I’ve seen enough Formula One racing to know that leaders don’t get passed often. Or at all. Not unless their cars break. And some tracks are even less likely to produce a pass than others. Especially after the first few turns of the race. If you are fast enough to qualify up front, it’s just really hard for anyone to pass you on those tight, one-line tracks.

In today’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, I could just feel it.

So, feeling sporting, I turned to a co-worker and said …

“I will bet you one dirham that the leader out of the first turn … wins the race.

“You can have the rest of the field.”

My co-worker apparently has not been watching F1 racing as long as I have, and noted that 23 other cars were in the race, including three others that were in competition for the season championship.

“I’ll take that,” he said.

Our wager was worth all of 27.2 cents. It wasn’t about money, clearly.

I just wanted to make a point about the dreary predictability of the F1 show. Which is: If you are in front, you will stay there unless your engine blows up … or your team tells you to slow down so a teammate can pass you.

Much of the world is nuts about F1 racing. And much of it is riveting. But the racing up front rarely is. I know this. I have been watching F1 races since Long Beach was a stop on the tour, 30 years ago.

This is not NASCAR, where you might have three leader changes on the same lap. This is not even Indycar (open-wheel, like F1), where the long straight runs and wide turns at least give challengers a decent chance of passing the guy up front. This is F1, where guys under power can outrun or just stay in the way of everyone behind him.

So, today … Sebastian Vettel, the pole-sitter here at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, was still in first place out of the first turn.

Sebastian Vettel won. He led every lap aside from those in which one guy who had not taken a mandatory pit stop (Vettel already had) was ahead of him. When the guy pitted, Vettel just tooled on ahead and was never troubled.

Done and done.

My co-worker owes me one dirham. Perhaps the easiest I have ever won.