No one has driven competitively on Yas Marina Circuit yet but Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull-Renault are strongly fancied to end the season in winning fashion and claim the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the process.
The talented German driver has already won three races this season, and saw his championship hopes extinguished at the last round in Brazil when fourth place was not enough to prevent Jenson Button in his Brawn GP car from taking the title.
Vettel said last night that his objective in Abu Dhabi was to seal second place in the championship, with the Red Bull man having a narrow two-point edge over the Brawn of Rubens Barrichello.
“It’s natural to be disappointed, but you have to take out the positives,” he said of missing out on top honours. “It’s been a really good season and we have learnt a lot of lessons, but for now the aim is on securing second place in the drivers’ championship on Sunday.
“Generally, I am not here to finish second or third so that doesn’t change, but second is better than third so now I want to win the “vice-title” and finish second in the championship.”
Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber is also expected to go well, along with the McLaren-Mercedes of 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton, and the new title holder Jenson Button, who looked a rejuvenated man in the pitlane now the pressure of clinching his crown was now over. The National
World champion Jenson Button is looking forward to racing without any pressure at the final grand prix of 2009.
The Englishman has led the championship all season and says he felt the strain of a difficult summer until winning the title in Brazil two weeks ago.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve not thought about the season,” said Button.
“Leading the championship every race is exciting but there are pressures. This is the first time I can relax, go out there, do my thing and enjoy the race.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve jumped into an F1 car and not felt stressed or a little bit under pressure,” he added. BBC Sport
Pos Driver Team Points 1 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 89 2 Sebastian VettelRBR-Renault 74 3 Rubens BarrichelloBrawn-Mercedes 72 4 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 61.5 5 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 49 6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 48 7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 34.5 8 Jarno Trulli Toyota 30.5 9 Fernando Alonso Renault 26 10 Timo Glock Toyota 24 11 Felipe Massa Ferrari 22 12 Heikki KovalainenMcLaren-Mercedes 22 13 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 17 14 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 15 15 Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari 8 16 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 5 17 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 5 18 Sebastien BourdaisSTR-Ferrari 2 19 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 0 20 Kamui Kobayashi Toyota 0 21 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 0 22 Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes 0 23 Romain Grosjean Renault 0 24 Jaime AlguersuariSTR-Ferrari 0 25 Luca Badoer Ferrari 0
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