Sebastien Buemi has confirmed he will stay put and drive for Toro Rosso in 2010. The 21 year old Swiss driver said:

“I had some contact with other teams due to my good results at the end of the season.

“Toyota could have been a possibility because they had not yet hired any drivers.

“That was not the only one, and anyway I was always talking with (Toro Rosso owner) Red Bull. Finally I signed with Toro Rosso for 2010.”

Buemi scored 6 championship points in his 2009 rookie season finishing 16^th in the Drivers Championship.

It also seems that Jaime Alguersuari who drove for Toro Rosso in the last 7 races of the 2009 season is also going to stay with the Red Bull owned team, despite never scoring a championship point.

Alguersuari hinted:

“There will be six days of pre-season testing that, without a doubt, will give me a good base and we will then see the best Jaime.

“The start of the season will be hard because I don’t know the circuits. But at the end of the year I will be good, even better than Sebastien Buemi. This is my hope.”

When Sebastien Buemi was questioned as to whether the Spaniard Alguersuari was to carry on with the team he said:

“I assume that Jamie will team up with me next year. I think the team chose to change in the middle (of the season) because we can’t really do any testing so he may as well get used to the car now.”

Sebastian Vettel won the 2009 Abu Dhabi GP after a pit stop strategy gave him the lead over Lewis Hamilton, before the latter had to retire on L17 with brake issues.  Mark Webber held of a determined last-lap charge from Jenson Button to finish second.  Rubens Barrichello and Nick Heidfeld rounded out the top five, as rookie Kamui Kobayashi’s quick driving and one-stop strategy netted him points for sixth position in only his second race.  This win moved Vettel ahead in points, and he finished the season second in the driver’s championship, with Barrichello third and Webber fourth.

Lewis Hamilton started on the pole for Sunday’s inaugural Abu Dhabi GP, after a near-domination of qualifying.  However, he had to get a great start in order to stay ahead of the slightly heavier Red Bulls to his right and behind during the pit stops.  Interestingly enough, all cars starting from eleventh (Raikkonen) back could conceivably turn Abu Dhabi into a one-stopper.

Hamilton led into the first turn as Vettel got off a bit slowly.  Barrichello attempted to get around Webber, but could not.  Kubica made his way around Trulli.  By the end of the first lap Button had passed his teammate as Barrichello began to slip back to Kubica having lost the right front endplate after slight contact with Webber.  Vettel, meanwhile, was  not allowing Hamilton to get away.  At the back, Grosjean had managed a pass on teammate Alonso.  By almost L3 Kovalainen had moved up five positions from his eighteenth place start.  He had qualified thirteenth, but changed his gearbox and suffered a five-place penalty.

L4 had Alonso back around Grosjean, but both were back in seventeenth and eighteenth.  By L5, Webber had taken the fastest lap from Hamilton as Hamilton led Vettel by 1.5 seconds, with Webber another 2.7 seconds behind.  The gap between the front two dropped, then increased by two-tenths.  By L10, Hamilton had re-taken fast lap, leading Vettel (1.7s), Webber, Button, and Barrichello.  On the next lap, Hamilton attempted to increase the gap, but had a small off-track excursion, bringing the gap down to nine-tenths.  Those behind them were also catching up with only a few laps until the stops began.  Webber again took fastest lap on L14 with a 1:40.571.  Two and a half seconds separated the top three, at that point.

Barrichello and Kubica were the first to pit, on L17.  Brawn did not change that damaged front wing as Barrichello seemed to be setting fast times, he returned to the circuit in front of Raikkonen in tenth.  Hamilton pitted on L18, as did Button.  Button rejoined in eighth, just ahead of Kobayashi, who gave him quite a bit of trouble, until Button overshot the turn and lost position to Kobayashi in a brilliant piece of driving from the young Japanese.  Webber, Trulli, Rosberg, and Buemi pitted on L19 as Vettel took the lead, posted a fast time, then pitted.  Just before, Alguersuari had tried to pit, though he overshot his pit attempted to stop in the Red Bull pit and had to pass through.  The very sharp Red Bull boys managed to recognize Alguersuari, get out of the way, wave him through, and process a quick stop for Vettel, who returned to the track ahead of Hamilton.  Hamilton then had to pull into the garage with brake issues, ending his race. “The brakes were not really coming up to temperature, so much.  I was having to be a bit cautious, I was waiting for the tires to come up, but they didn’t,” said Hamilton after retiring.

Alguersuari stopped on the circuit, apparently having gearbox issues. L22 had Vettel leading Webber, Kobayashi (who was likely on a one-stopper), Button, and Barrichello as the top five.  Not yet stopped, Raikkonen led Kovalainen for sixth, making third in the constructor’s championship a dicey battle between the two.

