MOSCOW, November 4 (RIA Novosti) - Kimi Raikkonen held on for victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday as Fernando Alonso cut into Sebastian Vettel’s championship lead.
Alonso was second as he reduced the deficit to just 10 points with two races remaining, while Vettel finished a staggering third after passing McLaren’s Jenson Button in a late battle.
Vettel had started last after his car broke qualifying rules, but shrugged off the setback to slice through the field in a masterful drive, aided by collisions that forced almost half the field to retire or pit for damage.
Vettel said aggression was key after a "messy start."
“I said to myself, either we go full attack or nothing, so that’s what we did. Had a very good race," he said in televised comments.
"We’ve got the momentum. The car’s bloody quick and I’m looking forward to the last two races.”
Alonso pledged to "keep fighting until the end," but admitted Ferrari were slower than Red Bull.
“We were not super-competitive this weekend," he said, paying tribute to "a very good strategy which gave us the possibility to fight for the victory."
Raikkonen was fourth on the grid but made up two places by turn one and took the lead when pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton’s car lost power and the Briton driver rolled to a halt on lap 20.
A safety car on lap 39 closed up the field and threatened the Finn’s lead, but Raikkonen kept calm to pull away and leave his rivals fighting among themselves on his way to his first win since 2009.
Alonso homed in on Raikkonen in the dying stages, but could not reel in his fellow former champion in time.
"I’m very happy for the team and for myself, but especially for the team. It’s been a hard season," Raikkonen said in televised comments.
“I hope this can turn around the tables and give us many more good races.”
Button was fourth for McLaren, while Pastor Maldonado finished fifth for Williams after starting third and claimed points for only the second time since winning in Spain in May.
Rounding out the top ten, Kamui Kobayashi was sixth for Sauber, followed by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, Maldonado’s teammate Bruno Senna and Force India’s Paul di Resta, with Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo claiming the final point in 10th.
The safety car came out for a huge crash on lap nine, when Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg hurtled into the back of a very slow Narain Karthikeyan, whose HRT appeared to be emitting smoke.
Rosberg flew over Karthikeyan’s car and smashed into the barriers, but both were fine and appeared to share a joke in the aftermath.
Vettel faced further adversity when he touched Ricciardo under the safety car, forcing him to stop for a new nose cone and dropping him to the back of the field again before his remarkable recovery drive.
Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber was involved in a series of contentious moves throughout an eventful race, coming together with Maldonado and Massa at times.
The Australian was eventually forced to retire on lap 39 when a scrap between Paul di Resta and Sergio Perez sparked off a chain reaction of shunts that ended with Webber running into the swerving Romain Grosjean.
Webber's retirement prevented Red Bull from wrapping up the constructors' championship, which they lead by 82 points from Ferrari.
