As it happened: 2011 Abu Dhabi - The Race

• 12:00

  Hello there, welcome to the Factbyte Factbox for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix!

• 12:01

  This is the penultimate race of the 2011 season, with just this and a final round in Brazil still to go. Can the paddock provide some fabulous entertainment to see the season off in style?

• 12:01

  It won't surprise you to learn that Sebastian Vettel is on pole position. It's his 14th this year.

• 12:01

  He's also incredibly good around the Yas Marina circuit, having won both the previous Abu Dhabi GPs.

• 12:02

  Still, qualifying didn't go all his own way as McLaren put in a strong effort - Lewis Hamilton lines up alongside him on the front row.

• 12:03

  There's a quick round up of all that happened in qualifying available via F1Minute: https://sidepodcast.com/news/vettel-claims-pole-mclaren-abu-dhabi

• 12:06

  The only other real thing of note, of course, is Williams struggles. Barrichello couldn't set a time in Q1, and Maldonado has a ten place grid drop for an engine change, meaning they line up on the back row.

• 12:08

  We've got double DRS in Abu Dhabi, with two separate detection and activation points. The FIA have also extended one of them to encourage overtaking even more.

• 12:10

  If you're following the race online today, do join in the Sidepodcast comments: https://sidepodcast.com/dashboard - you can follow comments, Twitter and this here FBFB all in one space. Amazing!

• 12:10

  And don't forget to vote on the super duper poll. Will all that DRS tweaking make any difference to the notoriously dull racing in Abu Dhabi? https://sidepodcast.com/post/live-abu-dhabi-2011-the-race

• 12:13

  The fabulously close battle between Sauber and Toro Rosso will be one to watch today as they are on equal points going into this race.

• 12:14

  41 points apiece, and qualified as below:

  Qualifying Position

  11	Sergio Pérez	Sauber
  12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault
  13	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso
  14	Bruno Senna	Renault
  15	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso
  16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber

• 12:17

  Pirelli have brought the soft and medium compounds to Yas Marina, so look out for the yellow and white stripes respectively.

• 12:18

  Circuit Data

  Yas Marina
  Local timezone	+0400 GMT
  First race	2009
  Number of laps	55
  Circuit length	5.554km
  Race distance	305.355km
  Start offset	0.115km

• 12:21

  Tweet from @ManipeF1: Rubens Barrichello has had to take a 9th engine overnight so he drops from 23rd to 24th. #F1

• 12:25

  You might fancy some live timing as you follow along today, F1.com can help you out with that: http://www.formula1.com/live_timing/live_timing.html

• 12:26

  The BBC have live streams and live text available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9638433.stm and Autosport's fab updates will kick off soon: http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/428

• 12:27

  Tweet from @NobleF1: Team Lotus has added QPR branding to its cars for the final two races of the season

• 12:31

  Interview with Mark Webber: "It's always nice if you can go away where you are, if you can grab something great. Ferrari always make decent starts, but I think the grid should be even today.

  "DRS, yea, I think it's not the easiest venue. Let's see how it unfolds, it's always tricky to try and gestimate these days. In Korea, McLaren looked phenomenal and we gave them a really hard time in the race. See how it goes."

• 12:34

  The pit lane is open, so the engines are firing up and cars are making their way to the grid.

• 12:36

  Virgin Racing leave the garage and head towards their grid spots.

• 12:36

  Tweet from @InsideFerrari: The shadows are already covering most of the circuit.

• 12:38

  Qualifying Position

  1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull
  2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren
  3	Jenson Button	McLaren
  4	Mark Webber	Red Bull
  5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari
  6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
  7	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
  8	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes
  9	Adrian Sutil	Force India
  10	Paul di Resta	Force India

• 12:38

  Hamilton has already said that the distance between himself and Massa is probably a good thing. Can they avoid a coming together today?

• 12:39

  Tweet from @WilliamsF1Team: Off to grid, stopping tweeting as when I do, I come v close to getting runover

• 12:41

  Interview with Jenson Button: "I think the last few races, we've been pretty strong, not quite strong enough to beat Sebastian and Red Bull but very close. Every race we go into, we hope we can challenge him. It's been difficult but I think this race is a race we've been closer than we have been. I'm looking forward to it today."

