Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2011

[driveace]

First time this year that RB have not been dominant,throughout the race,and a good result for the UK too,but then the Lewis knockers will have some problem with his win.Congrats also to Alonso,on driving a not so quick a car into second

[jens]

Well, whoever has been complaining that Vettel's dominance makes F1 boring, may want to rethink that statement. When he has been taken away from competition, nothing changes. Just another car leading the whole race. At least Garry Walker has a good day for a change, so congratulations! He was wishing for a brake failure last race, but got something else instead of it this time!

[Dave B]

MAL and ALG have been given time penalties for ignoring blue flags but it doesn't change either driver's position:
Maldonado, Alguersuari hit with time penalties in Abu Dhabi - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com

[Ranger]

Note that the top 10 running order at the end of Lap 2 was exactly the same as the Top 10 at the end of the race.

Make of that what you will...

[The Black Knight]

The Abu Dabb Doo grand Prix. I'd have been more entertained watching reruns of Scooby.

Considering Hamilton's pace I'd say it is fair to say that Vettel would most likely have won this grand prix with ease had he been in the race. Good race by Hamilton. I hope he wins in Brazil as well as it will give him plenty of confidence going into next season and he needs that to make it an interesting season.

[ioan]

First time this year that RB have not been dominant,throughout the race,...

That's just because of a tire failure.
FYI the RBR was worse in comparison to the competition in the German and British GPs.

[driveace]

[quote="ioan"]That's just because of a tire failure.
Tyre in UK Tire in USA,they tire easily !

[ioan]

That's just because of a tire failure.

Tyre in UK Tire in USA,they tire easily !

Your point being?

[SGWilko]

That's just because of a tire failure.

If you look at the race start from onboard Button's car, there is a puff of smoke from Seb's right rear as he launches. Could this be the tyre spinning on the rim, setting up the deflation after the first corner??????

[Knock-on]

It was a very strange failure. Abu Dhabi is a pretty well run event so I think it would be unlikely it was caused by debris although such a catastrophic failure is normally associated with that sort of puncture.

One theory could be that they were running lower than recommended tyre pressures and either Seb didn't get enough heat in during the sighting lap or that he expected a little too much of the tyres before they were up to race temperature. Other causes could be an issue with the seating or a similar issue.

Personally, I would think it less likely that it was a Tyre defect because those tyres had been used in qualifying and checked afterwards. If there was a structural issue, it is likely it would have failed during qualifying when it was under maximum load rather than at the start of the GP.

Lets hope we find out soon.