Top-10 finish for Sutil, Resta; Hamilton wins Abu Dhabi GP

Abu Dhabi: Adrian Sutil finished a creditable eighth, just ahead of teammate Paul di Resta at the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as Sahara Force India recorded its third double top-10 finish of the season to consolidate its sixth position on the constructors’ championship, here Sunday.

Force India earned six points to take its tally to 57 and increase the gap with nearest rival Sauber by 15 points, with just one race left in the calender.

Disaster struck world champion Sebastian Vettel as he was forced to retire in lap two due to engine failure, soon after suffering a tyre puncture in the opening lap between turn one and two at the sparkling Yas Marina Circuit.

Vettel’s shock retirement, first since 2010 Korean GP, helped McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton win his third race of the season after starting second from the grid.

The Briton is the only racer other than Vettel to triumph at Abu Dhabi GP as the German had won the inaugural edition in 2009 and then last year.

Hamilton was followed by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and teammate Jenson Button.

Vettel’s retirement helped Sutil and Di Resta move up a place from the original grid positions right from the start.

Sutil put a lot of pressure on Michael Schumacher of Mercedes and Di Resta was locked in an intense battle for ninth place with Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Buemi, who eventually retired later.

The Scot managed to move to eight place but was easily overtaken by Schumacher in lap 20 on straight.

Di Resta opted a one pit-stop strategy and took it in lap 28. He rejoined the race in the 12th only to re-gain his P9. Sutil took his second pit-stop in lap 36 and surrendered his seventh position to Schumacher when he joined back.

The two Force India drivers kept their positions till the end to finish in the top-10 bracket.

Sutil was pleased that his two-stop strategy worked. “Today’s result is great for the team and just what we needed. Initially we were planning to do a one-stop race, but the team took the decision to switch to a two-stop strategy because the soft tyre did not last as long as we thought it would. So it was a good call by the team to make the change,” he said.

Rookie Di Resta conceded that he had tough time when Buemi was chasing him closely. “I think as a team we can be pleased to have come away with a double points finish having run different strategies with both cars. I had a good fight with Buemi in the early laps and I think we were quite lucky that he retired, which made my race a bit easier. "

Team Principal Vijay Mallya was delighted the team delivered according to expectations and was confident that the team can now seal the sixth place at last race in Brazil.

“Both drivers drove faultless races, splitting the strategies and covering all the options. So I’m very pleased with our performance as a team, which puts us in a much stronger position with 15 points advantage over our nearest competitor.”

PTI