• 12:42

  More from JB about the twilight race: "It's amazing how cool it is already in the shade. Apart from that it's all good. The drop in temperature does make it difficult. most people will be running the harder tyre towards the end of the race, and that's when the temperature drops."

• 12:43

  

  27°C

  Track	32°C
  Humidity	53%
  Wind speed	1.7mps

• 12:45

  Interview with Nico Rosberg: "Feeling is very good, quite confident for today. My aim today is to try and beat one of the Ferraris, I think it's going to be Massa, and it's quite possible. Maybe I can beat Massa at the start, round the outside here to turn one, I'll give it a go."

• 12:47

  Braking Analysis

  Turn 1
  (forecast data from Brembo)
  Initial speed	286km/h
  Final speed	158km/h
  Stopping distance	70m
  Braking time	1.18s
  Maximum deceleration	4.51g
  Maximum pedal load	116kg

• 12:49

  Interview with Sébastien Buemi: "We have a new exhaust that seems to give us a bit more downforce. We just need a few points to be in front of Sauber. Force India seems a bit far now, but anything is possible. We'll see."

• 12:50

  The Sauber crew wait on the grid.

• 12:54

  Tweet from @TheFifthDriver: The red lights go out in 9 minutes, who is going to join us on the McLaren.com Pitwall for live commentary? mclaren.com/formula1

• 12:56

  Live timing has reset, we've got about five minutes until race time.

• 12:57

  The poll is closed and 43% think there may be a better chance of overtaking, 38% say no chance, and only 19% think DRS will do the business.

• 13:00

  The engines roar, and the cars pull away for their formation lap.

• 13:01

  Tweet from @OfficialSF1Team: Both Torro Rosso on softs. SUT as well. We are on a split strategy. #Kamui on medium, #Perez on soft tyres.

• 13:02

  Vettel backs up the pack as they come to the end of their formation lap.

• 13:03

  The start, via @MauriceHamilton

• 13:03

  Race started.

• 13:04 Lap 1

  Sebastian Vettel has a right rear puncture and ran off track. He's now at the back of the field.

• 13:04 Lap 1

  It looked like a clean first corner, with just Nico Rosberg running wide off track.

• 13:04 Lap 1

  Fernando Alonso passes Button to move up in to second place. Rosberg and Schumacher are scrabbling for position.

• 13:04 Lap 1

  Lewis Hamilton leads for now.

• 13:05 Lap 1

  Button looks to be faster than the Ferrari but can't get back past. Hamilton is pulling out a bit of a gap to the squabbling pair.

• 13:06 Lap 2

  Replays show Vettel was out by himself in the lead, he ran over the kerbs, and then the puncture just happened. He's still circling trying to get back to the pits.

• 13:06 Lap 2

  Bruno Senna has also pitted, not sure if that was planned or not.

• 13:07 Lap 2

  Vettel finally makes it back to the pits, but the mechanics have a look and signal the race is over. The damage from a whole lap on three tyres is too much.

• 13:07 Lap 2

  Hamilton's lead is up to 2.7, Alonso is now comfortably in front of Button.

• 13:07 Lap 3

  Race Control: DRS enabled.

• 13:07 Lap 3

  Sergio Pérez has pitted for a new front wing, he came in from tenth place.

• 13:09 Lap 3

  Tweet from @clubforce: Action-packed opening lap. Adrian running P8 and @pauldirestaf1 holds P10.

• 13:09 Lap 4

  We're seeing lots of replays. I'd like to know why Senna and Pérez have had to pit, but perhaps there was no incidents to see.

• 13:10 Lap 4

  One to Watch

  Jenson Button	vs.	Mark Webber
  3rd	+0.9s	4th

• 13:10 Lap 4

  Vettel takes his helmet off in the garage, looking in need of some sympathy from his trainer.

• 13:11 Lap 5

  Replays show Webber got past Button in the first DRS zone, but the McLaren took it right back in the second.

• 13:12 Lap 5

  Driver Positions

  Pos		Driver
  1	1	Lewis Hamilton
  2	3	Fernando Alonso
  3	0	Jenson Button
  4	0	Mark Webber
  5	1	Felipe Massa
  6	1	Nico Rosberg
  7	1	Michael Schumacher
  8	1	Adrian Sutil
  9	1	Paul di Resta
  10	3	Sébastien Buemi

• 13:13 Lap 6

  Kobayashi comes into the pits for his first stop of the day.

