FORMULA 1 Live

- Barrichello, Heidfeld, Kobayashi, Trulli and Buemi cross the line to finish up the points places - a brilliant and highly promising display from Kobayashi in just his second F1 race being the highlight. The Japanese driver is surely certain to keep his seat for next year now.

- ...AND WEBBER HANGS ON! Red Bull get the one-two despite Button's stunning driving over that last session - what a superb little tussle that was, the pair were wheel-to-wheel on no fewer than four corners on that last lap but Button slides out of shape on the last of them.

0 VETTEL WINS THE RACE!

- BUTTON CAN'T GO THROUGHT... BUT THEN HE DOES AFTER ALL - YET WEBBER GETS IT STRAIGHT BACK!

- HERE IT COMES! BUTTON WILL TAKE WEBBER ON THE LONGEST STRAIGHT IN FORMULA ONE!!!!

1 Under pressure, Webber is going all over the place! He's sliding around, but Button doesn't have a chance to go past!

- BUTTON IS CLOSE ENOUGH AFTER A GREAT SECTOR - HE GETS A TOW AND WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO ATTACK!

2 Two laps left - Vettel up ahead has the race won, while Barrichello, Heidfeld, Kobayashi, Trulli and Buemi are in procession behind.

3 Webber puts in a brilliant last half of that lap and opens up some breathing space... has he done enough to keep the Englishman at bay?

- BUTTON IS RIGHT BEHIND WEBBER NOW! HE MUST SURELY HAVE A CHANCE TO ATTACK!

4 Button is braking so much better than Webber at the moment, but he still isn't quite close enough to have a proper go at the Aussie... the gap is 0.7s.

5 Button has a poor final sector and loses some of the ground he's made up - running into Webber's turbulent air hasn't helped him...

- Webber isn't slow - he's lapping as quickly as Vettel - so what we're seeing here is a STUNNING showing from the World Champ!

6 Vettel is waved through some back markers - but behind Webber is now just a second ahead of Button!

7 BUTTON GETS ANOTHER 0.8 OUT OF WEBBER! So little time left, but the world champion has the bit between his teeth and is hunting the Aussie down... he can probably catch him, but whether he'll then get past is another question...

8 Vettel is nearly 18 seconds ahead of his team-mate - but a little further back the gaps between Barrichello, Heidfeld and Kobayashi are opening up again. But then Button crosses the line - and he's taken another 0.5 out of Webber.

9 Webber finds something extra in that lap and stops the rot - the gap to Button is 3.6 seconds.

10 While the rest of the field have looked dodgy in their final stint Jenson Button is nailing it at the moment. He's four seconds down on Webber - but is cutting the deficit at three-quarters of a second per lap! Second place is in reach!

- Pit radio is now telling several other drivers to fiddle with their in-car aerodynamic adjustments. The soft tyres and falling temperature as night has fallen have thrown all the drivers a bit of a curve ball.

- Kobayashi's aerodynamic fiddling has helped him settle and he's now come right up behind Barrochello and Heidfeld - this looks like being the best battle of the final 10 laps.

11 With all the stops over and done with it's more or less as you were - Vettel leads from Webber, Button, Barrichello and Heidfeld - and then Kamui Kobayashi in sixth.

- Kubica spins in his BMW and any prospect of a points finish eesms to have gone!

12 Button and Vettel both come in - and come out again neatly!

13 Webber, Barrichello and Heidfeld are all back out ahead of Toyota's Kobayashi - that shows you how much time he must have been losing.

14 Barrichello in - and just nips out ahead of Heidfeld, who is running well!

15 First of the leaders to come in is Webber - it's a great indicator for how the rest of the race will go as he goes on to the softs.

16 It's still as you were among the top few runners as the pit stops begin...

17 First of the two-stop runners comes in to the pits and it's Nico Rosberg! Will he have similar grip trouble as Kobayashi?

- Eavesdropping on Kobayashi's pit radio reveals that the soft tyres are giving him all sorts of understeer problems - hence his plummeting pace in this stint. He's trying to make some on-board flap adjustment to compensate, but that podium dream seems over.

