Conclusions from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen won a thrilling Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to claim his first victory since returning to the sport at the beginning of the 2012 season.
The Finnish driver ‘retired’ in 2009, but decided to make a comeback to F1 for Lotus at the start of this year’s campaign. Despite consistent performances throughout the season, this marked a golden moment in Raikkonen’s campaign as he took the chequered flag ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
The Spanish driver clawed back some points on title rival Sebastian Vettel who, despite starting from the pits, achieved a remarkable feat by finishing in third place to stay on track for back-to-back-to back Drivers’ Championships.
Here’s more of what we learned at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix....
Year ending 0 – (2000) Schumacher
Year ending 1 – (1991) Senna
Year ending 2 – (2012) Vettel or Alonso
Year ending 3 – (1973) Stewart
Year ending 4 – (1984) Lauda
Year ending 5 – (1955) Fangio
Year ending 6 – (1966) Brabham
Year ending 7 – (1987) Piquet
Year ending 8 – (2018) ?
Year ending 9 – (1989) Prost
The Finnish driver ‘retired’ in 2009, but decided to make a comeback to F1 for Lotus at the start of this year’s campaign. Despite consistent performances throughout the season, this marked a golden moment in Raikkonen’s campaign as he took the chequered flag ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
The Spanish driver clawed back some points on title rival Sebastian Vettel who, despite starting from the pits, achieved a remarkable feat by finishing in third place to stay on track for back-to-back-to back Drivers’ Championships.
Here’s more of what we learned at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix....
- Kimi Raikkonen’s victory meant much more to the Finnish driver than 25 points. At the location where his first ‘retirement’ took place in 2009 the Lotus driver got a deserved reward for his efforts in 2012. Despite being competitive all season, and consistently finishing on the podium, this was the first time that he had topped the podium since the Belgian Grand Prix three years ago.
- This was Raikkonen’s 19th career win which puts him one behind Mika Hakkinen, the most successful F1 driver Finland has produced. Finally winning a Grand Prix this season, victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix maintained a run of 15 consecutive points finishes.
- Three years and 66 days have passed since the Finns last race victory (at Spa in 2009), but including his long absence from the sport, this drought has only lasted 23 races. This ranks as the 13th longest interval between consecutive wins for a Grand Prix driver with the ‘record’ being held by Riccardo Patrese who suffered a six and a half year drought between winning the 1983 South African Grand Prix and the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix.
- This was the longest race Raikkonen has ever won at 1 hour, 45 minutes and 58.677 seconds.
- The win also marked a momentous occasion for Raikkonen’s team who scored the 80th win of their tenure in F1. The current Lotus team has had several identities, beginning with Toleman and later Benetton. Its last win came at the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix when it was branded as Renault.
- This continues to be a season of much unpredictability. Six different teams have now won races in 2012: McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, Williams and Lotus. The last time this many teams were competitive was in 1983 when Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Brabham, Renault and Tyrrell all secured race wins.
- Raikkonen has now won with three different teams (McLaren, Ferrari and Lotus). Of the current drivers, only Alonso (Renault, McLaren, Ferrari) and Button (Honda, Brawn, McLaren) have managed to do the same.
- Victory also means that the Finn has now won in seven different F1 seasons. Only Schumacher (15) and Alonso (8) have had a race victory in more.
- World Championship leader Sebastian Vettel climbed his way from starting in the pits to finishing on the podium to once again prove what a phenomenal driver he is. Chasing down a third consecutive World Championship title, 3rd place is the best anyone has ever recovered to from starting last on the grid. The last driver to achieve such a feat was Emerson Fittipaldi who started 24th at the 1980 USA Grand Prix and finished 3rd – this was mostly due to fourteen of his other rivals retiring.
- Vettel’s damage limitation means he can win his third World Championship in his 100th start at the United States Grand Prix next weekend. The German driver also chalked up the fourteenth fastest lap of his career which gives him as many as Felipe Massa and Mark Webber.
- Despite a miserable race-day in which he retired from contention, Saturday was a much happier one for Lewis Hamilton as he claimed the 25th pole position of his F1 career. Only eight drivers in history have managed more.
- Sadly for the British driver he retired for the 6th time after starting a race in pole position. Dropping out of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix means that Hamilton has now retired from four races this season, more than in any of his previous seasons.
- McLaren powered cars have now led for over 50,000km of all laps raced in F1. The only team ahead of them is Ferrari who have logged 70,549km compared to the British team’s total.
- At the end of the Abu Dhabi race, McLaren finally passed Ferrari’s record for finishing in the points for the longest number of consecutive races as they picked up a 56th scoring finish in a row. Their current run began at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix: the first race with their current driver line-up of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
- It should be noted that Ferrari’s streak took place during an F1 era when points were only awarded down to 6th place.
- This was the fourth consecutive race in which no McLaren driver has finished on the podium – the longest absence for them since the beginning of the 2009 season.
- As a good omen for Vettel and Alonso in the quest to win a third driver’s title of their careers, each previous driver who did so won their third in a year with a different ending:
Year ending 0 – (2000) Schumacher
Year ending 1 – (1991) Senna
Year ending 2 – (2012) Vettel or Alonso
Year ending 3 – (1973) Stewart
Year ending 4 – (1984) Lauda
Year ending 5 – (1955) Fangio
Year ending 6 – (1966) Brabham
Year ending 7 – (1987) Piquet
Year ending 8 – (2018) ?
Year ending 9 – (1989) Prost