Word is that Robert Kubica has asked his management to conduct further investigation into the financial backing of Gerald Lopez, whose Genii group this week acquired a controlling interest in Renault’s F1 program.

Renault’s au revoir completes the disappearance of four manufacturers from F1 in 12 month’s time.  Honda, Toyota, BMW and now Renault have left the building, as they say.  Renault was not content simply to walk away, so instead a partnership has been arranged whereby the team will be branded as “Renault” but will not be a factory team.  The chassis will be built in Enstone, but the engines will come from Renault in France.  Renault will also supply engines to Red Bull.  Speculation was that Renault is contractually bound to F1 in one form or another based on the newly revised governing document, the Concorde Agreement.

For the sake of the sport, Renault’s withdrawal preserves the team, and we are all in favor of that.  Renault has supported F1 for many years, and while it has run hot and cold with the sport over time, the team has provided many great memories and two world titles for Fernando Alonso.

But Robert Kubica is no dummy.  Anyone who thinks Kubica lacks toughness should have another look at his 75g crash in Canada in 2007, and recall that he asked to drive the car with a fractured rib the following race at Indy.  Asking for a little more financial reassurance from a new owner is prudent business strategy, and all Kubica needs to do is look at the long list of drivers stiffed by their teams for guidance.  If you are going to strap yourself into an F1 car and risk death or disability, you might want to ensure first that the bank account is full.

And if all moves in your F1 career must count for something, and you are a talented Polish driver who is the only driver Lewis Hamilton fears, you might want to be certain that the team is here to stay.  Racing costs money.  As we have seen with Midland F1, and later Spyker, coming into the sport with good intentions is one thing.  Running an F1 team for an entire season, and staying in the black while doing it, quite another.

In recent memory, Heinz Harald Frentzen was left cap in hand after Arrows folded during the 2002 season.  Prost left a mountain of debt when he left F1, and allegedly had a dispute with Jean Alesi over sums  owed the French driver.  Giancarlo Fisichella was required to take Eddie Jordan to court after EJ came up a few quid short for the Roman’s paycheck in 2003.  And this is just the modern era…..

So, if we were Kubica, we’d be thinking a little Jerry Maguire is in order. You know,  “Show me the money.”

Giancarlo Fisichella, the perennial Italian driver has said he is in the running for a potential race role with the newly reformed Sauber F1 Team.

Fisichella moved to Ferrari for the end of the 2009 season to replace Luca Badoer, Felipe Massa’s injury replacement.  He has been signed as the Italian teams reserve driver for 2010, but they have said he can be released for race drives, but if they need him back he must return.  Ferrari also signed youngster Jules Bianchi, and could potentially call on Badoer, Marc Gene or Michael Schumacher if necessary.

The Italian marque will be providing engines and powertrain to the Sauber team, based in Hinwil, Switzerland, reminiscant of their partnership in the early 2000’s.

Fisichella drove for Sauber in 2004, before a good season launched him into a race drive with Renault partnering Fernando Alonso, scoring race wins and helping the team to two constructors titles.

“First of all I’m happy that they (Sauber) can participate in the championship and I would like to be able to collaborate with a team I know, and I got on very well with them: together with Ferrari we’ll see if that will be possible,” he said at the Bologna motor show.

Christian Klien is likely to be one of the race drivers, and Betrand Baguette could become the teams official test driver after a mildly successful test at Jerez last week.

Right, boys ‘n’ girls, here’s a recap on some of the stuff you missed out on in P1Mag’s issue 28, if you’re not into German language:

P.S. Just to rub it in: NOW Kimi Räikkönen’s management has confirmed towards Finish daily paper Turun Sanomat what P1Mag reported 3 weeks ago. YES, there was – and still is – an offer from Mercedes Grand Prix ! ! !