• 13:14 Lap 6

  The Williams pair of Barrichello and Maldonado lined up on the back row of the grid, but have moved forward to 14th and 16th respectively.

• 13:15 Lap 7

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	HAM	1:46.511
  2nd	ALO	+2.7
  3rd	BUT	+6.1
  4th	WEB	+7.1
  5th	MAS	+8.9

• 13:15 Lap 7

  Now Bernie Ecclestone has headed to the Red Bull garage to give Vettel some words of encouragement and a quick hug. Who knew he needed so much attention?

• 13:18 Lap 9

  At the back, Senna is in recovery mode after an early stop, and he's just moved up to 20th place ahead of Ricciardo.

• 13:18 Lap 9

  Team radio to Button: "Okay, Jenson, you are the fastest car on the circuit, and you have broken Webber's DRS. Good going, keep it up."

• 13:18 Lap 9

  Broken, as in moved in front, not broken as in sabotage.

• 13:20 Lap 10

  Buemi got past Di Resta for 9th place, but, as is the way, the Force India came back past in the second DRS zone.

• 13:20 Lap 10

  When they said double DRS would help more overtaking, perhaps they were just counting the two moves even though the result doesn't change.

• 13:21 Lap 11

  Adrian Sutil is closing up on Michael Schumacher for 7th place. It's just over a second between them, he'll be looking for the DRS zone soon.

• 13:22 Lap 11

  Kovalainen is up in 13th place at the moment, partly due to the early pit stops from Sauber and Buemi.

• 13:23 Lap 12

  Team radio from Paul di Resta: "I'm starting to lose traction."

• 13:24 Lap 12

  Senna has dispatched the other Virgin car now, sliding past Glock to move into 17th place.

• 13:25 Lap 13

  TedNews: Bruno Senna was gambling on a safety car and that's why he pitted early. He has got the harder tyre out the way.

• 13:25 Lap 13

  Tweet from @InsideFerrari: Time for the first pit-stop is coming close

• 13:27 Lap 14

  Button reports something of a problem back to the team, although it's not clear what it is. His times are slow - the last lap half a second slower than Webber behind him.

• 13:28 Lap 14

  Buemi and Di Resta put in a carbon copy of their DRS dance again. It's bizarre!

• 13:29 Lap 15

  And again! But this time, Di Resta messes up the corner exit and Buemi gets the position - 9th place for the Toro Rosso driver for now.

• 13:30 Lap 15

  The Button problem is suspected to be a KERS failure. Webber is hustling him for position, they trade 3rd and 4th, and Button keeps the place for now.

• 13:30 Lap 16

  Ferrari mechanics gather in the pitlane and it's Massa that comes in first. Soft tyres again for Felipe.

• 13:31 Lap 16

  Recent Lap Times

  L Hamilton
  Lap 2	1:47.726
  Lap 3	1:47.134
  Lap 4	1:46.964
  Lap 5	1:46.549
  Lap 6	1:46.511
  Lap 7	1:46.431
  Lap 8	1:46.321
  Lap 9	1:45.989
  Lap 10	1:46.017
  Lap 11	1:46.075
  Lap 12	1:46.007
  Lap 13	1:46.329
  Lap 14	1:46.236
  Lap 15	1:46.516

• 13:31 Lap 16

  Hamilton's pace is tailing off now, we're definitely into the pitstop window.

• 13:32 Lap 16

  Alguersuari comes into the pits from 12th place.

• 13:32 Lap 16

  Hamilton pits from the lead, with Fernando Alonso following him in. A battle of the pit crews.

• 13:32 Lap 17

  Button also comes in, just as Hamilton returns to the track - a quick turnover for them.

• 13:33 Lap 17

  Webber is now leading the race, pending a pit stop, and Hamilton returned to the track in front of Rosberg, so he's still leading.

• 13:33 Lap 17

  Pit Stop Analysis

  Driver	L Hamilton
  Team	McLaren
  Pit lane	19.439s
  Stopped	3.6s

• 13:33 Lap 17

  Tweet from @OfficialSF1Team: The early pit stop of #Checo forced us to adjust the strategy. Let's see how it works out at the end. #Checo similar lap times as DIR.