L26 was the same for the top five, though Vettel was gaining a gap on teammate Webber, 8.9 seconds.  In third, Kobayashi was posting faster times than both Vettel and Webber.  Fisichella, the first of the one-stoppers, pitted on L29 from fifteenth.  Raikkonon did so on the next lap as Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa looked on.  Raikkonen rejoined in fifteenth.  Kobayashi pitted from third on L31, rejoining in eleventh, with stops to be made by those ahead of him.

The stops continued as Kovalainen stopped on L32, ahead of Raikkonen’s Ferrari.  L32 also had a drive-through penalty for Fisichella for speeding in the pit lane.  The next lap had Nakajima pitting, leaving only Alonso on track without stopping.  Alonso then had a bit of a fight taking eleventh position from Kobayashi, but Alonso immediately pitted, returning to the track in fourteenth.  L37, before the final round of pit stops for the front-runners, had Vettel leading Webber, then Button, Barrichello, and Heidfeld as the top five.  Vettel had a 10.4 second lead over Webber, who led Button by twelve seconds.  Barrichello was much closer to his teammate, only three seconds behind Button, with Heidfeld just over two seconds behind Barrichello.

Rosberg was the first to stop for the second time on L39, returning to the track in tenth, ahead of Kovalainen.  Kubica was in next, rejoining just behind Kobayashi.  Webber pitted on L41, returning racing in sixth.  Barichello and Heidfeld pitted on L42, as did Buemi.  Barrichello and Heidfeld were close in fifth and sixth on track.  L42 was, perhaps the most exciting lap of the race, as Vettel and Button pitted and Kubica and Buemi had a coming together that resulted in a spin for Kubica.  Vettel maintained the lead, and Button rejoined in third.  The top five with all pit stops made, were Vettel, Webber (back 16.4 seconds), Button, Barrichello, and Heidfeld. Kobayashi was 2.4 seconds behind Heidfeld.

As the laps ticked down, Button was reeling in Webber, taking .5 second off Webber in chunks.  With seven laps left, the gap was down to 2.2 seconds from 3.6.  The gap was 1.3 by the next lap, and Button could see Webber at all points on the track.  With four laps to go, the gap was less than a second.  With one lap to go, Vettel set the fastest lap of the race in the lead, as Button got closer to Webber and both started slide a bit.  On the back straight, Button tried, and tried again, but Webber held him off, barely, in the most exciting driving of the inaugural Abu Dhabi GP on the very last lap.  Neither McLaren nor Ferrari scored points, leaving McLaren in third for the constructor’s championship.

Results for the 2009 Abu Dhabbi GP: (courtesy of the official Formula1 website)
1. Vettel
2. Webber
3. Button
4. Barrichello
5. Heidfeld
6. Kobayashi
7. Trulli
8. Buemi
9. Rosberg
10. Kubica
11. Kovalainen
12. Raikkonen
13. Nakajima
14. ALonso
15. Liuzzi
16. Fisichella
17. Sutil
18. Grosjean
Hamilton
Alguersuari

Lewis Hamilton has had to retire from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from pole position due to possible brake failure.

Hamilton struggled from the start, with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber hunting him down. Hamilton said after the race,

“I was struggling to stop the car”

Once he pit, McLaren informed Hamilton that they were investigating a possible rear right brake problem. Within minutes they cleared a space for a McLaren in the garage, informing Hamilton that it was too dangerous to continue racing.

Yet again, the time differences for Formula1 fans in America make it late at night (though not that late when considering the soon to be implemented time change) while early in the morning for Europe, and nearly time to rise for those actually participating in the sport, at the 2009 Abu Dhabi GP.  Sunday’s evening race in the Middle East will have Lewis Hamilton on pole position, leading the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, while the Brawns of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button finish out the top five.  Saturday’s qualifying was an accurate portrayal of the transition at the circuit from day into night, with all the lights on while it was still light and keeping everything bright as darkness fell.

As was discussed Saturday when the car weights and projected pit stop times were determined, Hamilton must get a good start and quickly outpace the Red Bulls in order to maintain the lead during the pit stops.  Many drivers whose cars seem to be capable of a one-stop strategy are further back, but have a lot to prove, either because this is the last race for them at their current team (Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso) or because they have no contract for 2010 and must impress during this last race of the season (Heikki Kovalainen, Kamui Kobayashi, Kazuki Nakajima, Tonio Liuzzi, Nick Heidfeld, etc.).  Look for as much dicing as possible, and similar incidents as in Brazil as drivers jockey for position in the 2010 field.

