LEWIS Hamilton clinched a clinical victory for McLaren in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after a puncture ended Sebastian Vettel’s race on the opening lap. Hamilton ended a victory drought stretching back to July by prevailing at the Yas Marina in what was a faultless drive after world champion Vettel retired on the very first lap due to tyre damage.
Fernando Alonso was a close second for Ferrari, with Jenson Button completing the podium despite KERS issues on his McLaren.
Vettel had surged into a clear lead from pole at the first corner, but just one bend later his Red Bull was slewing into a wild spin as its right rear tyre deflated.
The champion tried to nurse his car back to the pits, but the flailing rubber had already done too much damage, so Vettel posted his first retirement since last year’s Korean GP.
That put Hamilton into the lead, with Alonso in second having passed Mark Webber at the start and then gone around the outside of Button at the end of the back straight to secure second.
There was little to choose between the McLaren and Ferrari for most of the rest of the race – with the gap sometimes barely more than a second.
Ferrari tried to gain an advantage by running longer before Alonso’s second stop, but to no avail, and in the final stint Hamilton’s lead grew to more comfortable levels as he headed towards his third win of an often-troubled 2011 season.
After losing time with a stubborn wheel at his first stop, Webber tried to regain ground with a three-stop strategy that saw him only change to the harder Pirellis on the very last lap.
That did not allow him to beat Button – with whom he had battled fiercely for much of the race – but he did take fourth, helped by Felipe Massa’s challenge fading when the Ferrari had a quick spin with six laps to go. The Brazilian quickly rejoined to take fifth.
Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher had a spectacular early battle, won by the younger German, who went on to take sixth, close behind Massa.
Schumacher narrowly beat Force India’s Adrian Sutil to seventh. Sutil’s team-mate Paul di Resta and Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi completed the points scorers, the former pulling off a one-stop strategy.
Just outside the top 10, Rubens Barrichello ended Williams’s awful weekend on a slightly brighter note by charging from the back of the grid to 12th, right on 11th-placed Sauber driver Sergio Perez’s tail. (Eurosport / AutoSport)