Red Bull score 1-2 in desert snooze-fest
Sebastian Vettel dominated a predictable, uninspiring race in Abu Dhabi to take his seventh win in a row for Red Bull. With a good start he took the lead at turn one and then drove off into the sunset, quite literally as darkness fell over the circuit for the race to culminate in the night. Webber backed it up with a distant second place ahead of Nico Rosberg and another strong drive by Romain Grosjean as he just missed out on the podium.
Into the Weekend
Abu Dhabi, a track only notable for the time the race is held as it starts in daylight and then finishes at night as the sun slips below the sandy horizon. In its fifth year on the calendar, it still has something to prove as it failed to deliver anything exciting in its first four outings in F1. Red Bull wrapped up the titles in India a week ago, ending an already uncompetitive title race and leaving nothing to play for. Behind them, the battle for second in the constructors was the major talking point as Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus all sought to take as much as possible to secure the valuable second place in the title and its millions of dollars of prize money. After seizing the initiative in India, Mercedes were looking somewhat stronger than their two rivals as the season wound up, meaning there was a need for every ounce of performance available. Hamilton however didn't seem in the ideal state of mind, commenting this week that he might never win another world title. Lotus were having problems with Raikkonen as it emerged this week they haven't paid him all season, hampering their potential for a strong double-points finish. With McLaren not out of reach of a resurgent Force India there was still a battle for fifth place in the title, with the charge of Sauber somewhat slowed in India. After a mixed weekend for McLaren in India with Force India taking a double-points finish, there was still the potential for things to turn around with one big result. Torro Rosso were still seeking to crash Sauber's party however and recover seventh in the championship after breaking back into the points last weekend, with Sauber looking less competitive than they had.