Sunday, November 13, 2011 ­- Lewis Hamilton won his third race of the season and the 17th of his career at Abu Dhabi today. He is the second ever winner at this track after Sebastian Vettel won the last two races in 2009 and 2010. “Happy Birthday, mum,” he said on the team radio after taking the chequered flag. It was a very positive third win for the British driver who controlled the penultimate race of the season from start to finish.

Until this race this season Hamilton had not finished higher than he had qualified since winning the German GP, eight races ago, and he has only one podium finish in that time (second in Korea). Hamilton originally qualified on the front row for the 8th time this season in India, until he was given a penalty. His next lap in the lead will be his 100th in 2011, and he’s only 4 laps

away from leading 1,000 in his career. Hamilton has made the most pit visits of any driver this  year (51 ­ 1 more than Felipe Massa, ironically). Hamilton has been quickest in FP1 at three of the  last 5 events. He was on pole position for the inaugural Abu Dhabi GP in 2009, and retired from the race lead after 20 laps. If Hamilton finishes behind Button in the 2011 championship, he will

have raced in consecutive years with cars #1, #2, #3 and #4 (2012).

Behind him, Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari finished second ahead of Button. Mark Webber rakes a consolation fourth place for Red Bull. Webber makes his unusual strategy work to some extent, crossing the line fourth after a single lap on hard tyres. Massa ends up fifth in his Ferrari, struggling to find anything like the pace of team-mate Alonso once again. Nico Rosberg cements a solid sixth for Mercedes, with team-mate Schumacher coming home, well behind, in seventh. Sutil brings the first of the Force India cars home in eighth, just 1.1s behind Schumacher, who does not finish the race, but does not slip down the classification with di Resta ninth and Kobayashi in 10th, the only Sauber car in the points.

Team-mate Sergio Perez held on to 11th at the end, finishing 0.7s ahead of Barrichello, with Petrov 13th, Maldonado 14th and Alguersuari 15th.

It was a dramatic first lap when Vettel got a good start from pole and led Hamilton and Button into turn 1. But amazingly Vettel went off the road at turn 2 with a puncture! Vettel went wide and spun but managed to bring the car back to the pits to later retire after the team was not able to fix the damage to the left rear wheel. This is his first failure to finish since last year’s Korean Grand Prix 2010.

Lap by lap

The grid is absolutely packed and there is hardly room to move with team personnel, media and VIPs everywhere for the third Abu Dhabi grand Prix. It’s a dramatic first lap as Vettel gets a good start and leads Hamilton and Button into turn 1. But amazingly Vettel is off the road at Turn 2! Vettel goes wide and spins and brings the car back to the pits but later retires as the team was not able to fix the damage to the left rear wheel. This is his first failure to finish since last year’s Korean Grand Prix 210. Perez also has been involved in contact further down the field. He has a loose front wing.

Hamilton Leads. Behind the top seven drivers, Sutil is eighth with team-mate di Resta ninth and Kobayashi is 10th for Sauber. Meanwhile Button is the fastest car on the track 1.46.391 soon

followed by Hamilton and then Alonso in 1.46.059.

Senna came into the pits at the end of the first lap and like Perez he will now attempt to charge up the order. Kobayashi is beginning to fall back through the field. Petrov and Alguersuari have

passed the Sauber driver. He is now 13th and then goes down to 23rd. Kobayashi has rejoined the race but he will join team-mate Perez towards the rear of the field – disaster for Sauber in the early stages that promotes Kovalainen in P13, Barihello in p14 and Maldonado in P15.

Webber is up to P3 from the first part of the race after an excellent start. He passes Button and in the next lap the fight between the two will be exceptional. On lap 15, the first scheduled pit stop manoeuvres begin between Massa and then Alguersuari. Massa rejoins in eighth. Hamilton, Alonso, Button, Sutil, Schumacher are the next ones in. Hamilton rejoins in the lead and the rest in same order as Webber led for a short while the race, a temporary leader as he has yet to make a first stop in his Red Bull. Nico Rosberg is the next to stop and Webber rejoins after a very slow stop of 9.4s behind Massa in fifth place. Meanwhile, Vitaly Petrov makes a mistake, runs wide, is off but rejoins before stopping for his pit stop. On lap 18, the leader Hamilton clocks the fastest time with 1.44.921. This is the lap chosen for Petrov and Barrichello to stop and rejoin.