Michael Schumacher e Vitantonio Liuzzi são os estrangeiros da lista

A organização do Desafio das Estrelas de kart confirmou nesta terça-feira os 25 participantes da edição de 2009, no novíssimo kartódromo da Arena Sapiens Parque, no bairro de Canasvieiras, em Florianópolis. Giancarlo Fisichella e Luca Badoer, que estavam na lista inicial, tiveram que cancelar a vinda ao Brasil por causa de compromissos profissionais. Com isso, apenas Michael Schumacher e Vitantonio Liuzzi serão os representantes estrangeiros na competição, que será disputada no próximo fim de semana.

A categoria com mais pilotos entre os 25 participantes do Desafio das Estrelas é a Stock Car, com nove representantes. A Fórmula 1 tem seis (Barrichello, Massa, Di Grassi, Liuzzi, Nelsinho e Schumacher) e a Indy terá quatro (Raphael Matos, Mario Moraes, Tony Kanaan e Vitor Meira). A nova pista, de 1.207 metros, está praticamente pronta e os preparativos devem ser concluídos na tarde de quinta-feira. Os 25 pilotos devem chegar no mesmo dia.

- A pista está pronta e as arquibancadas já foram montadas. Só dependemos mesmo dos acertos finais. Está dentro do previsto e nossa meta é finalizar tudo até a tarde de quinta-feira – diz Carlinhos Romagnolli, diretor da RM Racing Events e um dos organizadores da prova.

A edição 2009 do Desafio das Estrelas terá sua primeira bateria no sábado, dia 28 de novembro, com transmissão do SporTV, às 16h (de Brasília). No domingo, a decisão será mostrada pela Rede Globo, dentro do Esporte Espetacular, às 11h.

[Fonte: globoesporte.globo.com]

O pelotão da principal categoria do automobilismo, por enquanto, terá 26 lugares quando a FIA confirmar uma nova equipa para o lugar da Toyota

Com a saída da Toyota, a Fórmula 1 tem 12 equipas confirmadas na temporada 2010. Dos 24 lugares no pelotão, porém, apenas 11 já têm donos – três deles são de brasileiros: Felipe Massa na Ferrari, Rubens Barrichello na Williams e Bruno Senna na Campos.

As 13 vagas ainda abertas são um alento para os agora desempregados Jarno Trulli, Timo Glock e Kamui Kobayashi, que ocuparam o cockpit da equipa japonesa este ano. Eles passaram a fazer parte do grupo de 24 pilotos que estão disponíveis no “mercado”.

A lista de “candidatos” inclui, também, o actual campeão, Jenson Button, que ainda não renovou com a Brawn GP. E corre o risco ficar ainda maior caso a Renault também saia da categoria. A categoria terá 26 vagas em 2010, assim que a FIA confirme uma equipa no lugar da Toyota.

A Toyota foi a segunda equipa a deixar a F1 esta temporada – a BMW Sauber também saiu. Além de Trulli, Glock e Kobayashi, um outro piloto fica em situação diícil. Kazuki Nakajima, que defendia a Williams, era um dos nomes cotados para a vaga na equipa em 2010.

Há, ainda, uma esperança para os pilotos. A Sauber – comprada pelo grupo de investimentos árabe Qadbak – ainda aguarda aprovação da Federação Internacional de Automobilismo (FIA) e das equipas.

Lucas di Grassi, Antonio Pizzonia e Nelsinho Piquet lutam por vagas, principalmente nas quatro (ou cinco) equipas estreantes.

Pilotos “disponíveis”: Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, Adrian Sutil, Nick Heidfeld, Kamui Kobayashi, Timo Glock, Heikki Kovalainen, Kazuki Nakajima, Lucas di Grassi, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Giancarlo Fisichella, Pedro de la Rosa, Nelsinho Piquet, Pastor Maldonado, Anthony Davidson, Jacques Villeneuve, Jonathan Summerton, Antonio Pizzonia, Adam Carroll, Jarno Trulli, Takuma Sato, Alex Yoong, Fairuz Fauzy e Christian Klien, Vitaly Petrov

(Fonte: portalf1.com)

Felipe Massa has made a quick dash to Valencia, Spain in order to attend this weekends traditional end of season Ferrari World Finals, where he will be driving an F60 along with Giancarlo Fisichella. And in addition to the two race drivers, test drivers Luca Badoer and Marc Gené will each be in the cockpits of an F2008.

