Vettel leads Red Bull 1-2 in Abu Dhabi GP

Red Bull teammates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber embrace after a 1-2 finish

Red Bull

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel beat teammate Mark Webber to win the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix F1 race at the Yas Marina Circuit. Webber held off a charging Jenson Button in his Brawn who completed the podium. Button's teammate Rubens Barrichello was 4th and Nick Heidfeld in his final race for BMW rounded out the top 5.

Polesitter Lewis Hamilton led the early portion of the race, but Vettel, who stayed out 2 laps longer before his first pit stop, took over after the first round of pitstops were complete and drove off into the distance and Hamilton began to have brake problems.

By winning the race in a cakewalk Vettel locked up 2nd in the drivers championship and positioned himself as a real contender for the 2010 F1 title.

Button mounted a late charge after Webber's second position. He closed on Webber's tail with six laps to go – but had a hard time getting past.

On the last lap Button managed to get in Webber's tow on the long back straight, but Webber him kept to the outside under braking for Turn 8. He attacked again on the run down to Turn 11, but still Webber was able to hug the racing line and brake late enough to keep Button at bay for 2nd.

Sebastian Vettel

There was no champagne on the podium, but Sebastian Vettel got a fitting send-off with a series of doughnuts to toast his Abu Dhabi victory.

Sparkling rosewater was the order of the day on the podium. Alcohol was strictly banned on the man-made Yas Island throughout the weekend, and even F1 teams' catering staff were unable to smuggle the odd bottle of wine into the circuit to use as food ingredients.

However, as BMW-Sauber staged its farewell to F1 with a Marina-side party for the entire paddock on Saturday night, it can be revealed that alcohol was not in short supply despite the wishes of the Muslim location.

After the race and elated Vettel said, "That was a fantastic race. We had a very good start, it wasn't good enough to overtake Lewis, but I was surprised I was so close to him. Then, when Lewis was on the long straight, he pushed a button (KERS) and disappeared ahead, but I was able to stay close.

"We knew we were a little bit heavier and we were always able to catch him up, especially in the last sector. The car was a dream today. There was a lot of pressure, I nearly went a bit wide in the pit lane entrance during my first stop and then there was the scary exit through the tunnel, but I was on the limit and it was enough to get past Lewis. Unfortunately he then had to retire, but up to that point it was a fantastic race with him.

"After that I had a little bit of a cushion to Mark and Jenson behind and I was able to pace myself, but the car was fantastic until the end. It worked brilliantly on both tire compounds and it was a pleasure to sit in the car this evening.

"To sum up the season, what can I say? I would say up and down, we are currently very strong and have just gained our fourth one-two finish, so congratulations to the team. They have been pushing a lot, working very hard back in the factory. It's a shame now that the season ends, as we are on a roll! It's just perfect to finish the season in this way on such a high."

After the 17th and final race of the 2009 season, Brawn GP end the year as winners of the Constructors' Championship with 172 points with Jenson winning his first Drivers' Championship with 95 points.

Race Tire Strategies

Ferrari
Giancarlo Fisichella: Soft / Medium / Medium
Kimi Räikkönen: Medium / Soft

McLaren-Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton: Medium / Medium / DNF
Heikki Kovalainen: Medium / Soft

BMW Sauber-BMW
Robert Kubica: Medium / Medium / Soft
Nick Heidfeld: Medium / Medium / Soft

Renault
Fernando Alonso: Medium / Soft
Romain Grosjean: Medium / Soft

Toyota
Jarno Trulli: Medium / Medium / Soft
Kamui Kobayashi: Medium / Soft

Toro Rosso-Ferrari
Jaime Alguersuari: Medium / Medium / DNF
Sébastien Buemi: Medium / Medium / Soft

Red Bull-Renault
Mark Webber: Medium / Medium / Soft
Sebastian Vettel: Medium / Medium / Soft

Williams-Toyota
Nico Rosberg: Medium / Medium / Soft
Kazuki Nakajima: Medium / Soft

Force India-Mercedes
Adrian Sutil: Medium / Medium / Soft
Vitantonio Liuzzi: Medium / Soft

Brawn-Mercedes
Jenson Button: Medium / Medium / Soft
Rubens Barrichello: Medium / Medium / Soft

* Includes drive-through/stop-go penalties

Results

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:40.279