• 13:34 Lap 18

  Webber comes in for his stop and it's a really slow one. The Red Bull crew look to be scrambling around the right rear, and then he's held up waiting for cars to pass.

• 13:35 Lap 18

  Webber returns to the track behind Massa, and Button gets a radio message to tell him: "He's out of the picture." Harsh.

• 13:36 Lap 19

  Replays show Petrov running very wide off track, losing a couple of positions, but continuing onwards.

• 13:36 Lap 19

  Tweet from @HRTF1Team: Cars running on softs are starting to come in for their first stops. We've still got a few laps to go before we come in

• 13:37 Lap 19

  Petrov comes in for a stop, as does Barrichello.

• 13:39 Lap 20

  Team radio to Paul di Resta: "Paul, if we can make this work, it will be good. Everybody around you has one stop to make and they will be on prime."

• 13:39 Lap 21

  Di Resta is hoping to one stop the car then, he's currently running in 8th place, but isn't afraid to let cars past him - Michael Schumacher comes sailing through.

• 13:40 Lap 21

  Maldonado is also running a very long first stint, he's currently up in 10th, just behind Di Resta.

• 13:41 Lap 22

  Sébastien Buemi pits and is out of the car! I must have missed what happened there.

• 13:41 Lap 22

  Bruno Senna pits for his second stop of the day.

• 13:42 Lap 22

  Autosport Live have the details: "Buemi had moved up to seventh place in the pitstop phase, but he looks to have a suspension problem as he crabs his way back to the pits."

• 13:44 Lap 23

  One to Watch

  Petrov	vs.	Pérez
  12th	+0.9s	13th

• 13:46 Lap 24

  Live timing also shows D'Ambrosio as retired. It'd be amazing if the coverage actually told us any of this stuff. He retired on the lap before Buemi.

• 13:47 Lap 25

  Lewis Hamilton is overtaking backmarkers now, and they aren't making it easy for him. Both Alguersuari and Glock lose him a tenth or two as he passes.

• 13:49 Lap 26

  Field Spread

  Pos	Driver	Time
  1st	Lewis Hamilton	1:45.332
  16th	Bruno Senna	+103.1

  The rest, they have been lapped.

• 13:50 Lap 26

  Maldonado comes in for his first stop of the day - is this his only stop?

• 13:50 Lap 27

  

  26°C

  Track	29°C
  Humidity	60%
  Wind speed	2.9mps

• 13:50 Lap 27

  I'm calling it officially nighttime now. Moon!

• 13:51 Lap 27

  Tweet from @MarussiaVirgin: In case you didn't see last tweet due to loading issue, Jerome retired with a brake problem

• 13:52 Lap 28

  Paul di Resta is the only driver out there who hasn't stopped yet, then, and he's currently running in 9th place.

• 13:53 Lap 28

  Maldonado loses the track as he heads through the pit exit tunnel.

• 13:54 Lap 29

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	HAM	1:44.809
  2nd	ALO	+3.3
  3rd	BUT	+18.8
  4th	MAS	+20.0

• 13:54 Lap 29

  Webber is also close up behind Massa, less than a second between them at the moment.

• 13:55 Lap 29

  Pérez has stopped for the second time, and Di Resta has also come in for his first stop of the day!

• 13:55 Lap 29

  Race Control: Incident involving Maldonado under investigation - ignoring blue flags.

• 13:55 Lap 30

  Race Control: Drive through penalty for Maldonado - ignoring blue flags.

• 13:55 Lap 30

  That was a quick decision!

• 13:57 Lap 30

  Webber sails past Webber, but runs wide at the corner, and they almost touch. Massa closes up for the second DRS zone and retakes his position.

• 13:58 Lap 31

  Tweet from @clubforce: Paul pits on lap 28. Swaps his prime mediums for soft options.

• 13:58 Lap 31

  Tweet from @easonF1: Now Webbo takes Massa and Massa takes Webbo back - and he doesn't hit him! Hurrah!

• 13:58 Lap 32

  Once again, Kovalainen is up into 13th place. He's sitting between Di Resta and Maldonado at the moment.

• 13:59 Lap 32

  Maldonado pits for his drive through, that will have ruined any chance of his one stop strategy working out.

• 14:00 Lap 32

  TedNews: Button's KERS is back and immediately he sets his own personal best time of the race.