“I’m very happy to be here: I would have felt sorry if I had had to pass the occasion, it would have been the first time since I’ve been an official Ferrari driver that I had missed the Finali Mondiali,” Massa said to the official Ferrari website.

“Furthermore it will be great to get back to driving my car, although tomorrow will be just a show. Tomorrow evening I’ll immediately return back home to be with Raffaela: the doctors confirmed yesterday that our child will not be born this weekend, so I decided to make this flying visit here in Spain.”

Have your say and share your views in the comments  – get writing now…

Reference: f1technical.net

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The Results of the race driven on Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The results of the different sessions (FORMULA1.COM)
1st Friday Practice, 2nd Friday Practice
Saturday Practice, Saturday Qualification
Sunday Race Results

Various Links
- Race Report at GrandPrix.com
- Standings after this GP at MOTORSPORT.COM

Pictures of the different days (GPUPDATE.NET)
Preparations/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday

Pictures of the different days (MOTORSPORT.COM)
Postcard/Wednesday/Thursday
Friday : Practice 1/Practice 2
Saturday : Practice/Qualifying
Sunday : Pre-Race/Race/Post-Race

A few selected pictures of the race

Reference: F1.com

Reference: f1.com

Reference: F1.com

Thats 2009 overwith Bring on 2010

Provisional Results blog live in a min – http://wp.me/pF7qv-dA

19 weeks until the F1 2010 session starts – 133 days that is

That concludes the 2009 season – Check back during the next few weeks for Analysis and reviews

WOW Jenson Swearing alert

If red bull had a Double diffuser at the start of the year where would we be now?????

Get in there webber Red Bull 1 – 2

Brawn 3 and 4

What a fight ohh

Webber purple S1

webber’s lead down to 0.7 to button

webber’s lead down to 1.3 to button

webber’s lead down to 2.2 to button

L47 Vett now 17secs ahead of Webb

Jenson closing on webber by half a sec a lap – gap down to 3 sec

webber’s lead down to 3.6 to button

fight possible between 4th, 5th, 6th

Vettel, Webber, Button is what the podium looks like atm

Vettel and Button pitted

Rosberg overtakes Kubica who spins fighting with Buemi

Rubens and Nick in and out, that was quick

Webber in and out of the pits – option tyres

Kubica in and out of the pits with option tyres

Rosberg in – First 2 stopper to switch to option tyres studying lap times now I think

brb before 2nd stops

Kob News: Understeer, using the front flap max 6th place is possible

Force India fighting

Speed Trap data:

Kov – 322

Rubens, Liu and Sut – 320

Fisi and Button – 317

Alonso pits – 8.2 sec puts option tyres on

Top 3 look set now to finish in them positions – Webber and button may pit on the same lap with Vettel has 1 more lap of fuel

3 wins in a row for Red Bull Japan Vet, Brazil Webber, That is looking likely

Kov, Fisi, Gro and Liuzzi in the pits

Sutil killing the bollard

Fisi to get drive though pen for speeding in the pit lane

Kob lovely stop now on the option tyres

Kimi just pitted lets see how he will take the option tyres

Fisi just pitted the only driver to have used the option tyres

All 2 stoppers now pitted 1 stoppers should pit soon

Jamie went to pit stop at the wrong pit (stopped at Red Bull not STR, easy mistake) then ran out of fuel in the next lap very slow on that lap

Lewis: Couldn’t stop the car, right rear breaks, failure maybe???

Red Bull 1 -2 now both of them in my FR team with Sutil and Buemi go go go !! lol

Button nearly lost it again

1 stoppers now mixing with the front runners – Kob for points???

