Kimi Raikkonen wins his first grand prix since his return with the Lotus team

Lotus: "The car behind you is Alonso, he is five seconds behind you"

Kimi Raikkonen: "Just leave me alone, I know what I'm doing!"

Raikkonen, the man with a few words, has always known what he is doing, proof of the above radio message that occured last night.

The win is an important milestone for the resurrected Lotus team for their last win was with the late Ayrton Senna at the 1987 Detroit Grand Prix. Two safety car periods, a good strategy and a brilliant drive allowed Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel to retain his championship lead by finishing a strong third despite starting from the pit lane.

The safety car was out the first time between laps nine and fourteen after Nico Rosberg's Mercedes flew over the rear of the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan on lap nine, as the Indian was slowing down with hydraulic problems. The incident littered the track with expensive carbon fibre debris that had to be cleared. What could have been Hamilton's night instead ended in misery as the British driver retired once again after his McLaren unusually lost all power on the 20th lap.

Vettel used the first safety car period to his advantage and recovered well despite a damaged front wing after a brush with Williams' Bruno Senna earlier. But his front wing got worse when Daniel Riccardo, whilst behind the safety car, braked his Torro Rosso suddenly. To avoid a collision Vettel steered right and hit a polystyrene DRS marker board and eventually dropped to the back after an early pit stop for a new nose and wing on the 13th lap.

At the restart Raikkonen pulled away as Alonso was all over Maldonado's mirrors with Webber and Button chasing the Spaniard. On the 21st lap Alonso overtook Maldonado easily. On the 23rd lap Webber lost valuable places trying to pass Maldonado and three laps later Webber was fighting Massa for position which eventually saw the Brazilian to spin out.

Webber became a victim when Di Resta, Grosjean and Perez were trying to fight for position in the narrow corners. This resulted in Perez hitting Grosjean who spun and took out Webber. The resulting debris called for a second safety car deployment from laps 38 to 42 and Perez was subsequently given a 10 seconds stop and go penalty.

In the closing stages, Raikkonen remained composed with Alonso closing on him real quick. Alonso reduced the lead from 3.2 seconds on the 46th lap to just 0.8 seconds as the chequered flags danced away at the magnificent Yas Marina circuit.

The second safety car deployment benefitted Vettel once again as he reduced the lead from 29.8 seconds to 3.3 seconds when he crossed the line. Button in the other McLaren took fourth, while Maldonado survived to finish fifth. Kobayashi in the other Sauber finished a good sixth while the other prancing horse finished seventh. Schumacher finished out of points at eleventh after a late right-rear puncture.

Post-race, Vettel retains his championship lead with a 10 point cushion ahead of Alonso at 255 points while Raikkonen remains third with 198. Red Bull is still dominant in the constructors' table with 422 points as Ferrari and McLaren trail behind with 340 and 318 points respectively.

The fight continues at the penultimate race at the new Austin, Texas race track on the 8th of November.