Kimi Is Back On Top With Abu Dhabi Win

Kimi Räikkönen claimed the first win of his comeback as he took the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi ahead of Championship protagonists Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.

It was a grand prix of defining moments as Lewis Hamilton took the lead from pole position ahead of Raikkonen and Pastor Maldonado while Fernando Alonso took fifth off Mark Webber with an attacking move.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel, who started in 23rd place from the pit lane, had early troubles as his front wing was broken in an incident with Bruno Senna on the first lap.

On the ninth lap the Safety Car was deployed for the first time when Nico Rosberg and Narain Karthikeyan crashed as the Merc driver attempted to pass. Instead he misjudeged the closing speed and hit the HRT, launching over it before slamming in the barriers.

Under the Safety Car with the field bunched up, Vettel went off the road and hit a polystyrene block that did further damage to his already broken wing. He pitted on lap 14 for a new front wing and dropped to the back.

Six laps later the race had a new leader as Hamilton, who was 3.4s ahead of Raikkonen, slowed down and retired as his McLaren "lost all power".

Up into first place Raikkonen slowly but surely edged away from Alonso and Jenson Button only to lose his advantage on lap 39 when Romain Grosjean, Sergio Perez and Paul di Resta had some argy-bargy that resulted in Grosjean and the innocent Webber retiring. Perez was handed a ten second stop/go penalty for causing the carnage.

With the field bunched up, Raikkonen, Alonso, Button and Vettel pulled away from the chasing pack with Vettel passing Button with three laps remaining. Alonso meanwhile hunted down Raikkonen and, with two laps to go, was with DRS activation. The Ferrari driver, though, was not able to take advantage.

Raikkonen took the chequered flag and his first victory since Spa 2009, putting the Lotus name on the top step of the podium for the first time since Ayrton Senna's win at the 1987 American GP.

Alonso was second ahead of Vettel. The Red Bull racer's podium means he still holds a 10-point advantage in the title race.

Times
01. Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1h45:58.667
02. Alonso Ferrari + 0.852
03. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 4.163
04. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 7.787
05. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 13.007
06. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 20.076
07. Massa Ferrari + 22.896
08. Senna Williams-Renault + 23.542
09. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 24.160
10. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 27.400
11. Schumacher Mercedes + 28.000
12. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 34.900
13. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 47.700
14. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 56.400
15. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 56.700
16. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1:04.500
17. De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth + 1:11.5

Did Not Finish
Pic Marussia-Cosworth 42
Grosjean Lotus-Renault 38
Webber Red Bull-Renault 38
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 20
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 8
Rosberg Mercedes 8
Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1

Source: Planet-F1