Grosjean wins first race in Dubai
Bruno Senna had been dominant from the first lap, when the Brazilian from iSport who started from the front row made a great move on then leader Grosjean after the latter made a mistake in the first hairpin. Senna easily pulled away while the newly crowned champion was overtaken by the two Trust Team Arden cars, Buurman ahead of Buemi who had just made a terrific start.
The fight between the three men intensified with the Swiss overtaking his teammate and Grosjean passing the Dutch as well. Meanwhile, Vitaly Petrov who had started 7th on the grid was 5th. When Buemi pitted, Grosjean tried to catch up with the leader, but the Brazilian had already managed to pull a comfortable gap, enough for him to pit and get back on the track in front of his rivals. Unfortunately, the team had changed only one rear tire when the sporting regulations requires that at least two tires be changed on the car during the mandatory pit stop. Senna pitted again on lap 29 to change the second tire, and not only lost the race but was excluded from it.
This left Grosjean and Buemi to fight for the win. The Frenchman eventually overtook the Swiss on lap 26. With Yelmer Buurman finishing 3rd, Trust Team Arden placed their two drivers on the podium. Vitaly Petrov finished 4th. With one great move on Bonanomi in the last lap, Yoshimoto took 5th. Jérôme d'Ambrosio finished 7th. Milos Pavlovic, who crossed the finish line in 8th place, will start on pole position on the reversed grid tomorrow.
In the drivers' standings, Petrov still 2nd has 33 points closely followed by Sébastien Buemi with 32 points.
"I had a good start, but then I missed the braking point at the hairpin," said Grosjean. "That's when Senna made a good move and passed me. After that, I had a great fight with the Trust Team Arden boys to get back in front. I fought all the way to the win."
Sébastien Buemi commented, "This podium is another great result for the team. Tonight, I'm only one point behind Petrov. He will start in front of me tomorrow, so I'll have to make another great start and fight until the last lap in order to finish second of the championship."