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Sports

Monday November 2, 2009

Vettel secures second spot in drivers’ championships

SEBASTIAN Vettel led his Red Bull team-mate Australian Mark Webber home in an impressive one-two triumph in Sunday’s season-ending inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the first ‘day-night’ race in Formula One history.

The 22-year-old German, in commanding form on the spectacular Yas Marina circuit, took full advantage of the early retirement of Briton Lewis Hamilton with brake problems on his McLaren Mercedes to seize his fourth win of the year.

It was the Red Bull team’s fourth one-two this season, matching the record of the newly-crowned constructors’ champions Brawn GP, whose new champion driver Briton Jenson Button finished third after a tense tussle with Webber over the final laps.

Two of the best: Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel (left) celebrates on the podium after the German won the race ahead of team-mate Mark Webber and Brawn GP’s Jenson Button who came in third. — AFP

The result confirmed that Vettel finished the season as runner-up in the drivers’ championship behind Button while Red Bull proved they are more than worthy of finishing second to Brawn in the teams’ championship.

In a race that started in late afternoon sunshine, but finished under dazzling floodlights, Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello finished fourth in his expected last outing for Brawn.

German Nick Heidfeld marked his last race for the departing Sauber BMW team, which is leaving Formula One, by taking fifth ahead of Japanese Kamui Kobayashi, who secured his first points in Formula One in a Toyota in only his second race after replacing the injured Timo Glock.

Italian veteran Jarno Trulli finished seventh for Toyota and Swiss Sebastien Buemi, who was 21 on Saturday, took the final point in eighth place for Toro Rosso.

Hamilton, who was smartly out of the blocks to establish a solid early lead, retired on lap 20 with McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh indicating his car appeared to have a brake problem.

“I was struggling to stop the car,” said outgoing world champion Hamilton.

“The right rear brake wasn’t working and it was too dangerous to continue,” Hamilton told the BBC. — AFP

RESULTS

1. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull) 1’34:03.414, 2. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull at 17.857, 3. Jenson Button (Bri) Brawn 18.467, 4. Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn) 22.735, 5. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 26.253,

6. Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Toyota 28.343, 7. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 34.366, 8. Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso 41.294, 9. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 45.941, 10. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 48.180,

11. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 52.798, 12. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 54.317, 13. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams 59.839, 14. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:09.687, 15. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 1:34.450, 16. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Ferrari at 1 lap, 17. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1 lap, 18. Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault 1 lap.

Drivers: 1. Jenson Button (Bri) 95pts, 2. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) 84, 3. Rubens Barrichello (Bra) 77, 4. Mark Webber (Aus) 69.5, 5. Lewis Hamilton (Bri) 49, 6. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) 48, 7. Nico Rosberg (Ger) 34.5, 8. Jarno Trulli (Ita) 32.5, 9. Fernando Alonso (Spa) 26, 10. Timo Glock (Ger) 24,

11. Felipe Massa (Bra) 22, 12. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) 22, 13. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) 19, 14. Robert Kubica (Pol) 17, 15. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) 8, 16. Sebastien Buemi (Swi) 6, 17. Adrian Sutil (Ger) 5, 18. Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) 3, 19. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) 2.

Constructors: 1. Brawn 172pts, 2. Red Bull 153.5, 3. McLaren 71, 4. Ferrari 70, 5. Toyota 59.5, 6. BMW Sauber 36, 7. Williams 34.5, 8. Renault 26, 9. Force India 13, 10. Toro Rosso 8.

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