Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2009 - Race Schedule and Countdown

Sebastian Vettel dominated the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale at the spectacular new Yas Marina Circuit, leading home Mark Webber in a Red Bull one-two finish that signaled the end of one era and the beginning of another. Already-crowned World Champion Jenson Button finished third to cap his fairy-tale championship season with a final podium, bringing down the curtain on Brawn GP's miraculous one-year existence as the team that had nearly died before the season became the most unlikely double world champions in Formula 1 history. The race, held under Yas Marina's unique twilight-to-night transition with the setting sun giving way to spectacular floodlights, provided a glamorous backdrop for one of the sport's greatest underdog stories to reach its emotional conclusion.

Starting from second on the grid behind Lewis Hamilton's pole position of 1:40.948, Vettel made a lightning start and seized the lead into Turn 1, controlling the 55-lap race with supreme confidence as day turned to night over the Arabian desert. The 22-year-old German's victory - his fourth of the season - demonstrated Red Bull Racing's complete transformation from early-season also-rans struggling with the double-diffuser concept to the fastest team in Formula 1 by year's end. Their late-season surge, which included four consecutive one-two finishes, had come too late to challenge Button's early-season dominance, but it established Red Bull as overwhelming favorites for 2010. Vettel also set the fastest lap of 1:40.279, completing a commanding performance that foreshadowed the dominance he and Red Bull would unleash in the coming years. Webber's second place marked his own breakthrough season, proving he belonged among F1's elite.

Button's third-place finish was a fitting, emotional conclusion to one of the greatest individual championship campaigns in Formula 1 history. The 29-year-old Briton, who had won six of the first seven races when Brawn's double-diffuser advantage was at its peak, then defended his points lead with grim determination through the second half of the season as Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari closed the performance gap. His championship, secured two weeks earlier in Brazil, vindicated a decade of faith and perseverance through years with underperforming teams. As Button crossed the finish line under the lights, he knew it was his final race in Brawn colors - Mercedes-Benz would purchase the team over the winter, transforming it into the works Mercedes operation. Ross Brawn's technical genius, combined with Button's brilliance and a tiny team of just 172 employees operating on a shoestring budget, had produced both world championships in the team's only season of existence. The Brawn GP name would vanish into history, but their 2009 miracle season - rising from the ashes of Honda's withdrawal to conquer Formula 1 - will forever stand as proof that in motorsport, the greatest triumphs can come from the most unlikely sources.