand Prix.