2011 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Mercedes GP Report - Hamillton Finishes on Top, Rosberg 6th and Schumacher 7th

The Mercedes GP team started the race with aggressive battle on their first lap. On the exit of the first corner, Nico ran wide which allowed Michael to pass him, but Nico never gave up and passed him after a brief wheel to wheel battle. After that Nico never looked back and finished the race 23 seconds ahead of his older team mate in sixth place. After being passed by Rosberg, Schumacher also fell to Force India's Sutil, but managed to pass him in the pits, to finish behind his teammate.


The big story of the race was Vettel's retirement. At the start of the race, Vettel was firmly in control going into the first corner, but on the exit and going into turn two, Vettel's rear tire blew sending him into the run off area. He managed to nurse his car into the pits, but the damage to the car was too much and had to retire.

Hamilton, took advantage right away and immediately put a decent gap between him and a hard charging Alonso, who overtook Webber on the first corner and then Button on the straight. Alonso tried to give it everything but Hamilton always answered back. In the end it was Hamilton seeing the checker flag first, claiming his third win of the season.

Button managed to finished in third place after a KERS failure for most of the race. Webber and Massa tried to take advantage of Button's woes. Webber kept the pressure on Button, but the Mclaren's high top speed, helped Button stay on top. By the time Massa joined the battle, Button's KERS came back online and immediately began increasing the gap.

Webber finished forth with ease, after Massa spun out toward the end of the race, finishing in fifth place. Di Resta in his Force India finished in ninth place with his one stop strategy. Sauber's Kobayashi finished in tenth place a full lap behind.



For Michael, it was

Nico felt

Ross said after the race


For Norbert,

Full Race Results
Pos Driver Team Grid Time Points