Sebastian Vettel leads but then suffers a puncture seconds later and failed to finish atYas Marina Circuit Abu Dhabi - Nov 13th 2011

Abu Dhabi, 13 November 2011 – A new name went into the Yas Marina record books when Lewis Hamilton won the 2011 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for McLaren Mercedes.

In a sensational start to the 55-lap race Sebastian Vettel, whose Red Bull Renault started from pole position, spun off on the second corner with a deflating right rear tyre. Although the World Champion limped back to pit lane the team could not repair the damage to his wheel and he was out of a race for the first time in 2011.

Lewis Hamilton celebrates his win with 2nd placed Fernando Alonso (L) and 3rd placed Jenson Button (R)

Hamilton streaked into the lead with a fast-starting Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari right behind him, running a two-stop strategy with two stints on the soft tyre followed by a single stint on the medium tyre to his third win of the season and the 17th of his F1 career.

“One of my best races – I said that to myself as I slowed down,” said the 26-year-old Englishman. “I’m ecstatic, very happy to be back up here. I can get on my flight tonight and smile!”

Lewis Hamilton in parc ferme after winning

Alonso came home second for Ferrari’s first podium finish in Abu Dhabi while Jenson Button was third – for the third time here – for McLaren.

Mark Webber’s hopes of securing a top result in Vettel’s absence disappeared when the team fumbled the Australian’s first pit stop, leaving him stationary for almost 10 seconds and effectively out of the running.

Switching to a three-stop strategy, Webber pitted with one lap left but still stayed comfortably ahead of Felipe Massa’s Ferrari. The Brazilian now has only one race, his home Grand Prix in two weeks, to avoid being the first Ferrari driver for 20 years to go through a whole season without getting on to the podium.

With Mercedes and Sahara Force India filling the spots from sixth to ninth, Kamui Kobayashi’s 10th-place finish for Sauber edged the Swiss team ahead of Toro Rosso again in the fight for seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship.

There were 20 classified finishers, with Virgin’s Jérôme D’Ambrosio, Toro Rosso’s Sébastien Buemi and Daniel Ricciardo of HRT the other men not to make the chequered flag.

As usual, the Abu Dhabi race started at dusk and finished at night, with track temperatures stabilising at around a cooler 28 degrees centigrade towards the end of the race. This helped to extend the tyre life, with the soft tyres lasting around 25 laps and the medium compound for about 30 laps.

Driver Quotes – 

1st Lewis Hamilton – “This result is just fantastic. I’m usually my own biggest critic – I’m always hard on myself when I make mistakes – but I really felt like I maximised everything today. To be able to sustain that kind of pace, under constant pressure, and not make mistakes, is really satisfying. For most of the race I was concentrating on managing the gap to Fernando [Alonso]. He’s such a strong driver. He’ll never give you an inch, in fact. Into the closing laps I found myself beginning to think about victory, but I didn’t want to do that really so I kept saying to myself: ‘Don’t even go there!’ It worked: I stopped my mind from wandering and I didn’t allow myself to think about the win until I’d crossed the line. To have Jenson on the podium alongside me was great – great for me, great for him, great for the team, and a great boost as we move towards the end of the season. The team has been fantastic all weekend – the strategy, the pitstops, everything – really top-class. The whole package came together today and I owe everyone a big thank-you. This is so uplifting – for the team and for me. To be able to walk away with a smile feels just fantastic: victory is good for the soul.”

2nd Fernando Alonso: “I am pleased with this result: finally my podium trophy collection is complete! I have seventy three top three finishes and I have managed to stand on the podium of all the circuits that have been on the Formula 1 calendar over the past ten years. Next year, we go to Austin and the year after to Russia, so there will always be new challenges to tackle and objectives to reach even if, obviously, the main one is always to win the title. It’s clear what will be the objective for me and all the team next year: winning the title. Today we were fighting for the win all the way to the end. We got a good start and could match Hamilton’s pace. The first pit stop went well, while I lost a couple of seconds at the second one, what with traffic on my in-lap and a problem changing the front left wheel, but I don’t think that’s where we lost the race, because I am convinced that, in the end, it’s the quickest car that wins and so it was. The opening lap was exciting: at the start I squeezed round the outside of Webber at the first corner because I knew there was more grip there then, once I saw Vettel was off, I got into Button’s slipstream, taking a bit of a risk but, in the end, I managed to pass him too. After that I expected to struggle more, but today was one of those where the car went much better than expected and you are kept busier fighting with those ahead of you than in looking in your mirrors. I hoped right to the end I could do it, because maybe Hamilton might also have had some problems with KERS like Button did. Even if we have not fought for the title it has still been a good season: we have improved a lot as a team and learned a lot.”

3rd Jenson Button – “It was a difficult race for me, as I had a KERS Hybrid issue, which is admittedly very rare for us. After about 15 laps it stopped working – and that doesn’t just affect your power out of the corners, it affects engine braking too. Fortunately, my engineer came over the radio and told me they’d found a way to make it work again – but it meant pushing lots of buttons on the steering wheel every couple of laps because it only returned intermittently. So I’d arrive at a corner and not know whether I had any engine braking because I had no warning. So selecting the right spot at which to brake was tough. Still, as I say, it’s extremely rare for us to encounter a problem with our KERS Hybrid. Mercedes-Benz has done a great job this year, and in fact I’d say theirs is the best and most reliable unit in the pitlane: a fantastic system, in fact. So as I say it was a rare issue – and, although the problem made for a tricky drive for me, it also made it even more satisfying to manage to keep it together and end up on the podium. Last of all, I want to say: ‘Fair play to Lewis.’ He did a great job today. It’s very positive to move towards the end of the season on a high, because it’s the best possible way to build for the new season.”

DNF Sebastian Vettel– “On the exit of the first corner, everything seemed fine and then turning into the second corner I could feel that something was odd on the rear right. I had to catch the car surprisingly and then the second time, I couldn’t do it anymore, as I’d lost too much air in the rear right tyre. I had a puncture and spun off. When I got back to the pits, the resulting suspension damage meant we couldn’t carry on. There wasn’t anything we could have done better really this weekend; we just need to look at what had caused the puncture. I had a good start and I was very happy with the car up until that point. To lose the race there, so early on, it hurts for sure. There wasn’t much we could do, so after that I took the opportunity to learn a little bit on the pit wall.”