Raikkonen reigns supreme at Abu Dhabi GP

Lotus driver gives team its first win in 25 years; Vettel clings onto title lead.

ABU DHABI: Kimi Raikkonen lived up to his ‘ice man’ sobriquet by claiming his first win for three years as Sebastian Vettel clung on to his championship lead in a drama-laden Abu Dhabi Grand Prix yesterday.

Raikkonen, the 2007 champion who returned to Formula One this season after a two-year absence, grabbed his triumph after early leader Lewis Hamilton was forced into retirement after 20 laps by a power failure on his McLaren car.

The Finn won convincingly ahead of Fernando Alonso of Ferrari who pushed hard for victory in the closing laps of an extraordinary contest that included two prolonged safety car periods and a rash of major accidents.

Defending champion and current leader Vettel started from the pit lane in his Red Bull car and produced one of the greatest drives of his career to finish third. Vettel’s phenomenal drive, including clocking fastest lap, kept him 10 points ahead of Alonso in the title race with two races remaining. Vettel leads on 255 points with Alonso on 245 and Raikkonen on 198.

Raikkonen is the eighth different victor of the season and gave the Lotus name a victory for the first time since Ayrton Senna won for the original Lotus team in the United States in 1987.

“Last time you guys were giving me grief because I didn’t smile enough, but I’m happy for the team. It’s been a hard season and not easy times lately,” said Raikkonen. “Hopefully this will give everyone belief and turn the tables so we can win more races, if not this year then next year.”

Alonso, who cut Vettel’s lead from 13 points to 10, was happy with his performance  and applauded his team’s strategy.

“I’m very happy with the performance as I think we were not super competitive this weekend. We had to fight throughout the race, but we had a very good strategy and wanted victory in Abu Dhabi. But we think it was a perfect Sunday as we kept fighting right until the end.”

Hamilton, who had reigned supreme throughout the weekend, was left to reflect on more ill luck in his bid to give McLaren a result to savour before his move to Mercedes next season.

“I hadn’t been faultless in this race because I did have a very wide moment at one stage, but after that it was going really well and the car was a dream to drive,” said Hamilton. “I was cruising and pulling away so it was a shame the engine just died. It was some kind of fuel problem, but it was an incredible race, good to watch.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2012.