18 Adrian Sutil puts in another couple of good laps and catches team-mate Vitantanio and nips past him.

19 Ron Dennis is in the McLaren pit lane for this one - he was expecting to come and see a glorious weekend on a track tailor-made for his team's car. Bet the mechanics aren't too happy their fiery former boss is about to see something very different...

20 At the front of the field Sebastian Vettel is looking every inch the potential future F1 champion. The way things are shaping up between the teams at the moment it could be a cracking season next year....

- Fernando Alonso comes in to the pits for his final stint in a Renault, and he's got half a chance of scoring points here this evening.

21 New tyres and a heavy fuel load are hurting Kobayashi on this second stint, and he's being passed by the two-stoppers now - Alonso whips straight past him there.

22 Adrian Sutil - who has had by far his best ever spell in F1 these past few races - goes past Romain Grosjean at the end of the straight.

23 Giancarlo Fisichella comes through the pits on a stop-start penalty after being caught speeding in the pit lane on his earlier stop.

- Kovalainen comes into the pits - he's had a tough time this weekend after gearbox problems ruined his qualifying session, and doesn't seem to be getting much better today.

24 Button's pit radio reports that at current pace he will be neck-and-neck with Kobayashi after his next pit stop! Can he find an extra edge to grab a podium spot?

25 Kobayashi comes into the pits! The Toyota man rejoins the race in 11th - but one-by-one he should see the rest of the field come back to him. Everything depends on his speed between now and when Button pits - he went in with just under seven seconds to spare.

26 Kimi Raikkonen - like Kobayashi, on a one-stop strategy - has come into the pits and is out for his final stint on the soft tyres. We'll keep you updated about how they work in these conditions.

27 Webber is running beautifully as well, and Red Bull seem nailed on for a one-two barring accident or mechanical failure.

- Alguersari is now claiming that he didn't run out of fuel but that actually it was a gearbox problem - though sources at his team are saying otherwise...

28 Vettel is miles ahead now as the neon-lit stand turns a dusty, sunlit scene into a sort of F1 Las Vegas.

29 The sunlight has gone now - but the sun is coming up on Kobayashi's career as he is looking absolutely stunning! The former GP2 driver is totally confident in F1 despite the big step up - good lad!

- Alguersari's retirement, incidentally, came as he ran out of fuel after stopping in the wrong pit box and having to go around again. Whoops!

- Lewis Hamilton confirms that his brakes were just not working properly, and that he was struggling to stop the car throughout the race - hence his lack of pace.

30 Further down the field Jaime Alguersari has had to retire as well with a problem.

- Kobayashi is the story of the race so far - the gutsy Toyota man, who earlier in the summer had no chance of an F1 drive, is holding his own and has pulled out 4.5 seconds over Button since he overtook him!

31 There's now 16.5 seconds behind leader Vettel and fourth-placed Jenson Button.

- Button slides round the second corner, and seems to be struggling for grip on this second set of tyres.

32 Kobayashi is hanging on to his lofty third position brilliantly - the one-stop strategy could yet lead to a brilliant podium for the Japanese driver!

33 The sky is fairly dark blue now and the moon is out... the night section of the race is almost in full flow, and Vettel is cruising at the head of the field.

34 What drama - and bitter disappointment for McLaren, that really sums up the season for them...

- Martin Whitmarsh of McLaren is explaining to Hamilton that he can't risk continuing with that brake problem - a failure at 220mph at the end of a 1km-long straight could be lethal.

- LEWIS HAMILTON IS OUT OF THE ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX!!!!!! The problem is a serious one and he's unable to continue.

35 PIT RADIO TELLS HAMILTON HE HAS A BRAKE PROBLEM - AND HE IS COMING IN TO THE PITS!!!!!

- A bizarre situation with Toro Rosso's Buemi ahead of Vettel's stop saw the Toro Rosso man waved through to get out of Vettel's way!

- VETTEL IS OUT MILES AHEAD OF HAMILTON! HE'S CRUISING NOW!

36 VETTEL STOPS! He's coming up and out...

- Vettel is leading the race with the rest of the top six having pitted... but will he have done enough to keep it when he stops himself?

