Abu Dhabi GP – Results: VICTORY!

Source: autosport.com | lotusf1team.com | twitter

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After a season of so many near misses, Kimi produced a fantastic performance to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and give the team its first victory since 2008 while a troubled race for Romain saw the Frenchman retire in the mid stages.

Summary – “Leave me alone I know what I’m doing”

• Kimi and Romain started on the yellow marked, soft compound Pirelli tyres
• Both drivers were promoted a place on the grid after a penalty for Sebastian Vettel
• The safety car appeared twice ; first on lap nine for an incident between ROS and KAR then again on lap 39 after GRO clashed with PER and WEB

Kimi Räikkönen, E20-05

Grid : P4
Race : P1
Fastest Lap : 1:44.458 [Lap 50]
Pit Stops : 1 [Lap 31]

Key Moments :
Lap 01 : Great start, up to P2 from P4 starting slot
Lap 02 : HAM runs deep into the T11/12/13 sequence ; tries down the outside into T14 but just can’t make it stick
Lap 15 : Clean re-start ; maintains P2 behind HAM
Lap 16 : VET overtakes off track exiting the T11/12/13 complex ; allowed back past but loses position again the following lap
Lap 20 : HAM retires ; inherits the lead
Lap 32 : One and only stop of the race ; medium tyres
Lap 43 : Fantastic re-start after second safety car period ; sets the fastest lap of the race
Lap 46 : Another fastest lap ; pushing to gap ALO
Lap 50 : ALO starts to close rapidly ; keeps his cool to maintain a solid gap
Lap 55 : Chequered flag ; hangs on to take his – and the team’s – first win of the season

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              1h45:58.667
 2.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +     0.852
 3.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +     4.163
 4.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     7.787
 5.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +    13.007
 6.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +    20.076
 7.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    22.896
 8.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +    23.542
 9.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +    24.160
10.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    27.400
11.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +    28.000
12.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    34.900
13.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +    47.700
14.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +    56.400
15.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +    56.700
16.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +  1:04.500
17.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +    1:11.5

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:43.964

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Pic           Marussia-Cosworth            42
Grosjean      Lotus-Renault                38
Webber        Red Bull-Renault             38
Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes             20
Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 8
Rosberg       Mercedes                     8
Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes         1

World Championship standings, round 18:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel       255        1.  Red Bull-Renault          422
 2.  Alonso       245        2.  Ferrari                   340
 3.  Raikkonen    198        3.  McLaren-Mercedes          318
 4.  Webber       167        4.  Lotus-Renault             288
 5.  Hamilton     165        5.  Mercedes                  136
 6.  Button       153        6.  Sauber-Ferrari            124
 7.  Massa         95        7.  Force India-Mercedes       95
 8.  Rosberg       93        8.  Williams-Renault           73
 9.  Grosjean      90        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         22
10.  Perez         66       
11.  Kobayashi     58       
12.  Hulkenberg    49       
13.  Di Resta      46       
14.  Maldonado     43       
15.  Schumacher    43       
16.  Senna         30       
17.  Vergne        12       
18.  Ricciardo     10

Post-race quotes:

KR: “I am happy mainly for the team. It has been a hard season for the team. Hopefully this gives a bit more belief, not just for the guys doing all the work but also the guys who own it. I hope it can turn the tables and we can win more this year and next year as well. There is nothing to jump around about, we still have a few races to go,” he said. “We’ll try to do the same again and sure we’ll have a good party today and tomorrow when we feel bad after a long night we will remember what we felt like now.” “We have been close a few times. Even in the last race we had speed to win but if you do not start in front you see what happens. So the start was key. I think compared with McLaren we didn’t have speed at the beginning of the race, but you have to finish the race.”

Lotus team quotes:

Kimi Raikkonen – 1st: “I’m very happy for the team, and for myself also. You never know what’s going to happen during the race; the safety cars made it quite tricky, but I’ve had similar races many, many times this year. Today we had a clear circuit to be able to use our speed. Perhaps we were not the fastest at the end, but we were quick enough and consistent enough to win so it’s great for the team. We’ve had some difficult races in the second half of the season so it’s fantastic to come back with a win.”

Romain Grosjean – DNF: “I am very happy for Kimi as it’s the win we were waiting for and it’s an unbelievable result for the whole team. For myself I’m disappointed as I was running pretty well. It was a tight battle with three of us in a row at turn eleven, then Sergio [Perez] went off track at turn thirteen and came back on the inside at turn fourteen leaving me with no room to go anywhere else. Mark [Webber] then came from behind and we touched; it was a big shame. A great day for the team, but an unlucky one for me.”

Eric Boullier, Team Principal: “I have one word first of all: Great. Then there are many words such as ‘relief’ and ‘deserved’. It’s obviously a very well deserved result for the team. I’m pleased for Kimi and he did a very good job. We’ve been pushing very hard all season and we’ve nearly had it before. There’s a little frustration not to have had a win sooner, and we have been waiting for it, but it’s a fantastic feeling to finally take that victory and a superb reward for the team. It’s great for Formula 1, it’s great for Kimi and it’s great for our team.”

James Allison, Technical Director: “When you are as happy as this it is hard to avoid lapsing into cliché. Despite being tantalisingly close several times this year, we have waited a long time to return to the top step of the podium. It is a massive tribute both to a flawless drive from Kimi and to the tenacity of the entire Enstone team for never having taken their eye off the prize all year. With two races left in the season we go on to Austin with a spring in our step, invigorated to do it all over again and see what we can achieve.”

Video: Race start onboard, podium, team radio and celebrations, BBC interview, Sky Sports interview, team celebrations, David Coulthard defends Kimi’s character