Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Vettel starts from the back of the grid

[Icy Gull]

After the same fuel irregularity Hamilton had earlier in the season.

There is a God...come on Alonso

 

[Steveapps71]

Strange how this happens when he was running away with a predictable world title...not that im cynical of Ecclestone!!
Will make it more interesting though...Alonso 10-1 & Vettel 28-1 to win

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

I think Hamilton would of beat Vettel anyway,he's been quick all weekend

Sadly the Ferrari is struggling this weekend,might even get beat by the Lotus

McLaren 1-2,Raikonnen 3rd

Alonso 4th,Webber differring to Vettel for 5th

 

[matt_32510]

I would rather Vettel win the championship than Alonso.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Both amazing drivers, Vettel slightly helped by having the better car but that doesn't detract from his skill. For some reason I don't like Alonso, he seems a bit arrogant whereas Vettel seems more humble.

 

[Perkino]

I think this happened to Hmilton earlier on in the season, he didn't have enough fuel to get the car back to the garage and started from the back of the grid

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Devil and deep blue sea for us Brits, German or Spaniard? Both egotistical twunts, both the least I would like to win the championship, rather see the Aussie Webber doing it. This season I have lost total interest due to no British contingent, but Hamilton is German now anyway. Vive le Button!

 

[Titanic]

...rather see the Aussie Webber doing it.

Blimey

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

Come on Webber!

 

[surrey jim]

After the same fuel irregularity Hamilton had earlier in the season.

There is a God...come on Alonso

Would that be lack of fuel to have an irregularity with??!

 

[vegster]

For me, Vettell has slipped comfortably in to the role of boring,metronomic Michael Schumacher of old. Never seems to have any car issues, always seems to avoid being involved in crashes or fallout from debris and always seems to be the net beneficary of penaltys either on the grid or drive through

.
It's like the story in the Premiership, the likes of Chelsea/Arsenal/City will all knock points off each other while Man U get the key rub of the green whenever they play one of the bigger clubs and get the three points. TBH, we might as well give Man U and Vettell their trophies now as its all over.

 

[Icy Gull]

For me, Vettell has slipped comfortably in to the role of boring,metronomic Michael Schumacher of old. Never seems to have any car issues, always seems to avoid being involved in crashes or fallout from debris and always seems to be the net beneficary of penaltys either on the grid or drive through

.
It's like the story in the Premiership, the likes of Chelsea/Arsenal/City will all knock points off each other while Man U get the key rub of the green whenever they play one of the bigger clubs and get the three points. TBH, we might as well give Man U and Vettell their trophies now as its all over.

Certainly true today, two safety cars to let him close the gap and change a front wing without losing much time. He did drive well though.

Classic Kimi "leave me alone I know what I'm doing" whilst been given information followed with an impatient "yes yes yes" when being given a hurry up

Lewis has matured massively this season and seems to have made the right decision leaving a bit of a shambolic McLaren team. Didn't seem fazed at all to suffer yet another mechanical failure whilst totally bossing the race. I imagine he's relieved to be getting away to new challenge. He is too good for the current McLaren team.

Great race though

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Certainly true today, two safety cars to let him close the gap and change a front wing without losing much time. He did drive well though.

Classic Kimi "leave me alone I know what I'm doing" whilst been given information followed with an impatient "yes yes yes" when being given a hurry up

Lewis has matured massively this season and seems to have made the right decision leaving a bit of a shambolic McLaren team. Didn't seem fazed at all to suffer yet another mechanical failure whilst totally bossing the race. I imagine he's relieved to be getting away to new challenge. He is too good for the current McLaren team.

Great race though

Can't agree that 'Lewis has matured massively this season' - if anything he has regressed. It was only a few races ago that he threw his toys out of his pram and posted highly confidential technical team data on the internet (which is treason in F1) and only a short time after that gaff he slagged off his team mate Jenson Button for supposedly 'unfollowing him on Twitter' which was complete bollox. Could also mention his decision to leave McLaren. Not the actions of a great World Champion, more like a petulant teenager.

However I do accept that McLaren have failed to provide him with a reliable car (yet again today) with which to fight for the Championship, so can partly understand his decision to leave and will be interested to see if he shows more patience with an uncompetitive Mercedes next year while they prepare for the new engine regs in 2014.

Lewis was a precious breath of fresh air when he came into F1 and his rampant pole position this weekend underlines his special talent but he really ought to have at least one more championship to his name, so I really hope he gets his act together soon.

 

[Icy Gull]

Can't agree that 'Lewis has matured massively this season' - if anything he has regressed. It was only a few races ago that he threw his toys out of his pram and posted highly confidential technical team data on the internet (which is treason in F1) and only a short time after that gaff he slagged off his team mate Jenson Button for supposedly 'unfollowing him on Twitter' which was complete bollox. Could also mention his decision to leave McLaren. Not the actions of a great World Champion, more like a petulant teenager.



