Abu Dhabi GP: Race - Re-Cap & Results

ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX - RACE

    As the 2016 season came to a close, one thing was on everyone's minds. Rosberg or Hamilton? Who would take home the 2016 Championship Title? It had come down to the final race, under the lights of Yas Marina Circuit and the crowds were filled with emotions and nerves.

    Lewis Hamilton was on Pole Position, but knew it would take more than just winning the race to grab the title. Rosberg knew all he had to do was finish on the podium if Hamilton won the race. With Rosberg starting 2nd, his chances were high.

    It was a fairly clean lap one apart from a few mishaps at the back of the pack. Kevin Magnussen was the first to retire from the race with a steering issue after damage to his car. Not the way he'd wanted to finish the season. The Dane heads to Haas next year, bidding farewell to the Renault Sport team.

    Ricciardo, who had started from 3rd, found himself being pushed back as other drivers passed by, including Vettel and Raikkonen. Raikkonen quickly moved towards both Mercedes drivers and even challenged Rosberg for a moment. 

    Valtteri Bottas was the next driver to end the season on a low, retiring with suspension damage from a bump on the surface of the circuit that he'd hit. Team-mate, Felipe Massa, who leaves F1, finished the race in 9th, grabbing his final 2 Championship points in the sport. Jenson Button, who is also leaving F1, retired with suspension damage as well while his team-mate, Alonso, finished in 10th to take the final point.

    Max Verstappen, who was spun early on in the opening laps, was making his way back towards the front, doing what he could to find enough speed to look for a spot on the podium to end his first season with Red Bull on a high. 

    Both Toro Rosso drivers retired from the race with gearbox problems. Kvyat easily pulled his limping car over to the side of the circuit before hopping out while Sainz's retirement came later after Palmer crashed into the back of him and sent him into a spin. Sainz managed one more lap before he realized the car wasn't going to make it any further.

    It was a quiet race for Force India with both Perez and Hulkenberg easily making their way around the circuit and staying in the top 10. The team finished 4th in the constructors, 35 points ahead of Williams. Perez finished the race in 8th and Hulkenberg in 7th, bringing them a final helping of 10 points.

    While neither Sauber or Manor scored any points, it was Sauber who secured 10th in the standings after Felipe Nasr scored 2 points for the team at his home grand prix in Brazil. Nasr does not yet have a seat for 2017, while team-mate, Ericsson has been confirmed to stay with the Swiss team. 

    American team Haas, saw both drivers finish outside of the points but finish 8th in the constructors with a total of 29 points, all scored by Romain Grosjean, who will remain with the team in 2017. Gutierrez, who had multiple mechanical failures and near-point finishes, has not yet announced his plans for next year.

    Up at the front, Hamilton was still leading the way, while Rosberg charged after him. Hamilton began to try other tactics, even slowing down to push Rosberg closer to Vettel and Verstappen, who were trying to pass the Championship contender. Hamilton went as far as ignoring team orders at an attempt to get the title, but in the end, Rosberg managed to steer clear of both the Ferrari and the Red Bull and finished 2nd, taking his first F1 Championship. Hamilton won the race while Sebastian Vettel grabbed the final podium spot, in 3rd.

    Rosberg was ecstastic over the radio, cheering and yelling as his team and wife, Vivian, congratulated him. Rosberg and his father, Keke, are now only the second father-son duo to have F1 Championship titles after the Hills.

    With the 2016 season now over, many changes will be seen in 2017, including new rules, wider tyres and a group of new, young drivers ready to break onto the scene and try for a chance at points, podiums and wins. 

