Vote for your Abu Dhabi GP driver of the weekend
2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Which F1 driver had the best race weekend in Abu Dhabi?
Compare all the drivers’ performances below and vote for who you think was the best driver of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix driver-by-driver
Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel – Quickest on Friday, then qualified third despite being delayed by a technical problem in final practice. But was sent to the back of the grid after the stewards couldn’t get enough fuel out of his car.
Changed his set-up, started from the pits and was 11th when the safety car came out. Swerving to avoid Ricciardo he damaged his front wing for a second time and had to pit. Quickly passed Grosjean (twice), Di Resta, Senna, Ricciardo, Schumacher and others and ran second after the leaders pitted. Needed a second pit stop but the fortunate reappearance of the safety car brought him back within range of Button, who he passed for third.
Mark Webber – Joined Hamilton on the front row of the grid but made a poor start and fell to fourth, then was passed by Alonso. Tangled with Maldonado while trying to pass the Williams for third, losing three places. Went off the track while overtaking Massa, who then spun, but the stewards decided against a penalty. Got ahead of Maldonado through the pits but was caught up in the Di Resta/Perez/Grosjean collision and retired with damage.
McLaren
Jenson Button – Was surprised at the gap to Hamilton in qualifying, most of which came in the last sector (half a second). Was passed by Alonso at the start and although he later overtook Maldonado he couldn’t keep Vettel behind at the end and slipped to fourth.
Lewis Hamilton – Planted his car on pole position for the sixth time this year – more than any other driver (and not counting the one he lost in Spain). Made a clean start but almost lost his lead with an error at turn eight on lap two. From there he pulled away again, including after the safety car period, until a fuel pressure problem forced him to retire from the lead on lap 20.
Ferrari
Fernando Alonso – Ferrari’s failure to improve its car’s pace was clear as he lined up behind a Williams and a Lotus.
He started well, gaining two places, but a mistake after the first safety car meant he was fending off Webber when he should have been pressing Maldonado, whose KERS had just failed. He eventually passed the Williams and closed on Raikkonen in the dying stages of the race, but time ran out for him to launch an attack.
Felipe Massa – Massa began to slip back towards the end of his first stint and was passed by Perez, but the team decided to keep him out. His race took a turn for the worst when he spun at turn 13 while racing Webber for position. “He cut the chicane and came back across the track, forcing me to spin to avoid hitting him,” Massa complained, but the stewards decided it was a racing incident. He held off Senna and Di Resta for seventh.
Mercedes
Michael Schumacher – Schumacher made an error with his KERS in Q2 which left him 13th on the grid. He got into the top ten at the start and was in the hunt for points until a puncture dropped him out of seventh place.
Nico Rosberg – Rosberg’s third first-lap incident in four races damaged his front wing and forced him to pit. While recovering he crashed into Kartyhikeyan when the HRT driver suddenly slowed: “There was no time for me to react and I’m very thankful that we are both fine,” he said.
Lotus
Kimi Raikkonen – Said the car felt at its best in qualifying and took fourth place, his highest starting position since Belgium. Translated that into second when Webber made a poor start, then took over the lead when Hamilton retired.
Had to ward off a serious attack from Alonso in the closing laps, and had just enough in hand to pull clear of the DRS zone on the final tour. “I’m happy, but there’s nothing to jump around about,” he said in typically laconic style. “We still have a few races to go, I’ll try to do the same again.”
Romain Grosjean – Not for the first time this year he came limping back into the pits at the end of lap one with damage – in this case, a puncture. But there were no penalties this time and even Rosberg, who he tangled with, considered it a racing incident.
Having fallen to last, Lotus elected to pit him again during the first safety car period. After 28 laps his soft tyres were beginning to wilt and he came under simultaneous pressure from Di Resta and Perez. The two passed him with DRS heading to turn 11, then both went off the track and Grosjean collided with Perez as the Sauber came back on. Webber clipped the Lotus as well, ending Grosjean’s race for good.
Force India
Paul di Resta – Made a rapid start and got past his team mate but squeezed Hulkenberg too much, putting the other Force India out and picking up a puncture himself. Like Grosjean he pitted under the first safety car but he switched to the more durable medium tyres. Pitting again under the second safety car dropped him from fifth to eleventh, but he made up two places to claim some points.
Nico Hulkenberg – Out-qualified Di Resta for the fourth race in a row but was pushed into Senna at the start and crashed out.
Sauber
Kamui Kobayashi – Started 15th after struggling with brake locking but avoided the first-lap collisions to holds eighth at the start of lap two. Perez passed him shortly afterwards, but Kobayashi stayed out of trouble to finish sixth, despite a gearshift problem limiting his ability to use KERS. He is now just eight points behind Perez in the drivers’ championship.