• 14:01 Lap 32

  Massa and Webber caught up with the backmarkers. Alguersuari and Maldonado were fighting for position, losing the pair time.

• 14:02 Lap 34

  Maldonado appears to have gone completely wonky. He's not letting anyone through, and runs wide off track, lacking control. Mark Webber has to fight to get past him.

• 14:03 Lap 34

  Sutil passes Petrov for 11th place, as Fernando Alonso sets the fastest lap of the race so far - 1:44.270.

• 14:04 Lap 35

  Kobayashi pits for the second time, from ninth place.

• 14:05 Lap 35

  Driver Analysis

  Driver	L Hamilton
  Team	McLaren
  Position	1
  Started	2
  Stops	1
  Last lap	1:44.784
  Best lap	1:44.469

• 14:05 Lap 36

  Race Control: Incident involving Maldonado and Alguersuari under investigation - ignoring blue flags.

• 14:06 Lap 36

  Barrichello pits from 10th place, he returns to the track 14th.

• 14:06 Lap 36

  Webber comes in for his second stop of the day, it was a much cleaner stop from the Red Bull crew this time.

• 14:08 Lap 37

  The McLaren crew head to the pitlane and welcome Button in. It was a quick stop for him, and he heads back to the track.

• 14:08 Lap 37

  Race Control: Incident involving Senna under investigation - ignoring blue flags.

• 14:09 Lap 37

  Race Control: Drive through penalty for Senna - ignoring blue flags.

• 14:10 Lap 38

  Replays show Michael Schumacher cutting the kerb and knocking off a tiny piece of front wing, which goes spinning off track and out of the way.

• 14:10 Lap 38

  Tweet from @OfficialLRGP: Petrov and Alonso...memories

• 14:11 Lap 39

  Over team radio, Button is informed he's racing Rosberg. He is behind Nico at the moment due to an extra stop, but I wouldn't have thought they were in direct battle.

• 14:12 Lap 39

  Haven't heard anything about Maldonado getting a second drive through. He must be a special case.

• 14:12 Lap 40

  Only the top eight cars remain on the first lap, everyone from Paul di Resta back has been lapped.

• 14:13 Lap 40

  Alonso has passed the only remaining back marker between him and Hamilton, they now have half a clear track to do battle in.

• 14:13 Lap 40

  Petrov pits from 12th place, as Webber puts in the fastest lap of the race - 1:43.671.

• 14:14 Lap 41

  Race leader Lewis Hamilton pits from lap 41, puts on the medium tyres after a fabulous stop from McLaren.

• 14:15 Lap 41

  Ferrari are waiting, and it's Massa that comes in. Kovalainen also stops for the second time this evening.

• 14:15 Lap 41

  Massa ends up following Kovalainen out of the pit lane which is a little bit awkward, but the Ferrari finally gets past.

• 14:16 Lap 42

  Webber is hounding Button for 5th place, there's half a second between them, and Webber needs to get past if he has to stop again.

• 14:17 Lap 42

  Team radio from Hamilton: "Barrichello just overtook me in a straight line."

• 14:18 Lap 42

  Webber finally made a pass down the main straight on Button, and they almost touched but Button wasn't going to take the risk and let him go.

• 14:19 Lap 43

  Button asked for clarification over the team radio whether Webber definitely had to stop again. That probably had something to do with him letting the car go - they are not fighting for position in reality.

• 14:19 Lap 44

  Tweet from @InsideFerrari: Fernando has 20 secs but it will be hard to remain in front of Hamilton

• 14:20 Lap 44

  Alonso pulls into the pitlane and finds himself following an HRT. It's a good stop, but it's not enough.

• 14:22 Lap 45

  The Maldonado incident will be investigated after the race. Meanwhile, his front wing endplate is now sitting in the middle of the road.

• 14:22 Lap 45

  Replays show that Massa picked up the front wing, and he carried it with him along the track.

• 14:23 Lap 45

  Yellow flags. Brief yellow flags on and off. I wonder if the debris came off Massa's car and was collected.

• 14:26 Lap 47

  Less than ten laps to go, Hamilton is keeping a strong lead, just under six seconds over Alonso at the moment.