Silly Jamie trying to stop in the Red Bull pit with problem stopped on the circuit now

Yellow flag S3 STR stopped – Turn 11

Lewis in the pit again – He is out NOOOOOOOOOOO first retirement  and he is in my Fantasy Racers team

McLaren clearing space in the pit lane

STR running slow

Lewis: Could have a right rear break problem

Webber in pits, also Truill, Buemi, Rosberg in

Hamilton and Button in the pits, all safe out of the tunnel into clear air

Ferrari not use tyres all the time because of a heat issue

Kubica and Rubens in and out of the pits staying on the prime (Medium) tyres

Button is lewis’ threat now

Red Bull 1 -2 is looking likely

Back Kob looking good for a chance of points

i will brb pit stops start in 2 laps time

2 stoppers need to be at least 1.5 sec every lap quicker than all the one stoppers otherwise they could lose position and get in traffic

Lewis lost .8 of a sec oops Now lewis has to run and overtake Vettel in the 2nd part of the race

Lewis is smashing everyone in S2 half a sec quicker

1 stoppers on good pace

Top 5 pace within 2 tenth of a sec

Lewis Radio: Vettel quicker, losing most time in S3 and a bit in S1

Lewis not doing enough, grip not there atm, also it’s tyre heat low atm

Lewis half a sec quicker than anyone thought S2

Jenson 6 sec back from the leader Lewis

Lewis needs to get the gap to Vettel to over 5 secs or he will lose the place after the pit stops

Soz about that had to set dad sat nav

Rubens has a damaged car – Confirmed

Remember the fastest lap from this race will be the lap record

Jenson jumped rubens

Kubica jumped Truill

Button Quick with lots of grip

Rubens may have lost downforce from the front wing

GRO in front of Alonso

Lewis not sprinting atm

Kubica to stop about lap 15/16

Truill and Kubica fighting

Webber and Rubens have touched

The lights are out

Fisi on the option tyres for the start

Parade Lap is go go go

I am listening to BBC during the race today not 5live, what is everyone else listening to?

The grid is clearing

Ready?

Track Temp 33 c
Air Temp: 31 c
Air speed: 3.9 mps

Is everybody set, I have blog, Live commenting and blog post Comments

If u have a question, comment, idea or if i miss something please put a comment on any of my posts

Not good for Brawn and Kubica on pit stops

YAY Ron Dennis back on the grid thats very nice to see

9 Minutes to go

Martin and DC in a 2 seater love it

Loving the tunnel

Luca on the grid lol if he was quicker maybe he would be in the car for this race

End of grid walk today loved it like normal under 15 minutes to do to lights out

JC – Look at him lol – He is quick at the Top Gear track tho

I like Mark Webber, Webber Lewis and Jenson for podium

Lewis Interview WOOP WOOP Best car on the grid today

Grid walk time with Martin and Eddie YAY

WOW I wish i was a racing driver now, I have missed my chance of f1 as u have to start karting at about 7/8

I think jake will do well

Jake racing yay

half a hour to lights out can’t wait

Ferrari – a very ruff year for them, big crash, few podiums not what they looking for

I am wearing my F1 t-shirt today, lets hope it gives jenson and lewis some luck for 2 brits on the podium

McLaren: I thought they would be mega this year, lots of charactor building i think this year for lewis

BMW – I was quoted saying last winter they were my tip for success this year race wins and a challenge for the championship

Fernando to Ferrari 2010

What a year for them

Renault Renault Renault

Here is the grid:

Lewis, Seb, Mark, Rubens, Jenson,

Alonso out in Q1 – love Quail features

Buemi is in one of my  Fantasy Racers teams so Go Go Buemi

maybe I would love for STR to get points today with Buemi

I am loving the BBC intro love that song, look at that pretty car (BGP 001)

Jenson Button – 2009 World Drivers Champion don’t forget

BBC Intro is go go go, Remember after the race the bbc do a race forum today it will not be on freeview just Sky red button, Online and Virgin media (i think). I will add live comments on the forum into this live blog

Who will crash into the tunnel on the pit lane exit first, if any?