Two laps later, one third of the race has gone by and Hamilton is still in the lead ahead of  Alonso, Button, Massa, Webber, Rosberg, Sutil, Schumacher, di Resta and Maldonado in the top

ten. Kobayashi if P11 and has recovered from his stop. Senna pits for the second time from 12th place, as Buemi who was running rather slowly makes it back to the pits and climbs out of the car and into retirement. On lap 22, most of the drivers have pitted except Di Resta and Maldonado, Glock and Liuzzi.

Kovalainen is 14th and Lotus clearly did a great job in the pitstop phase, keeping track position over Barrichello in 15th. On lap 24, Senna takes over Glock. Maldonado refuel on lap 25. Glock and Di Resta still have not. At the back, Ricciardo spent a long time stuck behind team-mate Liuzzi, so he pitted. Liuzzi stayed out and the gap between them is just 16 seconds. Liuzzi pits this time round and Ricciardo will surely gain track position over his team-mate and take 20th.

Hamilton and Alonso lead the race. Both successively clock the fastest laps. First Hamilton and then Alonso.

Di Resta is the last one to pit on lap 27. Di Resta finally comes in for his one stop and rejoins, as Sergio Perez completes his second pit stop. Meanwhile, there is a bit of traffic for the fasts guys behind Hamilton: Button, Massa, Webber trio hit traffic as they work past Trulli’s Lotus and this allows Hamilton to not only clock fastest lap, 1.44.652 but build the gap with Alonso to 4.6s.

By midrace, the leader is Hamilton, Alonso is in P2, Jenson P3, Massa and Webber follow ahead of Nico Rosberg in P6 while Sutil is P7 ahead of Michael Schumacher and Kobayashi who has made it to the points in P9. By midrace, night has come. Two other drivers have retired after Vettel: Buemi, D’Ambrosio. Hamilton’s gap is now 5.0s. Red Bull Racing Mark Webber continues to fight against Massa and may try to make his move in the second zone to avoid the now-popular comeback move.

Williams’ Pastor Maldonado has been sentenced to a drive through penalty for ignoring blue flags. He completes the penalty. Fiercer fight in the front as Hamilton is the fastest man on the track again, pulling to a 5.6second lead over Alonso. As for him, Button sets a best personal record as well with 1.44.873. The Red Bull laps the Williams. Traffic continues to hamper the leaders. Hamilton, Alonso and Button complete their 33rd lap. With 22 laps left, Kamui Kobayashi pits on lap 33 for the second time (his first pit stop was on lap 5) and that launches other stops as of lap 34: Rubens Barrichello and Mark Webber who takes soft tyres as the stewards decide of an investigation for Jaime Alguersuari, Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna for ignoring blue flag and they will be sentenced to a drive through penalty which will slow the remainder of their race.

On lap 40 Hamilton pits and switches to medium tyres. Hamilton has a very quick stop. His lead from Alonso is only 3.1. Massa is the next one to stop as Alonso is in the lead with twenty laps to

go as Hamilton rejoins in second position. Kobayashi follows his team-mate through and into 11th place, as Petrov brings his Renault into the pits. Webber passes Button for P4. On lap 43, Alonso comes back at the stands, but is slowed down in the pit lane by Daniel Ricciardo coming back in.

Hamilton responds as commanded with his personal best sectors Alonso looses the lead and rejoins behind Hamilton who has a comfortable lead. On lap 46, Hamilton is again a comfortable 5.7s away from Alonso in second as Webber is third and Rosberg went back to fourth ahead of Button Massa and Schumacher in P7. In P10 Kobayashi is ahead of Sergio Perez and came in to the points behind Sutil (P8) and di Resta (P9).

More action prepares as Button is catching up Rosberg who slows for a quick pit stop on lap 48 and finally heads in for a late change to the harder tyres. Rosberg resumes in sixth, just

ahead of Massa who has spun away a lot of time with an off at Turn 1. Webber has climbed to third at this stage, behind Alonso. Ten laps before the end, in the top ten, Hamilton, Alonso, Webber, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg Michael Schumacher, Adrian Sutil, Paul di Resta, Kamui Kobayashi ahead of his team-mate – a ranking that Button will disrupt to also make it to the podium. Alonso and Massa will make it 2nd and 5th. Nico Rosberg is the strongest of the Mercedes cars and Sutil and Di Resta will also bring the two Force Indias in the points.