Grand Prix 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

This one's gonna be a classic.......

After the utterly amazing Indian Grand Prix where it's facilities wowed pretty much everyone worldwide and to be honest we are so lucky to have an Indian Grand Prix at the moment........

Thats would you would think if you were the BBC or any major commentator, for the fans it was a pretty dour race with little or no action throughout apart from the now routine crash between Hamilton and Massa and the rather humerous reaction of Rowan Atkinson in the Mclaren pitlane.

Sebastian Vettel continues to dominate the 2011 season with yet another win in the old jewel of the British Empire with Button consolidating his position in the WDC with another second place as his stock at Mclaren continues to rise.

However at the other side of the garage things aren't quite so rosy with Hamilton adding to his list of high profile accidents which included yet another crash with Felipe Massa. But this time it was Massa who was given a penalty as it was perceived by the stewards that he had turned in on the Mclaren, a decision which bemused the Brazilian as he felt he had given Hamilton enough room and he had the racing line, but both sides (and fans) have differing opinions and a definitive answer is unlikely to come any time soon.

Ferrari and Alonso continue to go through the motions as they wind down and focus on their 2012 after a poor season by their standards, while the car hasn't been awful like their 2009 car, Fernando is rarely anywhere other than third or fourth come the chequered flag. Ferrari have been a team that has been caught out my the ever changing EBD rules and clarity over this for 2012 should help them regain top end competitiveness at the start of next season.

In the midfield it is still close as drivers are fighting for championship places and also contract extensions as very little has been agreed for 2012 although we are now in November and approaching the second last race of a very long season. At Toro Rosso Jaime Alguesuari continued his impressive turnaround with yet more points in India to take his season haul to 26, more than Paul Di Resta and 11 more than his team mate Buemi which could be crucial with the likes of Ricciardo waiting in the wings for a possible seat and there is always the possibility of a Red Bull seat at some point in the future as there is still a question mark about Webbers future, particularly past 2012.

We go to Abu Dhabi for the third time and while the first two races have been pretty lacklustre with a lack of action and overtaking (just ask Alonso), with DRS maybe we might have more this weekend, but then, we can only hope really, just like we can hope Vettel isn't top of the podium by Sunday evening, but that usually ends up to be false hope as I expect another dominating performance from the young German.

For Galahads supreme circuit write up, see here http://cliptheapex.com/pages/yas-marina-circuit/
 
Every car should have a camera like that, and every driver should be forced to use clear visors. That was a beutiful piece of footage. Makes him seem more human too in the Car.
He may just be human but the skills of him and the other top drivers is pretty superhuman. Sir Jackie Stewart said something in practice earlier along the lines of, he could remember all 187 turns of the original Nordschleife and the correct gears for them, but he couldn't even recite the alaphabet. Whereas I can't even remember most of what happened earlier tonight, though admittedly that may be due to the excessive amounts of vodka rather than a lack of superhuman driving skills.

Anyway Hamilton for pole in one run in Q3.
 
Nice to hear from JYS in P1 yesterday. He's always good value whether or not you agree with all he says.

Very impressive from Vergne I thought. Interested to see how he gets on in the young driver test next week...possibility of getting both STR drivers the boot? I wonder. Grosjean being quicker than Petrov might not be such a surprise.

Vettel for pole. He's in spin-and-win mode this season!
 
Nah. Vettel was slower in Q3 too. I think it's the track temp cooling as the sun disappeared.

[Edit] I'm still an idiot. Vettel was a tenth quicker than Q2. I still put it down to track temp though.
 
His second run in Q3 was very poor, apart from sector 3.

Business as usual though, as far as Vettel grabbing it at the very end.
 
Nah. Vettel was slower in Q3 too. I think it's the track temp cooling as the sun disappeared.

[Edit] I'm still an idiot. Vettel was a tenth quicker than Q2. I still put it down to track temp though.

Yup, the normal Q2 -> Q3 time progression wasn't there.
Vettel, Webber, Massa, Alonso all within 0.1 between sessions (Alonso incidentally exactly same time).
Hamilton 0.18 slower.
 
Getting a bit tired of hearing Vettel telling us how his car has been crap all weekend but then hey presto pole again. Yeah right Seb. Also listening to Button in the press conference and if you believe what he says then had he had a pointy car for S3 then he would have blasted a one thirty six. Yawn.
 
Why on earth did Mclaren put JB out first on the track....in the clean air in Q3?
Another missed opportunity.....LH Q2 time was brilliant.....he was in traffic Q3
When will Whitmarsh learn?
Good to see Ron Dennis at the race.
BBC as usual bigging up Button.....& also showing all Massa incidents with LH....pathetic.
Lewis can rise above all this.............. but he shouldn't have to.
 
That's OK Steve, any words we don't allow will be automatically filtered so just type what you want.

Regarding qualifying, that was a very poor Q3 by Hamilton.
The other top 4 drivers all equalled or bettered their Q2 times, Hamilton was the only one to drop 2 tenths.

He has to be very disappointed with that as it's another potential pole which has gone begging.
 
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