5 Nov 2012

Raikkonen wins for Lotus in Abu Dhabi

6:17 am on 5 November 2012

The Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen has won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and become the sixth different winner of the Formula One season.

It's the first victory of Raikkonen's comeback season, and the first win since 1987 by a car racing under the Lotus name.

The 2007 world champion took the chequered flag point-8 of a second ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel a close third to retain the overall championship lead after a race with two safety car interludes.

Vettel, who started from the pit lane, now leads Alonso by 10 points with two races remaining. They are the only drivers still in contention for the title.

The pole sitter Lewis Hamilton failed to finish after his McLaren suffered an engine shutdown, so the order of the top five in the championship remained unchanged.