In Abu Dhabi Barrichello qualified strongly in seventh place, and maintained that position shortly after the start. However, when the safety car was deployed following Michael Schumacher's and Vitantonio Liuzzi's crash, many drivers like Robert Kubica, Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg took advantage of this by pitting early. This had a negative effect as they did not need to pit again, and Barrichello finished outside of the points. Hulkenberg qualified 15th, and finished 16th. After the race, team boss Frank Williams confirmed that Hülkenberg would not be driving for the team in 2011, while Barrichello would be retained.