Country Life In The City

After all the build up and hype, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix took place yesterday. Hamilton dominated in practice, but a suspected brake problem meant he had to retire half way through. This opened the door for Vettel to take the lead and win convincingly with Webber in 2nd and Button 3rd after an exciting last lap where Button was challenging Webber, but just couldn’t get past.

Fears that the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix circuit might be boring were laid to rest. There were three good overtaking points – after the end of both long straights and at the hairpin. However, the distinct performance differences between the cars meant the race was fairly uneventful apart from the last couple of laps between Webber and Button.

The Yas Hotel looked spectacular when the sun went down the 5000 led panels lighting up in different colours and panels was the most amazing sight.

This F1 season has finished a bit up in the air though as far as who’s driving for who next year. Not many contracts have so far been signed and sealed, including F1 champion Jenson Button. Looking at the salaries, I’d imagine there will be a lot of negotiating especially to narrow the gap to Kimi Raikkonen.

Its going to be an interesting start to next season to see how the teams fair with no refuelling, heck, the drivers might have to overtake each other. Red Bull still haven’t decided which engine to use next year, the choice is Renault or Cosworth with Mclaren having vetoed their use of Mercedes.