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Sunday, 14 November 2010

F1 Abu Dhabi -The race for the championship

Welcome back to the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi after a thrilling qualifying yesterday when Sebastian once again took pole with a fantastic lap.

As I said in qualifying yesterday the permutations are endless but one thing is for certain Lewis is targetting winning the race and the first corner will be very interesting. Of the first four Mark is in the worst position starting fifth and he simply has to pass Fernando to have any chance at all of winning the championship.

Red Bull have said they will "allow" Mark to pass Sebastian if he can win and Sebastian can't as the race unfolds. All the talk about we are racing for the team maybe put into question today if Mark can win and Sebastian can't but he is in front, hmmm.

Both Mclaren drivers are racing for maximum points for the team and the gap between themselves and Ferrari stands at thirty points going into the race and Mclaren seem to have second place in the bag if they can score at least some points. Whilst Lewis has a chance of the championship it is really out of reach.

According to Martin on his usual grid walk there are three hundred plus permutations as to who can win but at the end of the day it is now down to basically six drivers on the front three rows of the grid.

The grid walk was chaos with Kings, Queens, World Leaders from a host of countries and of course our Bernie and he has so much respect from the world's countries he can encourage major sponsors into the sport.

After eighteen races the tension on the grid is immense particularly for Red Bull and whilst Christian Horner says it is just another race that is bull****. The outcome of today will crown the 2010 world champion and there can be no higher accolade in the world of motor sport.

The track temperature as the cars leave the gird is thirty three with air temperature of twenty nine. The talking is now over and with fifty five laps round this 3.7 mile circuit this is going to be a thrilling spectacle.

Dusk looms over the circuit and the flood lights come on, hearts are pumping, revs are rising and Charlie sits above the grid and there off. What a dramatic start as Jenson jumped straight into second and whilst had a go at Fernando he dropped into third.

Then as the two Mercedes cars of Nico and Michael came together, Michael spun out and as Vitantonio came around completely unsighted launched himself over the top of Michael and both were obviously out. Out came the safety car for the first time today and that can change things as some cars came in to make their compulsory tyre change including Nico's Mercedes.

As the race unfolds the early tyre changes of Nico and Vitaly are coming play as Fernando is stuck behind Vitaly and the middle field runners are suffering. Lewis then pits on lap twenty four with Fernando still down in twelfth. Lewis dropped down to behind Robert and he simply has to pass him.

As it stands on lap twenty five Sebastian is leading the championship and after his tyre stop he came out putting Kamui and Robert between himself and Lewis. It is now getting tense amongst the top three as Jenson is lapping quicker than all of them as his fuel load drops and he has yet to stop.

Fernando is still stuck behind Vitaly who is driving brilliantly but affecting both Fernando and Mark who is still running twelfth and really not working out for him. Jenson is till running first and driving brilliantly and trying to take second in front of Lewis and maybe attack Sebastian if he can force the gap before his tyre stop.

Jenson was still on the super softs which aren't supposed to run that far into the race as he has now completed thirty seven laps. He eventually pits on lap forty and he comes out behind Lewis so the extended run on the soft tyres didn't work. Sebastian then went through in the lead and and on his way on lap forty one to the championship title.

Robert has still not stopped on lap forty three and frustrating Lewis and Jenson even though he has to stop make his compulsory stop to ensure he uses both sets of tyres.

After all the talk about swapping drivers around Sebastian went out into the lead straight away and he never looked as though he was to be headed and drove to the world championship and takes the accolade of being the youngest ever driver to win the highest accolade in motor sport.

Lewis came in second followed closely by Jenson and a fabulous one, two. The jubilation on the pit wall was a sight to behold and if any team knows how to party it is Red Bull. On his closing down lap Sebastian was quite rightly crying in the car as Christian Horner announced his championship over the radio.

On the winding down lap we saw Fernando shacking a closed fist at Vitaly for losing him the world championship and what on earth did Fernando expect him to do. He was behind Vitaly but he still had to pass Robert and Nico anyway. Sorry Fernando that was out of order, you lost because Ferrari got it wrong on the day.

Through the very smart line up of young ladies the top three drivers on the day progressed to the podium and there was a lovely atmosphere between the three drivers who are of course world champions over the past three years.

So as we leave Abu Dhabi and the final race of the 2010 season it is euphoria at Red Bull having taken both the Drivers and Constructors championships, the most iconic in the world of motor sport. Mclaren take second in the Constructors championship and a great season for both Lewis (fourth) and Jenson (fifth).

Fernando had a frustrating day but finished second only four points behind Sebastian and Mark also had a frustrating day behind Fernando and finally finished third in the championship.
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