Sebastian Vettel won Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and clinched the 2010 World Champion title.
The German took the win ahead of Hamilton and Button, while Alonso couldn’t finish higher than seventh. Webber was eighth.
The tension was at his maximum when Sebastian Vettel led the field away on the formation lap.
The Red Bull driver was not extremely quick as the lights went out but just managed to keep Hamilton at bay going in the first corner. Behind the front row starters, Jenson Button jumped Alonso and moved up to P3 while Webber held on to fifth place behind Alonso.
Further behind, Michael Schumacher spun his Mercedes at Turn 6. Tonio Liuzzi couldn’t avoid him and crashed heavily into him. Both retired. The Safety Car had to be deployed so that the marshals could clear the track.
Some drivers, including Rosberg and Petrov, took the opportunity to pit.
The race resumed on lap 6. Vettel managed the restart well and completed the lap with a 1.2s gap over Hamilton. Meanwhile, his teammate Webber was sandwiched between the Ferraris of Alonso and Massa and hoping to find a way past the Spaniard.
The Australian ran slightly wide on lap 9, brushing the Armco, but got away with it. He only lost a few tenths of a second over Alonso. He pitted on lap 12 and rejoined in 16th place.
Up front, Hamilton closed rapidly on Vettel and had reduced the gap down to 0.9s on lap 12. The leader reacted and managed to keep a one second gap over his McLaren rival.
Ferrari called Massa in on lap 14 and he rejoined right behind Webber. Alonso pitted on lap 16 and crucially rejoined right in front of the Red Bull driver. In the meantime, the Spaniard’s teammate couldn’t find a way past Alguersuari’s Toro Rosso and lost quite a lot of time in the process.
Alonso quickly found himself stuck behind Renault’s Petrov and ran wide attacking him on lap 23. Lewis Hamilton pitted from P2 on this very same lap. Race leader Vettel stopped one lap later, handing out the lead to Jenson Button.
He came out in front of the duo Kobayashi-Kubica, while Hamilton was stuck behind them.
Button put his head down to try and build a gap to his pursuers before making his customary pit stop. It was not enough unfortunately as 2nd-placed Vettel consistently outpaced him. In the meantime, the Renaults of Kubica and Petrov were still fending off the assaults of Hamilton and Alonso.
Hamilton made several attempts to overtake Kubica but couldn’t make it stick. Alonso was not more successful in trying to pass Petrov for 10th place.
Back at the front, Button’s healthy lead consistently decreased as his soft tyres wore on. When he finally stopped, on lap 38, Vettel had closed the gap to a handful of seconds. The Red Bull driver retook the lead while the Briton rejoined behind the duo Kubica-Hamilton.
Everything settled down then. On lap 45, Vettel was comfortably leading from Kubica and Hamilton. Button was fourth ahead of Sutil – who, with Kubica, was still to stop. Alonso was 8th with Webber 9th.
Kubica eventually stopped and released Hamilton on lap 47. The Pole rejoined ahead of his teammate Petrov. Hamilton immediately upped the pace but was 12 seconds adrift of Vettel.
Sutil came in for a change of tyres on lap 48 and rejoined in 12th.
Hamilton pushed hard to reduce the gap to the leader but the German reacted and significantly upped his pace to keep a healthy lead. He went on to win the race ahead of Hamilton and Button.
Rosberg was fourth with Kubica fifth. Alonso was unable to pass Petrov and finished in 7th place. Webber was eighth. Alguersuari and Massa completed the top ten.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Gap | Pit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Renault | 1h39m36.837 | 1 |
| 02 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren Mercedes | +10.162 | 1 |
| 03 | Jenson Button | McLaren Mercedes | +11.047 | 1 |
| 04 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | +30.747 | 1 |
| 05 | Robert Kubica | Renault | +39.026 | 1 |
| 06 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | +43.520 | 1 |
| 07 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | +43.797 | 1 |
| 08 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Renault | +44.243 | 1 |
| 09 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso Ferrari | +50.201 | 1 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | +50.868 | 1 |
| 11 | Nick Heidfeld | Sauber Ferrari | +51.551 | 1 |
| 12 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams Cosworth | +57.686 | 1 |
| 13 | Adrian Sutil | Force India Mercedes | +58.325 | 1 |
| 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber Ferrari | +59.558 | 1 |
| 15 | Sébastien Buemi | Toro Rosso Ferrari | +63.178 | 1 |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Williams Cosworth | +64.763 | 1 |
| 17 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus Cosworth | +1 lap | 1 |
| 18 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin Racing Cosworth | +2 laps | 1 |
| 19 | Bruno Senna | HRT F1 Cosworth | +2 laps | 1 |
| 20 | Christian Klien | HRT F1 Cosworth | +2 laps | 1 |
| 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus Cosworth | +4 laps | 1 |
| 22 | Timo Glock | Virgin Racing Cosworth | DNF | 1 |
| 23 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | DNF | 0 |
| 24 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India Mercedes | DNF | 0 |