Sergio Perez – Looked on course for another good result after running a 30-lap first stint on soft tyres which included a pass on Massa. Briefly second, he emerged from his pit stop behind Grosjean and Di Resta. But an ill-judged move in returning to the track in front of Grosjean triggered a multi-car crash and earned him a costly ten-second stop-go penalty.
Toro Rosso
Daniel Ricciardo – Was running 11th when Vettel appeared behind him and nearly ran into him during the first safety car period. “I looked in my mirrors and saw him go through one of the polystyrene boards, but I have no idea what happened,” he said. Was jumped by Di Resta and Senna during his pit stop, falling to tenth.
Jean-Eric Vergne – Went out in Q1 for the eighth time this year after spinning at the penultimate corner. He switched to medium tyres during the first safety car period but had to pit for fresh tyres later on, eradicating the potential advantage and leaving him 12th at the end.
Williams
Pastor Maldonado – Qualified an excellent third and held the place until his KERS failed. After that he came under attack and was passed by Alonso and Button. Webber also tried a move but the pair tangled – the Red Bull driver not leaving enough space for Maldonado. Still had enough speed to come home fifth.
Bruno Senna – Delayed by Hulkenberg’s Force India going off at turn one, he fell to 19th on the first lap and began a trek back into the points. Ran a long, 32-lap stint on medium tyres which brought him out of the pits behind the delayed Massa. He wasn’t able to pass the Ferrari, but kept Di Resta at bay for eighth.
Caterham
Heikki Kovalainen – Spent six laps occupying the 12th place craved by Caterham, which would put them back in front of Marussia in the constructors’ championship. The recovering Schumacher dropped him back to 13th, Kovalainen’s cause not helped by a KERS fault.
Vitaly Petrov – Not wishing to do a Di Resta on his team mate at the start, Petrov backed out of a move on Kovalainen as they headed to turn one. It didn’t look like he had the pace to stay ahead of him anyway, finishing 17 seconds behind the other Caterham.
HRT
Pedro de la Rosa – Had to start from the pit lane after his team failed to get the tyre warmer off his right-rear wheel quickly enough. Aided by the late safety car, he was seven seconds behind Petrov at the flag.
Narain Karthikeyan – Another race, another worrying incident involving an HRT. This time it was Karthikeyan’s, whose car suffered a hydraulic failure in turn 15, locking his steering solid. “I had to lift my foot off the accelerator. Unfortunately, Rosberg was coming from behind and couldn’t avoid me.” The Mercedes crashed over the top off Karthikeyan and was fortunate not to seriously injure either driver.
Marussia
Timo Glock – Out-qualified by Pic but raced well, splitting the Caterhams, despite clipping his team mate on the first lap and damaging his front wing. He was particularly pleased to hold off the recovering Perez on the last lap despite the Sauber being within the DRS zone.
Charles Pic – A superb qualifying lap saw him beat Glock and Petrov – he was only a tenth of a second off the other Caterham, too. A mistake on the first lap allowed his two rivals past, and he was still embroiled in a tight battle with Petrov when his engine failed on lap 42.
Qualifying and race results summary
| Started | Gap to team mate | Laps leading team mate | Pitted | Finished | Gap to team mate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sebastian Vettel | 24th | +0.095s | 8/37 | 2 | 3rd | ||
| Mark Webber | 2nd | -0.095s | 29/37 | 1 | |||
| Jenson Button | 5th | +0.66s | 0/19 | 1 | 4th | ||
| Lewis Hamilton | 1st | -0.66s | 19/19 | 0 | |||
| Fernando Alonso | 6th | -0.141s | 55/55 | 1 | 2nd | -22.044s | |
| Felipe Massa | 8th | +0.141s | 0/55 | 1 | 7th | +22.044s | |
| Michael Schumacher | 13th | +0.591s | 7/7 | 2 | 11th | ||
| Nico Rosberg | 7th | -0.591s | 0/7 | 1 | |||
| Kimi Raikkonen | 4th | -0.518s | 37/37 | 1 | 1st | ||
| Romain Grosjean | 9th | +0.518s | 0/37 | 2 | |||
| Paul di Resta | 12th | +0.199s | 0/0 | 3 | 9th | ||
| Nico Hulkenberg | 10th | -0.199s | 0/0 | 0 | |||
| Kamui Kobayashi | 15th | +0.522s | 21/55 | 1 | 6th | -36.692s | |
| Sergio Perez | 11th | -0.522s | 34/55 | 2 | 15th | +36.692s | |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 16th | -0.778s | 37/55 | 2 | 10th | -7.443s | |
| Jean-Eric Vergne | 17th | +0.778s | 18/55 | 2 | 12th | +7.443s | |
| Pastor Maldonado | 3rd | -0.423s | 52/55 | 1 | 5th | -10.535s | |
| Bruno Senna | 14th | +0.423s | 3/55 | 1 | 8th | +10.535s | |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 18th | -0.195s | 55/55 | 1 | 13th | -16.831s | |
| Vitaly Petrov | 20th | +0.195s | 0/55 | 1 | 16th | +16.831s | |
| Pedro de la Rosa | 22nd | -0.616s | 0/7 | 1 | 17th | ||
| Narain Karthikeyan | 23rd | +0.616s | 7/7 | 0 | |||
| Timo Glock | 21st | +0.337s | 41/41 | 1 | 14th | ||
| Charles Pic | 19th | -0.337s | 0/41 | 1 |
Review the race data
- 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix lap charts
- 2012 Abu Dhabi GP tyre strategies and pit stops
- 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix fastest laps
Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job this weekend?
