Category: Motorsports

Reflecting on his victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel was asked what it was like to equal the record of seven successive race wins jointly held by Michael Schumacher and Alberto Ascari. As is often the case Vettel spoke with humility and grace. He may be Formula 1’s pantomime villain, but after some time he’s maturing into a pretty decent guy, really.

In his comments Mark Weber spoke openly about his struggle with the Pirelli tyres, especially the soft compound rubber. He looked very happy on the podium last night and it was great to see him enjoying himself.

Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo expressed his disappointment after starting in the top 10 but finishing down in P16. Let’s hope he doesn’t develop Mark’s habit of poor starts when he moves to Red Bull. “This was not at all the race I was hoping for,” he said. “In this sport, if the start doesn’t go well, it’s hard to recover, so I want to look at the data to understand what happened. The car didn’t get off the line well and then, at Turn 1 there was a bit of chaos as I dropped back into the group behind me.

“I had to run wide to avoid some accidents and from then on, my race was pretty much over. At the moment, our pace is not sufficient to fight back into the top 10 if something like this happens. We must see what we can do to have better starts, because when we get good ones, we have generally gone on to score points.”

The full transcript of the post-race press conference featuring the first three drivers can be read after the break.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Sebastian Vettel literally drove off into the sunset at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, on the way to another all too familiar dominant victory. It’s his seventh grand prix win in a row and his 30.8 second margin over Red Bull teammate Mark Webber tells the story.

Mark got off the line okay but was quickly gobbled up by Sebastian then Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG), who slipped back to third at the end of the race. Rosberg finished less than three seconds behind Webber and felt a second place may have been possible but was happy to be the best of the rest.

An expected challenge for the podium from Romain Grosjean didn’t bear fruit for the Lotus driver who finished fourth. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) once again raced better than he qualified, finishing fifth ahead of Paul di Resta (Force India) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG).

Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Sergio Perez (McLaren) provided some entertaining moments in mid-pack battles on the way to P8 and P9 respectively. While Adrian Sutil (Force India) picked up the final point on offer in a close fought affair.

Daniel Ricciardo couldn’t convert his ninth place start into points and he and Toro Rosso teammate Jean-Eric Vergne took a form finish of sorts back in sixteenth and seventeenth.

Kimi Raikkonen’s (Lotus) fight through the field from last place on the grid was short lived after contact with Giedo van der Garde (Caterham) forced him into retirement after the first corner.

Red Bull will be pleased with the one-two finish taking them to a total of 100 podiums in F1. But, as usual, the night was all about Sebastian and for the second race in a row he delighted fans with a series of donuts. This time though he took his car back to parc ferme as required.

Right now, he’s just too bloody good.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

For the second time in three races Mark Webber will start from pole position. In qualifying at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix overnight Webber (1:39.957) was the only driver to lap below 1 minute 40 seconds after he nailed his lap to leave everyone in his wake.

Speaking after qualifying Mark said greater experience at the Yas Marina circuit helped him achieve pole. “You can never stop learning, mate, even at this age, so it was a good day and puts us in a good position tomorrow,” he said.

Teammate and newly crowned 2013 world champion Sebastian Vettel (1:40.075) was close behind, with some margin back to Nico Rosberg (1:40.419) in P3. Lewis Hamilton (1:40.501) will start alongside his Mercedes AMG teammate and will be happy to do so after spinning out late in Q3.

Kimi Raikkonen (1:40.542) qualified fifth but he was disqualified when stewards found fault with the floor of his car. He will start at the back of the grid and his relationship with Lotus must be close to breaking point.

Nico Hulkenberg (1:40.576) is the first driver to benefit from Raikkonen’s misfortune, moving to P5. Behind him will be Romain Grosjean (1:40.997) and Felipe Massa (1:41.015), who once again qualified ahead of his more fancied teammate Fernando Alonso (1:41.093) back in P10.

Daniel Ricciardo (1:41.111) got himself into Q3 and now moves to P9 after Kimi’s penalty, but says he could have done better. “My Q2 lap was a very good one, but not the best, so I came into Q3 feeling I could improve in a few areas. We decided to make a slight adjustment to the front tyre pressures which turned out not to be the right decision, as I then had to work harder to warm the tyres. The lap itself was not too bad, but the time never came.”

And so we wait for the start of the race, with Webber in P1. It’s Mark’s thirteenth career pole position and brings him equal with Sir Jack Brabham to hold the record for most pole positions by an Australian driver. Fingers crossed he can make a clean and fast start.

[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images]