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Formula 1
Abu Dhabi GP
2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Race day at Yas Marina
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Lap 15: Mark Webber, third, sets the fastest lap and is closing on Vettel. He could also get past Hamilton with a later stop.
Lap 14: Hamilton is struggling to find the pace he had in qualifying and Vettel is still right with the leader as darkness continues to close in.
Lap 13: Vettel is now very well-placed, just under a second behind Hamilton's McLaren and set to pounce at the first stop.
Lap 12: Sebastien Buemi is 10th and doing a great job in this opening stint of the race. He has pulled away to the tune of seven seconds ahead of Kobayashi.
Lap 12: Hamilton locked up and ran wide at Turn 17, staying in the lead but now just 0.9s ahead of Vettel.
Lap 11: The positions are static all the way through the field since that co-ordinated pass between the Renault drivers for 17th place.
Lap 11: Hamilton sets the fastest lap at 1m40.769s as he pulls 1.7s clear of Vettel. The leader will need more than that to remain in front of the later-stopping Vettel.
Lap 10: Heikki Kovalainen in 13th is continuing to drop back just slightly from Raikkonen. He is advised on the team radio that if he can't pass the Ferrari then he should try and save some fuel.
Lap 10: Hamilton is still considerably faster than Vettel through the middle sector, which features two KERS-freindly straights.
Lap 10: Kamui Kobayashi has made a mistake in the middle portion of the lap but he is okay and generally able to pull away from Raikkonen in 12th.
Lap 9: Hamilton is warned on the radio that Vettel is quicker at the moment, with the McLaren mainly losing time in the twisting final sector.
Lap 9: Fernando Alonso isn't able to close up to the back of Fisichella who is holding 16th. Grosjean is 17th and followed by Alguersuari and Sutil.
Lap 9: Button has slipped off the back of Webber and is heading backwards towards team-mate Barrichello and Kubica's BMW.
Lap 8: Vettel continues to make a race of it, pegging the gap to Hamilton to 1.5 seconds. This is strong pace from the Red Bull pair as Webber sets the fastest lap.
Lap 8: Out of the points, Nico Rosberg is losing ground slightly on Nick Heidfeld in eighth. Buemi is still 10th with Kobayashi now falling back in 11th.
Lap 7: Jarno Trulli, in seventh has slipped away from Robert Kubica, confirming that the Pole's pass on the first lap was an important move.
Lap 7: Kimi Raikkonen is beginning to pull away a little from fellow Finn Kovalainen as they battle over 12th place as the gaps begin to widen down the order.
Lap 6: Behind the lead pair, Button is tailing Webber but has less fuel than the Red Bull.
Lap 6: Fisichella's pace in 16th is horrible. He is in fact holding up Alonso, Grosjean, Alguersuari and Sutil behind him. We are set for a five-car train at the back of the pack.
Lap 5: Fernando Alonso has passed Renault team-mate Grosjean for 17th place. The Spaniard can now chase after Fisichella in 16th.
Lap 5: Hamilton has the gap up to 1.3 seconds as he further warms his tyres. He will, however, need a bit more than that as Vettel is due to stop two laps later.
Lap 5: A large peice of Barrichello's wing was broken off, while the Red Bull camp will be wary of a puncture for Webber.
Lap 5: Replays also show that contact between Webber and Barrichello as the pack squeezed through the first corner.
Lap 4: Replays of the start show that Kovalainen made a demon move up against the pitwall to take several cars which helped him leap up to 13th on the opening lap.
Lap 4: Hamilton completes the third tour with another fastest lap but Vettel is only a tenth slower.
Lap 3: Nakajima is 14th with Liuzzi 15th, Fisichella 16th, Grosjean up to 17th, Alonso 18th, Alguersuari 19th and Sutil last in 20th position.
Lap 3: Hamilton sets the fastest second lap but Vettel is keeping the leader in sight.
Lap 3: Kubica is fired up in these early stages and is houding Barrichello, having dispatched Trulli on the first lap in a critical move.
Lap 3: Kamui Kobayashi is 11th ahead of Raikkonen down to 12th. Kovalainen is holding 13th and we are set for an all-Finnish battle.
Lap 2: Barrichello made some contact with Webber off the start and is falling back towards Kubica's BMW.
Lap 2: Behind the top five, Kubica is sixth with Trulli seventh and Heidfeld eighth. Rosberg is ninth and Buemi 10th.
Lap 2: Hamilton leads by just 0.4 seconds at the end of the first lap as the Brawn pair have swapped position with Button now fourth and Barrichello down to fifth.
Lap 2: Heikki Kovalainen is the big mover down the field as he moves up to 13th place in the McLaren.
Lap 1: Hamilton was under some threat from Vettel at the Turn 7 hairpin but blasted clear with KERS down the straight.
Lap 1: Down the back straight it is Hamilton from Vettel, Webber Button and Barrichello.
Lap 1: Lewis Hamilton with the KERS gets the perfect start and leads in front of Vettel and Webber into Turn 1.
Lap 1: The five red lights go out and we are racing into the twilight in Abu Dhabi!
The front few cars stop in their grid positions. The rest of the field is forming up neatly behind Hamilton.
We await the lights ...
We await the lights ...
Round the final corner and here they come onto the start-finish straight. The crowd rises to greet the drivers as they head towards the grid.
They start the run for home through the tight and twisty final section of the lap. This is a fairly brisk pace Hamilton is setting.
By: Emlyn Hughes, Geoff Creighton
Published:
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