Cast your vote below and explain your choice in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend?
- Sebastian Vettel (27%)
- Mark Webber (0%)
- Lewis Hamilton (21%)
- Jenson Button (0%)
- Fernando Alonso (8%)
- Felipe Massa (0%)
- Michael Schumacher (0%)
- Nico Rosberg (0%)
- Kimi Raikkonen (37%)
- Romain Grosjean (0%)
- Paul di Resta (0%)
- Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
- Kamui Kobayashi (1%)
- Sergio Perez (0%)
- Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
- Jean-Eric Vergne (0%)
- Pastor Maldonado (2%)
- Bruno Senna (1%)
- Heikki Kovalainen (0%)
- Vitaly Petrov (0%)
- Narain Karthikeyan (0%)
- Pedro de la Rosa (0%)
- Timo Glock (0%)
- Charles Pic (3%)
Total Voters: 815
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2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Raikkonen voted top Abu Dhabi driver in close poll
- F1 fans’ videos from the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Abu Dhabi voted best race of the year so far
- Top ten pictures from the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Podium possible before KERS failure – Williams
Images © Red Bull/Getty images, Ferrari/Ercole Colombo, Lotus F1 Team/LAT, Sauber F1 Team, Williams/LAT, Marussia
Alfie (@alfie) said on 5th November 2012, 18:15
Ooh, there’s something, did we get an Indian GP DOTW poll?
dirgegirl (@dirgegirl) said on 5th November 2012, 18:18
I went for Vettel. OK, so he had some lucky breaks, but he still had to have the speed and presence of mind to benefit from the luck. The fact that he had a couple of little incidents on the way actually made it somehow even more amazing that he kept it together (despite squealing like a proper stroperella about Ricciardo) and got to third.
I was really hoping Hamilton would win – he had a great weekend altogether but I do find it hard to vote for someone who only raced 20 laps, no matter how dominating he was during practice and quali.
Jorge Lardone (@jorgelardone) said on 5th November 2012, 18:23
Vettel. From last in the grid to 3º place is amazing. Also Raikkonen and Kobayashi did well.
Jorge Lardone (@jorgelardone) said on 5th November 2012, 18:37
and Maldonado.
Antonio Nartea (@tony031r) said on 5th November 2012, 18:27
Raikkonen – credit to a long overdue victory. He’s shown strong pace all weekend in a car that was clearly not the fastest on the grid. Brilliant start. Good management over the course of the race. Has to be.
Notable mentions, in order: Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel, Maldonado.
caci99 (@caci99) said on 5th November 2012, 18:32
It is a tough call this time, because there were some pretty impressive drivings out there, but at the end I went for Vettel. Of course he got lucky on race day, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t perform at the level the situation required. Hamilton did very well, but he is getting all the bad luck he can this championship, and I really hope it ends here for him. Raikkonen and Alonso both challenged each other like true champions they are. That message radio to Kimi was funny: “Kimi, we need to look after the temperatures of the four tires”, answer: “Yes, yes, yes, I know, what do you think I’m doing”. Something along those lines :).
matthewf1 (@) said on 5th November 2012, 18:37
I see the Alonso brigade are at it again…7% of votes for another poor qualifying…finished the race where he could have started it. Hamilton and Raikkonen made no mistakes, not proper ones anyway…I know Hamilton briefly went off but that wasn’t major. Vettel was good but he did ruin his first front wing and only got away with replacing it because of the safety car.