• 14:26 Lap 47

  Tyre usage during the middle stint:

  Tyre Stint Comparison

  Driver	Compound	Laps
  Hamilton	Soft	25
  Alonso	Soft	28
  Button	Soft	21

• 14:28 Lap 48

  Webber puts in the fastest lap of the race - 1:42.907. He hasn't stopped for the final time yet, he's leaving it late for a final dash on the harder compound.

• 14:29 Lap 49

  Rosberg finally pits for his second stop of the day. He runs a tiny bit wide on the exit, and returns to the track sixth.

• 14:30 Lap 50

  Replays show Massa having a spin, that means his fight with Webber is pretty much over. Rosberg moves up to fifth as well.

• 14:32 Lap 50

  Comment from Stuart Taylor: so probably the best Abu Dhabi race so far. I know it's not a high benchmark, but... small steps

• 14:33 Lap 51

  Rosberg didn't move up to fifth, my mistake. He is, however, just three seconds behind Massa now.

• 14:34 Lap 52

  Four laps to go now.

• 14:35 Lap 52

  The closest battle on track at the moment is Sutil on Schumacher, there's 1.7 seconds for the Force India to make up if they want 7th place.

• 14:35 Lap 52

  Daniel Ricciardo has pulled off track, the HRT left to the hands of the marshals.

• 14:37 Lap 54

  Top Speeds

  Sector 1	Sutil	285kph
  Sector 2	Kobayashi	312kph
  Sector 3	Hamilton	220kph
  Speed trap	Pérez	322kph

• 14:38 Lap 54

  Barrichello's put in a solid performance, currently sitting in 12th place, having started last.

• 14:39 Lap 55

  Webber comes in for his final stop, on the final lap. The mechanics didn't look ready at all, but they got into position in time. Odd strategy.

• 14:40 Lap 55

  Webber returns to the track in fourth place, ahead of Massa.

• 14:40

  Lewis Hamilton wins the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix!

• 14:43

  Schumacher comes to a halt out on track after crossing the line. Probably out of fuel.

• 14:43

  Race Winner

  Driver	Lewis Hamilton
  Team	McLaren
  Race time	1:37:11.886
  Race distance	305.355km
  Average speed	188.494km/h

• 14:44

  Driver Positions

  Pos		Driver
  1	1	Lewis Hamilton
  2	3	Fernando Alonso
  3	0	Jenson Button
  4	0	Mark Webber
  5	1	Felipe Massa
  6	1	Nico Rosberg
  7	1	Michael Schumacher
  8	1	Adrian Sutil
  9	1	Paul di Resta
  10	6	Kamui Kobayashi

• 14:44

  Notable that the top ten hadn't changed since the last time I published the table - except for Buemi's retirement, to be replaced by Kobayashi.

• 14:45

  Hamilton climbs from his car, jumps over the barrier and heads towards his crew. Cheers all round.

• 14:46

  Gap Analysis

  Pos	Driver	Gap
  1st	HAM	1:44.953
  2nd	ALO	+8.4
  3rd	BUT	+25.8
  4th	WEB	+35.7
  5th	MAS	+50.5

• 14:46

  Tweet from @OfficialMGP: #F1 End of the race in Abu Dhabi. 6th and 7th places for Nico and Michael respectively. Good job guys.

• 14:48

  They down some water, and make their way to the podium. Hamilton looks happy, Alonso more resigned as the national anthem rings out.

• 14:50

  Big smiles for Hamilton as he waves to his mum in the crowd - her birthday today, apparently.

• 14:51

  2011 Race Wins

  Pos	Driver	Total
  1	Sebastian Vettel	11
  2	Jenson Button	3
  3	Lewis Hamilton	3
  4	Fernando Alonso	1

• 14:52

  Hamilton's big smile as the spray surrounds them.

• 14:53

  Reports say that Vettel's puncture was an instantaneous failure, rather than him hitting something.

• 14:55

  Interview with Sebastian Vettel: "To be honest, exit of the first corner everything seemed fine. As soon as I turned in for the second, something felt odd on the right. The second time I had to catch the car, I couldn't do it anymore. I lost too much air on the rear right, had a puncture, and spun off.

  "I would like to swap with someone in the car, doesn't matter which car to be honest. There wasn't a lot to go through. Hard to say how quick we could have been. I think the car was in good shape. On the other hand, Lewis and Fernando drove a strong race at the front. It's difficult to stand here and tell you what could have been, in the end it didn't happen."

