Lewis Hamilton of McLaren won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday as Sebastian Vettel's luck unusually seem to run out - celebrating his Mother's birthday with the top podium place that has eluded him for most of the season.
The McLaren driver was on hand to make the most of the spin Vettel suffered exiting the very first corner of the race at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Vettel suffered a right rear puncture and was forced to retire for the first time this season, meaning the world champion's attempt to match Michael Schumacher's record of 13 victories in a single season is now at an end.
Hamilton's win was his third of 2011 but much-needed in the context of an otherwise difficult season for the 26-year-old, who has been criticised for his involvement in a number of collisions.
The 2008 world champion took the chequered flag comfortably ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, with Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button claiming the final podium place.
Red Bull's Mark Webber finished fourth ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa, with Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg sixth in front of team-mate Schumacher.
Force India pair Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta finished eighth and ninth respectively, with Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi claiming the final world championship point.
Vettel's retirement - his first since last year's Korean GP - means we will never know whether McLaren had the pace to beat the champion in a straight fight.
Although the German had set a record-equalling 14th pole position on Saturday, McLaren were confident of their race pace but still needed fast starts from their drivers.
It initially seemed as though Vettel would deliver another masterclass as he confidently led into turn one.
Hobbled
But he was soon pitched into a spin and after the field had sped past, Vettel hobbled back to the pits, his car having sustained damage to its right rear corner.
Hamilton therefore found himself leading a McLaren one-two, but only briefly as Alonso, who had already passed Webber through turn two on the opening lap, then dived past Button around the outside of turn 11.
Button also briefly lost third to Webber on lap four before taking the place back - the moves coming in the track's DRS zones on the long back straight and the run to turn 11.
The McLaren driver then managed to pull out of DRS range while Hamilton too moved clear of Alonso - his lead at 2.6 seconds by lap nine.
Just prior to the first pit-stop window, though, Button reported a mechanical problem - soon revealed as a KERS failure - and Webber closed up once more.
Lap 15 saw the pair side-by-side through turns 11 to 14, with Button holding on. Hamilton and Alonso pitted in tandem two laps later.
Quick work by McLaren's pit turned Button around after he followed his team-mate in, however Webber's stop was sluggish by comparison and he lost fourth place to Massa.
By lap 21, Hamilton was 3secs clear of Alonso - the gap being stretched to more than five during the second stint as tyre management and traffic came increasingly into play.
Meanwhile the KERS-less Button was slowly falling back into the clutches of Massa, with Webber also closing on the Ferrari.
The trio slowly bunched up and Webber got ahead of Massa on lap 30 before the Ferrari took the place back - again under braking at turn 11.
Squabble
Their squabble enabled Button to pull away but he was also helped after regaining the use of his car's KERS power boost.
Button followed Webber into the pits for a second time on lap 36. While the McLaren was switched from option (Pirelli soft) to prime (hard) tyres, Red Bull bucked the trend and put Webber back out on options and he immediately became the pacesetter in sixth place.
He needed to be, though, as he would now require another stop. Hamilton pitted again on lap 41 to hand Alonso the lead while Webber - who had also jumped Massa - then passed Button for fourth.
Alonso stopped on lap 44 but his 'in laps' on worn options were not quick enough for him to jump Hamilton and retain the lead.
Webber then passed the third-placed Rosberg on lap 45, the Mercedes driver running a long second stint before dropping back behind Button and Massa when he pitted three laps later.
Massa - who Webber was effectively racing - then blotted his copybook with a spin, guaranteeing the Red Bull driver fourth place when he pitted for a third time on the final lap.
By that stage, Hamilton was 8.4s clear of Alonso, a gap he maintained to the chequered flag.
The winner now matches Button's tally of three race wins this season. However, even with his latest success, Hamilton cannot beat his team-mate in the standings.
Button stands second in the drivers' championship and holds a 28-point lead over Hamilton in fifth with just the Brazilian Grand Prix to come.
Ecstatic
Hamilton nevertheless described himself as "ecstatic" and "fantastic", adding: "That was one of my best drives of my career.
"I looked after my tyres, I managed the gap, and the team did a great job, so I'm happy to be back up here. I can now get on my flight tonight and smile."
Asked if he was back on track after all his troubles, he said: "I don't know. It's early days.
"We've a great race in Brazil coming up, so I just need to try and keep the momentum."
Alonso also felt he enjoyed "a fantastic race", adding: "I had a very good start, a good first lap and the fight with Jenson.
"Then after the problem with Sebastian, I fought with Lewis, and at the last stop we stayed out two laps longer than Lewis.
"But in the last stint he had a bit more pace, so even if I had got ahead in the second stop, we probably wouldn't have won, but it has been a good weekend."
As for Button, his KERS issues proved a hindrance as he said: "On about lap 13 or 14 it went.
"I had to fend off Webber and Massa, which was interesting, and then I eventually got it back.
"But then it went again and I had to keep resetting it, which means it was very tricky, so coming home third I'm pretty happy."
Elsewhere, Di Resta made up one place on his grid slot after pitting just the once - Force India starting the Scot on the prime tyre before bringing him in on lap 27 of 55.
Kobayashi took 10th after passing team-mate Sergio Perez late on, while Williams pair Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado finished 12th and 14th respectively from the back row of the grid.
Maldonado made the points at one stage but was then forced to serve two drive-through penalties for ignoring blue flags.
Result
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1hr 37mins 11.886secs, 2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:37:20.343, 3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:37:37.767, 4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:37:47.670, 5 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:38:02.464, 6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:38:04.203, 7 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:38:27.850, 8 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:38:29.008, 9 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:38:52.973, 10 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari at 1 Lap, 11 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari at 1 Lap, 12 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams at 1 Lap, 13 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault at 1 Lap, 14 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams at 1 Lap, 15 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 16 Bruno Senna (Bra) Renault at 1 Lap, 17 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 at 1 Lap, 18 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 at 2 Laps, 19 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing at 2 Laps, 20 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-F1 at 2 Laps Not Classified: 21 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) HRT-F1 48 Laps completed, 22 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 19 Laps completed, 23 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing 18 Laps completed, 24 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1 Lap completed
Drivers' Championship:
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 374pts, 2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 255, 3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 245, 4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 233, 5 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 227, 6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 108, 7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 83, 8 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 76, 9 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 36, 10 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault 34, 11 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 34, 12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 28, 13 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 26, 14 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 23, 15 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 15, 16 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 14, 17 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 4, 18 Bruno Senna (Bra) Renault 2, 19 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1, 20 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) Sauber-Ferrari 0, 21 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 0, 22 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 0, 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-F1 0, 24 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing 0, 25 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 0, 26 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) HRT-F1 0, 27 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-F1 0, 28 Karun Chandhok (Ind) Lotus F1 0
Constructors' Championship
1 Red Bull 607pts, 2 McLaren 482, 3 Ferrari 353, 4 Mercedes GP 159, 5 Renault 72, 6 Force India 57, 7 Sauber-Ferrari 42, 8 Scuderia Toro Rosso 41, 9 Williams 5, 10 Lotus F1 0, 11 HRT-F1 0, 12 Virgin Racing 0