Every car from Raikkonen back, eleventh through twentieth, is capable of a one-stop strategy for the fifty-five lap race.  Lewis Hamilton, who admitted after qualifying that he and McLaren could have been heavier during qualifying, could be overtaken through the race by at least Vettel, if not also by Webber.  Both Brawns will likely stop on the same lap as Hamilton, lap twenty, while Vettel will likely come in on lap twenty-two while teammate Webber stops on lap twenty-one.  The first to stop will likely be Robert Kubica in the BMW-Sauber, while both Renaults will only have to do a short fifteen or sixteen lap stint on the lower-performance tires at the end.

It is unlikely that any sort of weather other than hot and dry conditions will occur during the race, though one might remember the rain-delayed opening race of this MotoGP season, at Losail in Qatar.  Still, the more likely condition to change-up the running order is a safety car.  This is a brand-new circuit, and while the practices and qualifying were uneventful, multiple spins occurred.  In race conditions, these sorts of kinks will be far messier to work out, especially when, as mentioned earlier, at least half the field is looking to impress for a 2010 contract.  Such a safety car will very much disrupt Hamilton’s necessary strategy of a quick getaway from the Red Bulls, as he is lighter on fuel.  Keep a watchful eye on rookie Kobayashi, as he showed he does not care who he is fighting with for position two weeks ago in Brazil when attempting to hold off new world champion Button.

If the race is uneventful, or only moderately so, Hamilton has a very high chance of being on the top step of the podium, though he could be overtaken in the pits by Vettel, giving the German the win, Hamilton second and Webber third, especially considering the McLaren’s speed and the processional nature of Hermann Tilke-designed tracks, as Abu Dhabi is.  If there is a safety car or more, the outcome of the race is anyone’s guess.  Alonso, in a horrible fifteenth starting position, is very heavy and could manage a reverse Singapore 2008 (minus, of course, the purposeful teammate-into-the-wall bit), going for a very long first stint and passing as many cars as possible in the not-too-fast Renault, then popping into the pits for a quick stop and the mandatory tire change, to finish in at least the top five.

That outcome, though similar to Button’s in Brazil, is unlikely, if only because of the probability that he will be caught, yet again, in a first-turn smash-up.  Another driver or two to watch will be those in the championship-winning cars.  Both Barrichello and Button seem likely to stop on the same lap as Hamilton, and both are hungry for a rewarding end to a rewarding (or bittersweet) 2009 season.  Button qualified badly due to a vibration in a tire, but will be encouraged to give this race his all in an effort to cap his championship with a win.  The only difficulty both driver face is that their cars still do not respond well to lowering temperatures, and the heat of day will give way to the cool of night halfway through the race.

With everything to gain, and a lot to lose, both the circuit promoters and the drivers themselves have promised an exciting race at a shiny, new venue.  Racing begins at 5pm local time, and the winner is, as yet, undetermined.

Sebastian Vettel has come out of Friday’s Abu Dhabi GP practise sessions with renewed enthusiasm for this weekends race, where he fights for second place in the drivers world championship. Vettel, who currently leads Rubens Barrichello by 2 points was pleased with his car’s performance during practise 1 & 2, giving a nod to engine maker Renault,

“I’d like to say thanks to Renault – many people didn’t believe that we’d succeed without having to change an engine, but here we are having completed a lot of miles on another Friday without a single problem.”

Vettel has had a number of engine problems and DNFs throughout the 2009 season which ultimately lost him the chance at the driver’s title. He has also used up his allotted engine allowance for the season, re-using old engines in order to not incur a grid penalty for a brand new one.

Vettel managed 3rd and 4th respectively in the Friday practise sessions in Abu Dhabi, only the McLaren and Brawn GP cars giving him a run for his money.

“It seems as though we’re quite competitive, although we will have to wait to see how competitive. Even though it’s a new track, it was a normal Friday practice and we were testing which tyre works best.”

With the final Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi just days away, and both world championships already wrapped up – the final race will be a free for all to grab some final points, and also lay it all on the line.

Sebastian Vettel and Rubens Barrichello will both be looking to secure 2nd place in the drivers championship. With Brawn GP and Jenson Button already securing the other top spots in the championships Brawn will work hard to make it happen for Barrichello, to finish off an amazing (kind of) debut year for the team.

Lewis Hamilton will undoubtedly drive his heart out as he always does, with his McLaren car really coming up to speed in the latter part of the season, he should be one of the favourites to get the win!

Kimi Raikkonen is also taking part in his final race for Ferrari in Abu Dhabi, so could be looking to seal that with a win, for old times sake. He’s up against it though as Ferrari haven’t updated the car since June.

Our money would be on Hamilton, Vettel or Barrichello – but they’re so many fast cars out there now, it could be any of them? Take a vote:

Results close at 1200 GMT Sunday.