37 Good stop for Webber, who comes out around two seconds behind Hamilton.

- Button comes out - and one-stopper Kobayashi is right behind him! They tussle on the straight and then the Japanese goes past the heavily fuel-laden world champ!

- Button stops too - it really is a bonkers pit lane, with an underground chicane that throws drivers straight out onto a high-speed corner!

38 Hamilton comes round - and goes into the pits! A whistle-clean stop!

- Barrichello is the first man out of the bizarre pit tunnel set-up, and it's a good, clean run - but with the steep curve and incline on that pit wall it's an acccident waiting to happen.

39 Barrichello comes into the pits - as has Kubica!

40 Hamilton has suddenly found something - and he's pulled out another half a second over Vettel. But Button and Barrichello are both looking superb and are gradually reeling in the McLaren and the Red Bulls.

41 Webber's last few laps have been absolute stormers, and he's now within a couple of seconds or so of the leading duo.

- Toyoyta's new boy Kobayashi is doing a cracking job and is up to 10th place - he'll do his chances of keeping his job a power of good with this sort of driving.

42 Lewis Hamilton locks the front left wheel - he's lost yet more time to Vettel and now after 13 laps is in a bit of a mess.

43 This was meant to be a fairytale finale for McLaren to erase the memories of the early season trouble - but is something wrong with Lewis?

44 HAMILTON COMES OFF THE TRACK!!!! He loses the rear end and runs very wide and finally off the track on the final section, and loses no less than eight tenths to Vettel! He's in der baby-Schumi's sights now!

45 Hamilton responds to Webber's speed with his own fastest lap... but he's due in to the pits before long, and unless he can turn his gap into at least five seconds then his first pitstop could easily see him lose the lead!

- Another fastest lap for Mark Webber, the Aussie flying along well in third place.

46 Heikki Kovalainen is closing up on Kimi Raikkonen back down in a battle for 12th place - but with both drivers having the all-important KERS system on board it'll be tough to overtake.

47 The sun is dropping rapidly and the floodlights are starting to come in to play just as Hamilton starts pulling out a slightly larger gap at last.

48 Mark Webber has now set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:41.025 - just as reports from the McLaren garage suggest that Hamilton's lack of devastating pace is something of a mystery.

49 Hamilton and Vettel are switching times back and forth at the moment - every time Vettel closes, Hamilton responds. It's as if he's trying to keep the gap static.

50 Hamilton's pace has really settled down - he's not running away with this one, but is just keeping himself that little bit ahead of Vettel.

51 Whatever trouble Barrichello seemed to have after that early collision has disappeared - he's picked his pace right up, and is now the second fastest man on the track after Hamilton!

- Back down the field Fernando Alonso - who was so poor in qualifying - goes past his team-mate Grosjean.

52 Lewis Hamilton is settling in to the race now and has opened up a small but healthy gap over Sebastian Vettel: he's 1.5 seconds ahead.

- Barrichello is a second slower than his team-mate now - and we're hearing that he has definitely lost a part off his car.

53 Button, who has gone past his team-mate, is the fastest man on the track at the moment.

- A replay shows that Barrichello actually clipped Mark Webber slightly in that first lap, and he seems to have lost downforce - he's being overhauled easily in the corners.

54 Hamilton is SO quick on the straits that he seems to have no need to fly round the corners - the power of KERS plays into his hands here.

55 THAT'S THE START! Great start by Hamilton, Vettel and Webber both get away neatly as well as do the two Brawns!

- The drivers are lining up now... will Lewis's pace continue to lead the field? We're seconds away...

- The parade lap is about to get under way as the sun floats gently down in the sky. It's a stunning place, no doubt about it.

- With the temperature cooling off the challenge won't be the heat, as it usually is in the Middle East - but going from day to night could be an issue. The drivers have tinted visor rip-offs to help them see in the dark.

- We're 10 minutes away from the start of the race, and Lewis Hamilton is hot favourite to win after a brilliant qualifying performance.

- Welcome! It's a beautiful early evening in Abu Dhabi at this stunning circuit for what should be a cracking finale to the F1 season.