It may have been the most spectacular venue that the Formula One teams visited all year, but the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last weekend, which closed the 2009 F1 season, produced a dreadfully dull race, apart from the first and last few laps.
You certainly couldn’t fault the place itself. With its five star hotel spanning part of the track, a pit-lane exit which dived through a tunnel and the longest straight on the calendar, the track had everything. Coupled with a twilight start so that it ended in darkness the place looked absolutely stunning, and the perfect backdrop for F1.
But I nearly fell asleep during the race itself. Lewis Hamilton was expected to dominate in his McLaren but couldn’t shake off the pair if Red Bulls, driven by Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, who in turn were being chased by the Brawn pairing of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello.
When Hamilton retired with brake problems, that was it, although even he admitted that it would have been hard to keep up with Vettel who had jumped him at the first pit stops. In theory, we should have had a good race, with the championship having been decided and everybody just out to race, rather than finish and collect points. It was only in the last few laps, with Button closing down on Webber, that things livened up.
Lewis was on schedule to take the win, but his brakes went pop
It was difficult to see where the problem lay as well, because the circuit seemed to offer overtaking opportunities. It may well have been that the amount of dust and sand off the racing line made life too difficult.
So we had a Red Bull one-two with newly-crowned world champion Button taking the final podium spot. In theory, the Red Bulls should be on form for next year but we all know that finishing strong in one season does not necessarily translate to starting well the following year.
There’s still a lot of uncertainty for next season in the driver market as well. Brawn has yet to confirm its drivers, although Jenson Button is expected to stay (unless he is lured away to McLaren to partner Lewis Hamilton). He is expected to be joined at the title winning team by Nico Rosberg, whose seat at Williams will be taken by Rubens Barrichello in a direct swap between the two teams. The Brazilian is to be joined by the German driver Nico Hulkenberg.
Kimi Raikkonen doesn’t know if he has a drive yet next year, with McLaren the only option but the Finn is said to be demanding too much money. We shall wait and see.
One team which had an abysmal last race was Ferrari but don’t expect that to be the case next year. The team has done what Brawn (then Honda) did last year and cut development on this year’s car in order to concentrate on its 2010 racer. Expect new-signing Fernando Alonso and the returning Felipe Massa to be on song from the word go. How well the two drivers will get on is another matter…
So there we are, another season over. It’s been one of the most unpredictable and (mostly) exciting we’ve had for a few years. Let’s hope next year is just as good. Oh, and well done once again Jenson.
