Abu Dhabi: Kimi Raikkonen got the better of Fernando Alonso to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday. The 33-year-old Finn, who returned to Formula One this season after a two-year absence, grabbed his title after dominant early leader Lewis Hamilton was forced into retirement by a power failure on his McLaren car. This was Raikkonen first title in three years.

Defending champion and series leader Vettel started from the pit lane in his Red Bull car and produced one of the greatest drives of his career to finish third to cling on to his championship lead.

Meanwhile Sahar Force India’s Paul Di Resta scored two points with ninth place, but there was disappointment on the other side of the garage as teammate Nico Hulkenberg retired from the race following a first corner crash.
 
Speaking about the ace, Paul said, “Quite a hectic race for me but I’m happy to come away with some points considering the way the race unfolded. I’m not sure what happened going into turn one because I had a great launch and moved ahead of Nico, but on the exit of the corner I realised immediately that I had a puncture. That cost me a lot of ground, but the first safety car brought me back into play. We were going to try and run to the finish without stopping again and I was up to fifth place, but when the safety car came out for a second time the team called me in for fresh tyres. In the final stages our pace was strong and I moved ahead of the Toro Rossos, but I just could not get ahead of Senna. He was in the DRS zone of Massa and I just could not make the move so I had to settle for ninth.”
 
A disappointed Nico Hulkenberg said, “I made quite a bad start and had a poor run going into the first corner. Then I just got sandwiched by the cars around me go. I think there was my teammate, a Sauber and a Williams around me, and there was not enough space. I tried to back out of it, but it was too late. There was contact between the cars and that was my race over.”