RESULTS:

1. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain / + 25 Points

2. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / Germany / + 18 Points

3. Sebastian Vettel / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany / + 15 Points

4. Max Verstappen / Red Bull-TAG-HEUER / Netherlands / + 12 Points

5. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-TAG-HEUER / Australia / + 10 Points

6. Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland / + 8 Points

7. Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / Germany / + 6 Points

8. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico / + 4 Points

9. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil / + 2 Points

10. Fernando Alonso / McLaren-Honda / Spain / + 1 Point

11. Romain Grosjean / Haas-Ferrari / France 

12. Esteban Gutierrez / Haas-Ferrari / Mexico

13. Esteban Ocon / Manor-Mercedes / France

14. Pascal Wehrlein / Manor-Mercedes / Germany

15. Marcus Ericsson / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden

16. Felipe Nasr / Sauber-Ferrari / Brazil

17. Jolyon Palmer / Renault-Renault / Great Britain

RETIRED - Carlos Sainz / Toro Rosso-Ferrari / Spain / Gearbox

RETIRED - Daniil Kvyat / Toro Rosso-Ferrari / Russia / Gearbox

RETIRED - Jenson Button / McLaren-Honda / Great Britain / Suspension Failure

RETIRED - Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / Finland / Suspension Failure

RETIRED - Kevin Magnussen / Renault-Renault / Denmark / Steering Damage

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

No copyright infringement intended

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Mid-Season: Championship & Constructors Standings

As Formula 1 enters the half-way point in the 2014 season, it's time to look at the Drivers and Constructors championship standings and how things could play out with the rest of the season.

Nico Rosberg is currently leading in the Drivers Championship with 202 points. His team-mate, Lewis Hamilton is in Second with 191 points. That's a mere 11 points seperating the two from being this years F1 Champion. Lewis could very well take the lead at the next race in Belgium if he at least comes in 4th and Rosberg does not finish in the points. But, as we all know, things aren't always that easy but they are always unpredictable.

Further down the row, there's a battle between Valtteri Bottas of Williams and last year's Champion, Sebastian Vettel. The German is yet to win a race this year, but has seen the podium. He has 88 points, but compared to last year.. That's far off from his 2013 point count. Bottas has 95 points, so only 7 more than Vettel. But like I said with the Mercedes duo, all it takes is one finishing better than the other.

While that could be repeated for most drivers, there's some drivers batteling in the standings without even getting points. The drivers without points are placed accordingly to how many races they've finished as a singular driver or as the team's pair. Kamui Kobayashi is currently the last in the standings. Not a good year for him compared to his time at Sauber. But Sauber is struggeling in the standings as well with neither driver having scored points. However, Sauber is now looking strong and will probably be able to gain points in the later half of the season. 

Here are the full Driver standings and then below are the Constructors standings.

DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

1. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / 202 Points

2. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / 191 Points

3. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-Renault / 131 Points

4. Fernando Alonso / Ferrari-Ferrari / 115 Points

5. Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / 95 Points

6. Sebastian Vettel / Red Bull-Renault / 88 Points

7. Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / 69 Points

8. Jenson Button / McLaren-Mercedes / 60 Points

9. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / 40 Points

10. Kevin Magnussen / McLaren-Mercedes / 37 Points

11. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / 29 Points

12. Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / 27 Points

13. Jean-Eric Vergne / Toro Rosso-Renault / 11 Points

14. Romain Grosjean / Toro Rosso-Renault / 8 Points

15. Daniil Kvyat / Toro Rosso-Renault / 6 Points

16. Jules Bianchi / Marussia-Ferrari / 2 Points

17. Adrian Sutil / Sauber-Ferrari / 0 Points

18. Marcus Ericsson / Caterham-Renault / 0 Points

19. Pastor Maldonado / Lotus-Renault / 0 Points

20. Esteban Gutierrez / Sauber-Ferrari / 0 Points

21. Max Chilton / Marussia-Ferrari / 0 Points

22. Kamui Kobayashi / Caterham-Renault / 0 Points

CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas-Mercedes -  393 Points

2. Infiniti Red Bull Racing-Renault - 219 Points

3. Scuderia Ferrari-Ferrari - 142 Points

4. Williams Martini Racing-Mercedes - 135 Points

5. Sahara Force India-Mercedes - 98 Points

6. McLaren-Mercedes - 97 Points

7. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Renault - 17 Points

8. Lotus-Renault - 8 Points

9. Marussia-Ferrari - 2 Points

10. Sauber-Ferrari - 0 Points

11. Caterham-Renault - 0 Points

Article Written By: Amy Hawk

No copyright infringement intended.

