'Iceman' grabs incident-filled first win as Alonso narrows championship gap on Vettel

The thrills and spills that have marked this 2012 Formula One season persisted at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as Kimi Raikkonen took the chequered flag in a race of many storylines.

Collisions were aplenty – Red Bull’s Mark Webber had three – on a night when only 17 drivers finished. Nico Rosberg and Narain Karthikeyan were involved in the worst, the German’s Mercedes hitting and then going airborne over and above the HRT.

But the biggest plot remains the duel between Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, the only two men realistically in the title race.

Alonso finished runner-up, less than a second behind Raikkonen, but it was Vettel’s performance that captivated most, starting from last and ending up on the podium.

Crucially, the twice defending champion is now still 10 points ahead of Alonso with just two races to go.

Raikkonen’s victory was his first since 2009 and meant eight drivers have won Grands Prix this season.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton led from pole for 20 laps before his car failed.

Check out our photos from the action-packed day-and-night Yas Marina circuit.