However I do accept that McLaren have failed to provide him with a reliable car (yet again today) with which to fight for the Championship, so can partly understand his decision to leave and will be interested to see if he shows more patience with an uncompetitive Mercedes next year while they prepare for the new engine regs in 2014.

Lewis was a precious breath of fresh air when he came into F1 and his rampant pole position this weekend underlines his special talent but he really ought to have at least one more championship to his name, so I really hope he gets his act together soon.

The maturity comment was referring to his driving, he hasn't made any big mistakes on the track, except arguably not moving over for kamikaze Maldonado when his tyres had gone whilst 3rd (?) just before the end earlier in the season. He has had as much bad luck as SV has had good. I can't dispute that he has not matured off track though.

He has had the same number of poles as Vettel but has been let down by an unreliable car,and a number of pit and tactical cock ups. He hasn't benefited from safety cars and mechanical reliability. His driving cannot be faulted this season IMO.

Choosing to leave McLaren looks a better decision with every race.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

The maturity comment was referring to his driving, he hasn't made any big mistakes on the track, except arguably not moving over for kamikaze Maldonado when his tyres had gone whilst 3rd (?) just before the end earlier in the season. He has had as much bad luck as SV has had good. I can't dispute that he has not matured off track though.

He has had the same number of poles as Vettel but has been let down by an unreliable car,and a number of pit and tactical cock ups. He hasn't benefited from safety cars and mechanical reliability. His driving cannot be faulted this season IMO.

Choosing to leave McLaren looks a better decision with every race.

Yes I would agree that McLaren seem to have lost that 'aura' where everything about them for many years was class and most other teams aspired to. This year the car has only been really competitive at times but then they have been let down by poor pitwork or reliability plus the odd mishap on track. They don't seem to be able to get every element right at the same time. Having said that it is still a leap of faith for Lewis to go to Mercedes who are even a shadow of McLaren at the moment. I think they must have sold Lewis a very persuasive vision for 2014.

Vettel has definitely inherited Schumacher's old invincibility and good fortune, no matter what happens he mainly comes up smelling of roses. We really need Lewis, Kimi, Alonso and Jenson to be competitive next year otherwise it could be too predictable just like it was for Schuey and made F1 boring for several years.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Kimi Raikkonen wins frenetic Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as Sebastian Vettel finishes third after a pit-lane start - Telegraph

I love these old-school broadsheet headlines that don't require the reader to read the story that accompanies them.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Great to see Kimi win for a change but only because Lewis broke down and Vettel still finished on the podium from the back of the grid. Thats the problem - no one can consistently take the fight to Vettel, even when he has a bad day - not even his own team mate!

Plus with Adrian Newey providing great improvements to the Red Bull cars they have a technical advantage too.

 

[Icy Gull]

Yes I would agree that McLaren seem to have lost that 'aura' where everything about them for many years was class and most other teams aspired to. This year the car has only been really competitive at times but then they have been let down by poor pitwork or reliability plus the odd mishap on track. They don't seem to be able to get every element right at the same time. Having said that it is still a leap of faith for Lewis to go to Mercedes who are even a shadow of McLaren at the moment. I think they must have sold Lewis a very persuasive vision for 2014.



Vettel has definitely inherited Schumacher's old invincibility and good fortune, no matter what happens he mainly comes up smelling of roses. We really need Lewis, Kimi, Alonso and Jenson to be competitive next year otherwise it could be too predictable just like it was for Schuey and made F1 boring for several years.

I imagine he relishes the challenge of helping to bring Mercedes on, backed by massive resources. McLaren losing their current deal with Mercedes and the departure of Ron Dennis as the main man in the pits coupled with the chance to work with a master tactician like Ross Brawn would also be considerations.

The engine rule changes for 2014 and being free to negotiate sponsorship deals that were limited at McLaren probably made the decision easier.

Lewis looks much more relaxed since his decision became public. He even managed to smile through the after race interview. I get the impression that he is very happy with his decision. Gonna be really interesting to see how it pans out next season.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Oh the irony if McLaren come up with the top car and engine package deal for 2014. Yes they are parting company with Mercedes and I read they may be reforming the highly successful partnership they had with Honda which may be a very shrewd move.

Maybe Lewis had inside knowledge of that but wasn't enough to heal the rift he has with McLaren - plus his long term allegiance has really been with Mercedes too, so not such a surprise that he has followed them after all? We will see.

 

[Icy Gull]

Oh the irony if McLaren come up with the top car and engine package deal for 2014. Yes they are parting company with Mercedes and I read they may be reforming the highly successful partnership they had with Honda which may be a very shrewd move.

Maybe Lewis had inside knowledge of that but wasn't enough to heal the rift he has with McLaren - plus his long term allegiance has really been with Mercedes too, so not such a surprise that he has followed them after all? We will see.

They could also go the way of Williams when they lost the Renault engine....