Worst of the weekend has to be Webber, seemed determined not to take his chance to make the most of Vettel at the back and made one mistake after another.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1) said on 5th November 2012, 18:55
I was split between Vettel and Hamilton. Hamilton was quickest over the one lap undoubtably (although I do believe Vettel’s qualifying speed was hindered by the brake problems on Saturday). Hamilton was looking set to control the race, but then obviously the car failure stopped him in his tracks.
Vettel was under a huge amount of pressure in qualifying with his lack of preparation and was still very close to Webber (I think for sure if he had been able to do the qualifying simulations on Saturday he would have beaten Webber to the front row pre-penalty).
Then obviously he was sent to the back of the grid, which much have been a huge blow to him mentally. You could sense his frustration with his reaction to Ricciardo. To be able to recover in the way he did (from pit lane to podium) is a remarkable feat. Sure, luck played a part, but he had to fight his way into a position to capitalise on others misfortune. He was the driver of the race in my opinion, so I voted for Vettel.
Räikkönen did well to resist intense pressure from Alonso, but personally I think the fact he was under pressure from Alonso in the first place shows he just didn’t have the pace of Hamilton earlier or Vettel. He was 3rd best during the weekend in my opinion.
Also, worth mentioning Di Resta for recovering form the first corners incident to score points.
utar said on 6th November 2012, 5:01
“Räikkönen did well to resist intense pressure from Alonso, but personally I think the fact he was under pressure from Alonso in the first place shows he just didn’t have the pace of Hamilton earlier or Vettel. He was 3rd best during the weekend in my opinion.”
Kimi should nvr had been faster than the top 3, but he did. Its funny how you regard kimi not having the pace when the above all have superior car than kimi.
xjr15jaaag (@xjr15jaaag) said on 5th November 2012, 18:58
Voted Vettel; he didn’t have the most polished of races, but he got the job done.
I say that it wasn’t down to luck; he was presented opportunities, and he grasped them with both hands; I really don’t buy the opinion that the safety cars were the only reason he finished in P3, as at the end of the first safety car, he was in P21 (I think)
Max Jacobson (@vettel1) said on 5th November 2012, 19:14
@xjr15jaaag – exactly, the first safety car was of almost no help (in actual fact I think it hindered him with the DRS board collision). The second definitely close the pack up though, but what’s to say with the pace he had in free air (he was significantly quicker than the leaders) he wouldn’t have closed the gap anyway?
To confirm your last point; yes, he was dead last (a.k.a 21st). This is the point I have made before: it is no good having a safety car if he isn’t up there with the leaders to be able to capitalise upon it. Sure, he was lucky, but the reason he was so is because he was able to grab the oppurtunity when it presented itself.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1) said on 5th November 2012, 20:03
My first statement isn’t really true come to think of it, he was faster but not by enough to make up the deficit in time to score a podium. He would’ve secured 4th place anyway though.
wasiF1 (@wasif1) said on 5th November 2012, 19:00
Top 3 performer deserve it but I voted Vettel
Bobby Balboa (@bobby-balboa) said on 5th November 2012, 19:16
Voted Kimi just so that Vettel didn’t get it
Vettel cracked under pressure this weekend and for a driver who makes very little mistakes he made so many this weekend. He was very lucky with the 2 SC periods which gave him free pit stops & I’m not surprised he made his way through the field with the car he has & on fresh tires. If you really look into he made many mistakes & was helped with drivers DNF & crashing into each other in front of him.
Webber has to be the slowest off the grid this year. His starts are consistently terrable!!!
Hamilton dominated this weekend & I have no doubt he would have won the race but was nice to see Kimi on the top spot & he deserves the win with his radio comments to the team. Legend
Come on Alonso crush the finger boy
Pedro Costa (@pnunocosta) said on 5th November 2012, 19:22
There were plenty of drivers who applied fot this title, Vettel for coming from back of the field to the podium, Hamilton because he had the race perfectly and easly dominated, Alonso for another great race, but this time my heart won and I gave it to Raikkonen, who with some luck inherited the lead but made a perfect control of the race and made me laugh like no one else in F1 does, he trully has an unique character.
JenniKate (@jennikate) said on 5th November 2012, 19:26
Definitely Kimi for me.
He said the car felt good and he did everything he needed to put it in the right place at the right time and then control the race. Great victory for him and the team.
Special mentions to:
Hamilton who didn’t put a foot wrong, Maldonado who looked good all weekend & Vettel who took the luck when it came and even with his mistakes still somehow got himself onto the podium!
baldgye (@baldgye) said on 5th November 2012, 19:34
Might have voted for Vettel, but all his over-takes where with the DRS, and yet he still managed to crash twice.