• 14:57

  Press Conference Quotes - Lewis Hamilton: "I'm ecstatic, really very happy to be back up here. This is great, I can get on my flight tonight and smile."

• 14:58

  Press Conference Quotes - Fernando Alonso: "It was a fantastic race for me, with a very good start and then a good first lap fight with Jenson. We found ourselves second and we fight through the race with Lewis. In the last pitstop, we stayed two laps longer than the McLaren, we were close, I think. We had some traffic in the pit entry and I think we lost a little bit of ground. Extremely happy with second and enjoying this weekend."

• 14:59

  Press Conference Quotes - Jenson Button: "I'm not sure my pace was entirely there on the soft tyre. I think it was about lap 13 or 14, I didn't have any KERS. I had to fend off Webber and Massa, which was quite interesting without KERS. In the next stint, they said what I could do to get it back. But it lasted about two laps at a time, then I had to keep resetting it. When you don't have KERS, you don't have any braking performance. Every time I arrived at a corner, I didn't know what I was going to get."

• 14:59

  Press Conference Quotes - Lewis Hamilton: "This is early days yet, but this is definitely the start of something really good. We've got another great race in front of us in Brazil. I've just got to keep my mind on the game."

• 15:00

  Tweet from @EliGP: FIA press conference, 80% shorter without Vettel

• 15:05

  Interview with Mark Webber: "Obviously, on the second stop, we put on the option again to cut the race down to something different. It was worth a bit of a punt. The two DRS's are tricky, obviously, because the first one was easy to get the move done but the second one you couldn't, so if you pass JB there, he'd just get you back again. It was a bit of a gimmick today, the DRS. Difficult to make a move stick, and harder to get the move done.

  "In the end, I had pretty good pace on JB anyway, at the end of the first stint. He went one lap shorter than us, no problem there with the strategy. Then we had a bad first pit stop, we lost a lot of time on that first stop. That put us on the back foot, and I got the car back onto the back of them, but we were out of track position by then. The pressure on the podium was probably lost around the first pit stop."

• 15:09

  Interview with Martin Whitmarsh: "I am thrilled for the team, thrilled for Lewis, thrilled for everyone. This weekend he was really on it. Of course, yesterday if we're honest, we were second and third in qualifying, and we were disappointed and people said why. We knew we could win the race, and that's a distant memory now. Fernando's a phenomenal competitor, we had some pressure, but he just controlled the gap and really just looked after his tyres and did a great, great race. Didn't put a foot wrong.

  "For Jenson, also a fantastic race. As you may or may not know, he had KERS missing for half the race. Apart from the power boost lack, your whole brake balance changes, and he was under pressure from Mark. He was fighting with a car that was impaired."

• 15:12

  Interview with Paul di Resta: "It was always the plan [to one stop]. Unfortunately, what we thought didn't quite work out. We thought most cars would be like that. We chose to switch the cars in terms of tyre strategy ahead of the race. And I think we switched the other car quite quickly when we saw the performance of the primes on my car.

  "It was a hard fight for the first thirty laps, running round, it's pretty slow but I suppose the reflecting thing is we've come away with a double points score. We were the only car on a one-stop strategy, so something tells you there. Really, it just secures us a bit more on sixth place in the constructor's championship when we go to Brazil, which we need to try and maintain when we go there."

• 15:15

  Retirements

  Driver	Reason	Lap
  S Vettel	Puncture	2
  J D'Ambrosio	Brake problem	21
  S Buemi	Suspension	22
  D Ricciardo	Broken alternator	52

• 15:16

  I don't think anyone was expecting great things from the racing in Abu Dhabi today, and although it was better than some of the previous events held at Yas Marina, it was still relatively tame by 2011 standards.

• 15:16

  It's interesting to see a driver other than Sebastian Vettel win, but actually even more interesting to see the young German's reaction to being knocked out.

• 15:17

  Both Hamilton and Alonso aren't giving up on second place in the championship, and the battle between the pair of them moves on to Brazil.

• 15:17

  The final round of the 2011 season will be in a fortnight's time. I hope you will join me then, for all the fun at Interlagos.

• 15:18

  Stay tuned to Sidepodcast and F1Minute for all the news and reaction between now and then, and as ever, be cool, fact fans.