Benefiting from Hamilton’s misfortune was Kimi Raikkonen who went on to claim
his first win in F1 for just over three years as Lotus finally made it on to
the top step of the podium this year.
Not since the Belgian GP of 2009 had the Finn stood atop of the rostrum.
“Congratulations to Kimi, he really drove a fantastic race,” added
Hamilton. “I knew at some stage Lotus would win a race this year, so
also big congratulations go to them.”
The only saving grace for McLaren, who failed to get two cars home for the
fifth time in the last seven races, is that they set a new F1 record for
most consecutive races in the points, now at 56.
Button, third in the previous three Abu Dhabi races, was on course for that
again until passed by Vettel with only three laps remaining.
Try as he did to defend his position his car was unable to compete with the
speed of the Red Bull, nonetheless, the British driver had a good time.
“It was quite a fun race,” said Button. “I had a few good
battles out there – with Mark, Sebastian and Pastor (Maldonado) – and they
were particularly good fun. But unfortunately I didn’t have the pace in the
car to take the fight to the leaders.
“The car felt very different from how it had on Friday. I couldn’t find
the grip, which was strange.
“At the end I couldn’t have kept Sebastian back as he was on newer
tyres, so it was impossible to get the same amount of traction from my older
ones as he was getting from his.”
With just two races left on the 2012 calendar – Austin and Brazil – the
championship is now a two-horse race between Vettel and Fernando Alonso who
are divided by just 10 points.