Feature: Sebastian Vettel - German Wonder.

 If there's one name that's really been talked about this year, it's Sebastian Vettel, the 26-Year-Old Redbull Racing driver from Heppenheim, Germany. Vettel was young when he began Karting. At the age of 11 he found himsellf accepted into 'The Redbull Junior Team'. After racing for other various series & teams, BMW Sauber let him have his first race when Robert Kubica was unable to race in The United States Grand Prix, after an accident during the Canadian Grand Prix.

    Later on he moved on to become a driver for Toro Rosso, in place of Scott Speed, who did not even comlete the full season due to issues he had with the team. Vettel did okay during what was left of the 2007 Season. His best result was 4th. One of his most noted races during that season was the Japanese GP, which was held in Fuji. He crashed into Mark Webber and both of them had to retired from the race. Before that crash, he'd been holding 3rd. His punishment was a 10-Place-Grid-Penalt for the Chinese Grand Prix which took place the following weekend.

    His 2008 Season with Toro Rosso stared out terribly when he retired from the first 4 races on the Calander. He finished 17th in the Turkish Grand Prix and then scored points in Monaco, finishing in 5th. Vettel then retired during the British GP and the Hungarian Grand Prix. Finally, in Italy, Vettel won his first Formula1 Grand Prix and also broke a record for youngest driver to win an F1 race, at 21 Years/74 Days. He continued to get consitant finishes for the rest of the season.

    In 2009, Vettel took David Coulthard's seat at Redbull Racing. The first two races he had to retire. He then won in China. He didn't win again until the British Grand Prix. The same results were done in Japan and Abu Dhabi. It wasn't a bad season for him and Redbull was impressed.

     Redbull kept Vettel in 2010. He got Pole Positon in the first race of the Season, but finished in 4th. He went on to retire in the Australian Grand Prix, then win in Malaysia. He got Podium in both Spain and Monaco, before retiring again in Turkey. He didn't win again until the European Grand Prix. He won 3 more races that year including; Japan. Brazil and Abu Dhabi. In result, he won his first F1 Drivers Championship and became the youngest to ever do so.

    He continued to race for Redbull in the 2011 Season. Winning the first two races felt incredible to him and the team. Even more incredible, after finishing Second in China, he then won Turkey, Spain and Monaco Back-To-Back, finished Second in Canada and then won again in Europe. In the rest of the season, he ended up winning 5 more races including; Belgium, Italy, Singapore, Korea and India. He once again won The Drivers Championship, making it 2 years in a row.

  Still sticking with Redbull in 2012, Vettel didn't have as good as a year as in 2011. He only won 5 races out of the 20 on the calander. His overall results were consistant though and he only retired from 2 races. Despite the struggles, he got his Third Drivers Championship win in a row. He beat the late Ayrton Senna's record for it as well, as youngest Triple-World-Champion.

 Vettel ended up staying with Redbull last year in 2013 and acheived a huge goal with winning a 4th Drivers Championship in a row. The only race he retired from was the British GP with a tire blow-out and his lowest points finish of the year was only 4th. That's some incredible consistancy and impecible driving from the young German.

 Vettel continues to stay with Redbull for this year and is looking forward to the start of the F1 season. So, now Let's just go over some of his stats.

World Championships: 4
Races Won: 39.
Podiums: 62.
Fastest Laps: 22.
Pole Positions: 45
Total Points Tally: 1,451.

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk
No Copyright Infringement Intended
Special Thanks and Credit To: Emily Tydell