Button: Impossible to resist Vettel

McLaren had another very sad weekend at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. While the Woking team was leading the race with Lewis Hamilton, the British team's hopes of victory went up in smoke when the 2008 world champion retired on lap 19 following a fuel pressure problem. Jenson Button then looked to fight to save a podium. After losing his fifth place at the start to Fernando Alonso, the former Brawn GP driver moved up to third after extending his first stint until the 29th lap. However, Sebastian Vettel dislodged him from the podium four laps from the finish. The pilot Red Bull had made a second stop on the 37th lap just before the second interruption of the race to fit soft tires.

“I congratulate Kimi (Räikkönen), he is not talkative but he is very strong on the track. He deserved the victory today”, would like to highlight Jenson Button who despite everything saw his team lose victory with the retirement of his British teammate. “The race was quite enjoyable for me. I had several good fights, with Mark (Webber), Sebastian (Vettel) and Pastor Maldonado, and they were particularly serious on the track. But unfortunately I lacked the speed in the car to fight with the leaders today. The car was really different from the one I had on Friday. I couldn't find any grip, which was strange. In the last laps, I couldn't resist Sebastian's return. It was fitted with new soft tires and it was impossible to have the same level of grip with my worn medium tires. Lewis's withdrawal means we still lose points on Ferrari in the Manufacturers' Championship. It's a real shame but we still have two races to reverse the trend. »

By scoring 12 points more than McLaren with Fernando Alonso's second place and Felipe Massa's seventh position, McLaren is now 22 points behind Ferrari with two Grands Prix remaining at the end of the season.

Discover the analysis of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and from Wednesday on newsstands.