Will Lewis run away in the first stint

From the fuel weights we see the top 10 2 stopping and the last 10 1 stopping with Renault stacking the car with fuel

Afternoon All, under 10 minutes until the BBC coverage starts!

Yesterday, Saturday 31st October 2009, saw 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton get his 17th Formula 1 pole position in Abu Dhabi. That in itself is one for the record books, with this being the historic first Formula 1 race in Abu Dhabi. What makes this pole position stand out more than most is the margin of victory that Hamilton achieved.

Qualifying has been a very close run event this year, with mere hundreds of a second separating grid places and pole position often changing several times in the closing seconds of Q3. If I were to throw out a figure of 0.7 seconds you’d be forgiven for thinking that was maybe the time separating the top 10 drivers, but no, that was the margin that Lewis Hamilton beat out second place Sebastian Vettel to claim the pole position in today’s race.

Lewis Hamilton en route to Pole in Abu Dhabi (Photo Credit: AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Hamilton had been on form in the three practice sessions with a first and second fastest in the two Friday sessions and second only to champion-elect Jenson Button in Saturday’s 3rd practice. The course, with it’s many twists and turns, seems tailor made for the MP4-24 and even before this blistering qualifying performance the bookies had Lewis Hamilton as the clear favourite to be today’s winner.

With that ever-important KERS boost button, we could see Hamilton pull away from his rivals at the start and be a huge distance ahead when he comes in to make his first pit stop around the 17-20 lap mark, depending on what report you read. When the fuel weights were released it was impressive to see that Hamilton was carrying around the same weight as those around him and more in the case of drivers like Jenson Button. For some great graphical representations of various qualifying stats then I recommend everyone visit Making Up The Numbers – F1 viewed from the numbers perspective.

Heikki Kovalainen wasn’t so lucky and after being impressive himself in practice, being the man to beat Lewis Hamilton into 2nd place in Friday Practice 2, he made it through to Q2 only to have gearbox failure and qualify in 13th place. It didn’t end there, needing a replacement gearbox Kovalainen gets an automatic 5 place grid penalty and will start today’s race from 18th. He is in a great car to make up places but the nature and dustiness of the track may not allow much opportunity for overtaking. Heikki Kovalainen’s swan song at McLaren may not be the great race it could of and really should have been.

As was mentioned before, Sebastian Vettel qualified in 2nd and with Rubens Barrichello qualifying in 4th it would seem that 2nd place in the Drivers Championship is within reach for the young Red Bull driver. With Kimi Raikkonen qualifying in 12th and Giancarlo Fisichella in 20th, 3rd place in the constructors championship should be heading to McLaren.

Many are reporting the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is Lewis Hamilton’s to lose, let’s hope he doesn’t.

The first day/night qualifying session proved a complete success on the dramatic new Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, where Lewis Hamilton’s pace in the McLaren surprised Red Bull duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. This trio seems to have a small but crucial advantage over the Brawn duo of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button.

For the record, the fuel weights were: Hamilton, 658.5 kg; Vettel 663, Webber 660, Barrichello 655, Button 657, Toyota’s Jarno Trulli 661, BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica 654.5, BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld 664, Williams’ Nico Rosberg 665 and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi 661.5.

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 40.948s, P1
Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 40.983, P13, will start P18
Hamilton was delighted with the MP4-24, saying it felt the best it had all season. He used KERS for all it was worth, and said things just got better and better as he regained the advantage from the speedy Red Bull duo. Kovalainen’s chances were damned straight away in Q2; he had just set the first fast time when he suffered a gearbox failure. The unit required replacement, leaving him with a grid-place penalty that dropped him from 13th to 18th.

Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, 1m 41.615s, P2
Mark Webber, 1m 41.726s, P3
Vettel admitted that he and Webber were surprised by Hamilton’s pace, especially when it transpired that he wasn’t that much lighter on fuel. Both felt they got the best from their RB5s and said the cars were working well. They also thought that McLaren’s KERS was particularly advantageous here.