Almost voted for Kimmi becasue of his team radio, but had to vote for the guy who had the perfect weekend, only to have it ruined once again by McLaren.
Mads (@mads) said on 5th November 2012, 20:24
@baldgye
How would you suggest overtaking on that circuit without DRS?
baldgye (@baldgye) said on 5th November 2012, 20:29
I wouldn’t… its just such a shame that all the new modern F1 tracks are so poor for conventional over-taking that the only way to get over-taking to happen is on a long DRS straight… its not difficult, or fun to watch becasue each driver can only make one move…
Jason (@jmwalley) said on 5th November 2012, 19:34
I would like to vote for Kimi’s Race Engineer, who took a barrage of abuse over the radio when trying to give his driver information and still kept it classy.
You’d think he’d have learned at this point in the season what kind of information Kimi wants/needs and what he finds obvious. (“Keep working all four tires” really? does anyone need to be reminded of that?)
sumedhvidwans (@sumedhvidwans) said on 5th November 2012, 19:38
Haha!
Sometimes I wonder, do any of the drivers ask for music to be played on their radio? Especially if the race is boring? When I play racing games on my computer, I like to have some songs playing as well. Will any team allow that?
Jason (@jmwalley) said on 5th November 2012, 19:56
I would have to believe the audio quality would be pretty bad, but if I was driving for Ferrari I would totally want someone singing to me in Italian.
Heck, just sing everything that would normally be said. “Felipe, baby/you’re too close/too close to Fernandooooooo.”
Max Jacobson (@vettel1) said on 5th November 2012, 20:05
I wonder if the drivers would have the option of having an iPod in the car?! They use earphones for the radio anyway so I don’t see why not! I bet some drivers would love that/already have it.
xjr15jaaag (@xjr15jaaag) said on 5th November 2012, 20:52
When I’m driving a kart, apart from when I’m in a tight fight, I start singing to myself; particurlarly when I’m closing up on someone, as it helps to focus myself, and it calms me down a bit and helps to revive my morale if I’ve just been passed or whatever.
drmouse (@drmouse) said on 6th November 2012, 13:41
When I’m driving, I tend to find music helps me concentrate, which seems to be counter-intuitive (music should be a distraction). A friend put to me a theory which I think fits well.
When you are driving, the majority of the time it doesn’t require absolute, 100% concentration. It probably takes somewhere over 90%. The remaining few percent of your brainpower doesn’t just switch off. It tries to do something. This leads to, in my case, thinking about projects I have on the go, code which needs debugging, and similar stray thoughts.
As these stray thoughts are present, they can easily grow to take away from your concentration. Also, these thoughts can be difficult to push out when you suddenly need the extra brainpower, causing slower reactions and hindering your performance in an emergency.
If you have music on, it is something that fills the little bit of concentration left in your brain, but is easily masked in the event you need all your grey matter. It “takes the edge off” without slowing your reactions, and will not take more concentration that you have available.
When I’m on my motorbike, however, only motorway riding leaves any spare brainpower: I’m totally focused on keeping myself alive. I actually find it very cleansing. On the bike, I have no stray thoughts about anything. It’s almost meditation. I would think that being in an F1 car is similar most of the time.
Jason (@jmwalley) said on 6th November 2012, 14:00
This is less counter-intuitive than you think. I forget where exactly, but in college I came across a study showing that classical music aids in concentration (and in the case at the time, retention of new learning). It is for almost the exact reason you describe: concentration and maintaining both conscious and sub-conscious activity.
While never having raced cars, I grew up swimming and playing golf competitively and the biggest hurdle was always removing the conscious mind’s input so that you could react instinctively on impulse—let all your training do the work for you.
xjr15jaaag (@xjr15jaaag) said on 6th November 2012, 17:37
I don’t listen to an iPod for instance; I just start singing, and it’s mostly to calm myself down and try not to think about a stupid move someone did on me; it helps me to regain my concentration if anything, and I don’t when I’m in a dogfight or doing a quali lap for instance. (I like endurance races)
Kimi4WDC said on 5th November 2012, 23:07
Ted (SkySport) mentioned this during the race. This was actually Chief Engineer and not Mark Slade, Kimi’s Race Engineer.
Mark Slade told the Chief Engineer, Kimi is not gonna like it, but he went on transmitting those messages any way :)
Jason (@jmwalley) said on 6th November 2012, 13:54
Man, I wish I could get the British coverage here in the US. It seems so clearly better. Next year it moves to NBC Sports, which will require me to pay more for cable, but hopefully it will result in more comprehensive coverage.
Force Maikel (@force-maikel) said on 5th November 2012, 19:40
This is gonna be very close between VET and RAI.