Formula One / David Croft / 30 October 2009 / Leave a comment

Abu Dhabi's race circuit lights up the sky but who will provide the spark in Sunday's race? David Croft reports from qualifying, on the final race of the 2009 season.

"For the first time in Formula 1, see Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button standing on the podium at the same time."

It's only when you turn left off the highway and enter Yas Island that you realise the scale of what has been built here and what will come in the future.

Nestled beside the enormous 'Ferrari World' complex with it's one kilometer wide roof and 12 roller-coasters, that opens next year, the three golf courses, marinas, hotels, apartments, business centres and shopping malls sits the latest state of the art race circuit. A circuit that lights up the evening sky. Fifty thousand seats, all of which are undercover, some of which are literally right on top of the action. It looks stunning; for the money it's cost to build, it should be stunning and given that it's taken only two years to get ready, it's a pretty stunning achievement.

The question is, will the racing match the setting? Will we have a fitting season finale given that the championships have been settled and the drivers are racing for pride and bragging rights only?

The jury for me is out on that one. In theory, the track offers only two overtaking opportunities at the end of the two back straights. A lot of it is very technical and twisty which whilst demanding on the driver, might not gives us the Interlagos of the Middle East when it comes to wheel to wheel action.

But one thing I do believe after watching practice today is that we may, for the first time in Formula 1, see Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button standing on the podium at the same time.

Lewis looked on it from the off, using KERS in the middle sector to great advantage, but clearly loving the wrestling match he was having in the first sector, keeping that McLaren on a sweeping line through the fast left, right, left corners that define the early part of the lap. Here Red Bull had the advantage which means that Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber need to be considered as well. But the initial sector is relatively short so as to leave the Bull's a little further down my pecking order this weekend.

Button, now that the pressure is well and truly off, was busy pushing hard, even spinning at the corner under the hotel. For five or six laps he and Hamilton traded fastest times, each bringing more pace out of the other before finally Lewis took the honors by mere hundredths of a second.

I've said it many times before in the second part of the season, but if Button can qualify well, he'll be there or thereabouts at the end. Hamilton, however, may edge it because of KERS. It's one last race for this most expensive one season experiment that has proved so beneficial to McLaren in the second half of the year. That will be why Lewis has attracted more support in Betfair's win market at [1.87] and why Jenson is available at a more attractive [6.4].

His recent run of poor results in qualifying are reflected too with the champion [8.2] for pole. Before you write him off this weekend, remember that the temperature here in Abu Dhabi will help the Brawn car and that the man racing in car 22 will have much more relaxed and carefree attitude than we have seen since Turkey. Incidentally, that race in Istanbul was not only the last time that Jenson won, but the last time he lead a lap as well.

Those wishing to take a slightly lesser price for the luxury of having two cars for one bet, could do worse than look at the [1.72] available on a McLaren to be the winning car. In what will be Heikki Kovalainen's last race for the team, you can expect the Finn to go all out to try and show the British outfit what they'll be missing next season. Heikki finished the second session as the fastest man on the track, edging his team-mate with Button third. Don't count him out this weekend as the price of [15.0] to bag that maiden F1 win seems generous.

This will also be the 70th and last race for BMW Sauber and whilst Robert Kubica's preparations suffer from what looked like another engine failure, his team-mate Nick Heidfeld could be a good outsider for a points finish based on his efforts on the first day.

Consistency seems to be Heidfeld's buzzword and he remains the man that more often than not gets to the chequered flag. Here in Abu Dhabi that should be in the Top 8 and the [1.9] available with Betfair may prove as attractive as a twilight trip around the harbour.

Tags: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Betting, David Croft, Formula 1 Betting Odds, formula 1 betting tips, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Nick Heidfled