Brawn GP
Rubens Barrichello, 1m 41.786s, P4
Jenson Button, 1m 41.892s, P5
Barrichello said he was happy with the way his car improved as the temperatures dropped for qualifying. Button was very quick all through practice and Q1 and Q2, but with a fuel load in Q3 he started to get serious vibrations which led to debilitating understeer.

Toyota
Jarno Trulli, 1m 41.897s, P6
Kamui Kobayashi, 40.777s, P12
Trulli felt he got things right in all of the sessions and was happy with sixth, especially as Button only marginally improved on his time. Kobayashi had hoped to make Q3 in his first fully dry Formula One qualifying. In the end he was philosophical to miss out by just a couple of tenths.

BMW Sauber
Robert Kubica, 1m 41.992s, P7
Nick Heidfeld, 1m 42.343s, P8
Kubica rued Friday’s loss of time after his second session engine failure and said that the lower track temperature in qualifying had a deleterious affect on his F1.09’s handling. Heidfeld was quite happy on the greater fuel load and said that his marginal chance of a final improvement might have been frustrated when he came across Webber late in the lap.

Williams
Nico Rosberg, 1m 42.583s, P9
Kazuki Nakajima, 1m 41.148s, P14, will start P13
Rosberg made the top 10 again in his final race for Williams, and felt that ninth was the best he could have expected as his FW31 struggled on the open sections of the circuit. Nakajima didn’t manage to get his last lap together in Q2.

Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi, 1m 42.583s, P10
Jaime Alguersuari, 1m 41.689s, P15, will start P14
Buemi admitted that he had hoped for better than 10th after shining all through practice, but said he was happy overall given his fuel load. Alguersuari lost valuable track time when he didn’t run at all in the morning, for reasons the team didn’t divulge, and never managed to catch up.

Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 40.726s, P11
Giancarlo Fisichella, 1m 42.184s, P20
Once again Raikkoinen got the most out of the ageing F60, and Fisichella didn’t, and prospects for regaining third place in the constructors’ championship from McLaren appear weak.

Renault
Fernando Alonso, 1m 41.667, P16, will start P15
Romain Grosjean, 1m 41.950s, P19
Renault struggled throughout practice and qualifying here, and 16th and 19th indicated the depth of the problem.

Force India
Vitantonio Liuzzi 1m 41.701s, P17, will start P16
Adrian Sutil, 1m 41.863s, P18, will start P17
Liuzzi was really happy with his VJM02 on his first run in Q1 and believed he had the pace to get through to Q2. But the second set of soft tyres changed its behaviour for the worst as it lost grip. Sutil also complained of oversteer.

Reference: F1.com

Lewis Hamilton looks in superb shape to take a third victory of the season at the Formula 1 finale in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

The McLaren driver was on pole by a margin of nearly 0.7 seconds and he was still half a second clear when the amount of fuel in the cars was taken into account – an astonishing margin in a season that has been so close.

The cars in the top 10 qualifying shoot-out are not allowed to refuel between qualifying and the race, so the amount of fuel they carry dictates their pace on Saturday as well as when they will make their first pit stops on Sunday.

So grid positions can be misleading until the fuel weights are published and the ramifications of that calculated. Assessing those figures underlines just how strong Hamilton is looking.

This is BBC Sport’s fuel-adjusted Abu Dhabi Grand Prix grid, with projected first pit stops:

1 Lewis Hamilton (lap 17)
2 Sebastian Vettel +0.496secs (lap 19)
3 Mark Webber +0.721 (lap 18)
4 Jarno Trulli +0.854 (lap 18)
5 Rubens Barrichello +0.971 (lap 16)
6 Jenson Button +1.001 (lap 17)
7 Nick Heidfeld +1.186 (lap 19)
8 Robert Kubica +1.196 (lap 15)
9 Nico Rosberg +1.388 (lap 19)
10 Sebastien Buemi +1.651 (lap 18)

Because he has two laps’ less fuel on board, Hamilton’s fuel-adjusted margin over the Red Bulls is not as large as it was on the track but at nearly half a second it is still more than big enough for the race to look like it is his for the taking.

