Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2012

Qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix saw Hamilton the class of the field, taking clear pole from Webber by 3/10th with Vettel qualifying third, the remainder of the top ten being Maldonado, Raikkonen, Button, Alonso, Rosberg Massa and Grosjean.

On the slowdown lap, Vettel was ordered to stop his car, and it was subsequently found that there was insufficient fuel for the necessary 1 litre test. After considerable deliberation Vettel was disqualified putting him at the back of the grid for the race. As a result Red Bull were able to give him a new gearbox, new gear ratios and new suspension settings in a bid to help him fight through the race, and on the Sunday he started from the pit lane.

As the red lights went off, Lewis Hamilton led the field away, Kimi Raikkonnen making a stellar start which put him up to second. Maldonado and Webber followed in 4tha and 5th.

Lap one saw a coming together between Paul Di Resta, Bruno Senna and Nico Hulkenberg. the two Force India's making contact with Hulkenberg pushing Senna out into turn one, but Hulkenberg was the first retiree at this early stage, but meanwhile Alonso was making progress, passing Webber for 4th.

Hamilton was slowly pulling away from Raikkonen and by lap 5 was 2.3 seconds ahead, Vettel meanwhile had had a coming together with Senna damaging his front wing, but continuing his charge through the field and up to 14th

Lap nine saw Rosberg and Karthikeyan in a dramatic collision, with Rosberg airborne bringing out the safety car. Vettel had another collision trying to avoid Ricciardo, hitting the wall, forcing a pit stop for a front wing change.

Normal order resumed after the safety car, Hamilton ahead of Raikkonen, Vettel performing an off the track manoeuvre to overtake Grosjean and then letting the Lotus driver back past to prevent possible penalties.

The unfortunate Hamilton was forced to retire on lap 20 handing the lead to Raikonnen who was still matching the front runners for pace.

Mark Webber spun whilst attempting to overtake Maldonado, and Button impressed with a successful move on Maldonado to take third behind Alonso, and on lap 25 Vettel finally moved into the top 10 by taking Schumacher and was now on the tail of his Red Bull team mate.

Various pit stops shuffled the pack, Vettel staying out on old tyres. By lap 33 Vettel was second, and amazing performance, Alonso and Button in 3rd and 4th. On lap 37 Vettel finally stopped and after a 3.9 second stop emerged in clean air in 5th.

Meanwhile the Safety car was deployed again, after Di Resta, Perez and Grosjean ran 3 abreast in an overtaking manouvre, Perez eventually taking out Grosjean, with the unfortunate Webber caught up in the melee, forcing his retirement. Perez being handed a drive through penalty as a result.

Vettel, now on fresh rubber was able to close the 22 second gap on the front runners under the safety car, and when racing resumed, sat in 4th behind Button who was on older tyres. Raikkonen made a good restart, and soon pulled a gap on Alonso who was no doubt distracted by Button behind.

With 3 laps to go, Button finally gave up the inevitable to Vettel, whilst Alonso charged after Raikkonen, cutting the lead down to less than 2 seconds, but in the end it was the Lotus driver that took the chequered flag first, for the first Lotus victory since the late great Ayrton Senna's win in the Lotus' at the US Grand Prix in 1987.

This was undoubtedly the most exciting race of the year, with Vettel coming from a pit lane start to 3rd, and Alonso putting in another great drive. Vettels lead in the Championship is now down to 10 points, and an exciting race in Austin in prospect.