Hamilton takes Abu Dhabi win

Lewis Hamilton got back to winning ways on the floodlit Yas Marina circuit. The McLaren driver dominated the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, crossing the finish line 8 seconds ahead of Alonso. It was his first win since Germany.

Button took third for McLaren while Webber could only finish fourth for Red Bull. His teammate Sebastian Vettel had been forced to retire in the opening lap with damage on the rear-right of his car caused by a puncture.

Massa completed the top five. Rosberg, Schumacher, Sutil, di Resta and Kobayashi scored points.

How the race unfolded :

Sebastian Vettel took his usual good start from pole position and led through Turn One… but was sent into a spin by rear-right puncture at Turn 2. He rejoined dead last and crawled back to the pits. Unfortunately, there was damage on the rear-right of his car and he was forced to retire.

Lewis Hamilton was leading the race with Alonso quick to pass Button for second place. The McLaren driver then had to fend off the assaults of Red Bull’s Mark Webber. The Australian made his move on lap 4 but the Briton passed him back in the main straight.

On lap 8, Hamilton had a 2.7s lead on Alonso but couldn’t quite shake the Spaniard off his back. Button, on the contrary, managed to slightly pull away from Webber – whose RB7’s floor carried some damage.

Further down the order, di Resta and Buemi were locked in a battle for 9th place while Glock and Trulli were fighting for 16th. Both Saubers were a couple of places behind, having already stopped one time each. Trulli overtook Glock for 16th on lap 10. Senna dispatched the German one lap later.

Button reported a problem to his team on lap 13. Webber attacked him on lap 15 but couldn’t make it stick – despite the Briton’s fading pace.

Running in a solitary fifth place, Felipe Massa pitted on lap 16. Toro Rosso’s Alguersuari came in in the same lap. In the meantime, his teammate Sebastien Buemi had successfully attacked di Resta for 9th place.

Hamilton, Alonso and Button stopped on lap 16 and rejoined in the same order. As his rivals pitted, Webber stayed out and took the lead. He relinquished it to Hamilton one lap later as he made his first stop of the evening. It was a slow one and he rejoined in fifth place behind Massa.

Disaster struck Buemi on lap 20. Suspension problems slowed him down and forced him to retire in the pits.

Undeterred by his slow stop, Webber pushed hard to close the gap to Massa. The two of them were, in turn, closing in on Button – who was still struggling with KERS problems.

Halfway through the race, Hamilton’s advantage over Alonso was just 3.3s. Button, Massa and Webber were separated by less than 3 seconds. Rosberg was the best of the rest, ahead of Sutil, Schumacher, di Resta and Kobayashi.

A mistake by Massa on lap 30 allowed Webber to have a go at him. The Australian took fourth place but lost it back to the Ferrari driver in the second DRS zone. Their tussle made them lose ground on Button. Meanwhile, at the front, Hamilton was edging away from Alonso. On lap 32, his lead was up to 5.6s.

Webber lost contact with Massa on lap 33 because of traffic in the form of Pastor Maldonado – who had just served a drive through penalty for ignoring blue flags earlier in the race. As the Venezuelan was under investigation for this second offense, Webber dived in the pitlane for his second stop. He took another set of soft tyres and rejoined in sixth place.

Button came in one lap later. He put on medium tyres with which he intended to finish the race. He rejoined in fifth place, a few seconds up on Webber. The Australian hunted the McLaren down and closed the gap. His efforts were eventually rewarded on lap 43 as he muscled his way past his rival to take P4. However, he was due to stop once more.

Hamilton pitted from the lead on lap 40. Hoping to jump the Briton in the pits, Alonso stayed out longer. He stopped on lap 44 and rejoined four seconds behind the McLaren after a relatively slow tyre change.

Webber gained one more place on lap 45 when he passed Rosberg. Being on a three-stop strategy, the Red Bull driver had to push as hard as he could ahead of his final stop. His quest for fourth place was helped by a spin from Massa on lap 49. He set a string of fastest laps and stopped in the penultimate lap. It was a quick stop from the RBR crew but still not enough to take third place. The Australian rejoined in fourth place, behind Jenson Button but comfortably ahead of Massa.

Hamilton went on to win the race ahead of Alonso and Button.