It seems as if the Abu Dhabi track could have been made for the McLaren.

There are two long straights for them to get the most out of their Kers power-boost system, which gives them an extra 80bhp for 6.7 seconds a lap.

And the track abounds in the slow- and medium-speed corners in which the car is so strong, while lacking the high-speed bends in which it struggles – and in which the Red Bull is the class of the field.

Not only that, but it should ensure he is unpassable on the first lap, so he should be able to lap at his own pace for the first stint.

If Hamilton has any rivals for victory, it looks like being the Red Bull drivers.

They are making their first pit stops a little later than Hamilton – Vettel on lap 19, compared to Hamilton’s 17, and Webber on 18 – but, as long as the Englishman maintain his superior speed into the first stint of the race, it is hard to see Vettel or Webber being able to make up enough time to leapfrog him.

More likely is that the Red Bull drivers will be engaged in a tight battle with the Brawn drivers and Jarno Trulli’s Toyota behind Hamilton.

With regards to Vettel and Brawn’s Rubens Barrichello, that means a fight for second place in the championship as well as in the race – the German has a two-point advantage heading into the grand prix.

But just as they are fighting for the crumbs left by Jenson Button in the championship, they look certain to be doing the same behind Hamilton in the final race of the season.

Reference: BBC Sport F1

Lewis Hamilton will stop just one lap earlier than main rival Sebastian Vettel in tomorrow’s race, making the Briton’s excellent pole position lap in qualifying this evening even more impressive. The 2008 champion went two thirds of a second quicker than second-placed Vettel, but the publication of the post-qualifying fuel weights revealed that the pair would stop just one lap apart on laps 18 and 19 respectively, hitting Red Bull’s victory hopes in the process.

With Vettel going just one lap longer than Hamilton, the German’s chances of leapfrogging the McLaren driver during the pitstops are now very slim, especially with Hamilton having KERS at his disposal to easily re-pass Vettel should he be behind. Webber is equally disadvantaged, stopping on lap 18, the same lap as Hamilton.

Behind the leading trio, Brawn’s Barrichello and Button will stop on laps 17 and 18, or possible earlier, with Jarno Trulli set to pit for the first time on lap 19. BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica has the lightest car on the grid with just 16 laps of fuel on-board, with Heidfeld, Rosberg and Buemi all stopping in or around lap 20.

While all the top-ten runners are geared up for two-stop strategies, the entire latter half of the grid have the option of stopping just once, depending on tyre wear. Both Ferraris are the lightest cars in the bottom 10 with 30 laps of fuel, while the heaviest are the Renaults, with Alonso and Grosjean set to go 36 and 37 laps respectively before stopping.

Reference: Manipe F1

Lewis Hamilton will line up alongside Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel for tomorrow’s inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit after setting an electrifying lap in Q3, more than 0.5secs faster than the rest of the field.

Hamilton set a 1:40.948 after the chequered flag had dropped in Q3 compared to Vettel’s 1:41.615. The fellow Red Bull driver Mark Webber will line up 3^rd alongside Rubens Barrichello and World Champion Jenson Button will start 5^th.

Hamilton’s teammate Heikki Kovalainen will start 13^th, despite topping Friday Practice 2, although this is because he suffered a brake problem in Q2.

Elsewhere it was a reasonably impressive qualifying session in BMW Sauber’s last ever Grand Prix with Kubica and Heidfeld making it an all BMW 4^th row. They qualified 7^th and 8^th respectively.

Ferrari had another nightmare with Giancarlo Fisichella in particular, who will start last on the grid and Kimi Raikkonen who will start an average 11^th on the grid.

It was a disappointing session for Renault as both of their drivers failed to get through Q1. In twice former world champion Fernando Alonso’s final qualifying for Renault he qualified 16^th. His teammate Romain Grosjean will start 19^th.

The full classification is here.