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/
 
If you are the tranquillity 2k9 I think you are then you don't have an axe to grind as I believe you are Lewis fan if you are not him then I appologize for saying so.

Good posts by the way well measured and thought out.
 
If you are the tranquillity 2k9 I think you are then you don't have an axe to grind as I believe you are Lewis fan if you are not him then I appologize for saying so.

Good posts by the way well measured and thought out.

I am a Lewis Hamilton fan. What does that have to do with any of this? I am sick of people coming up with conspiracy theories about how McLaren are trying to hurt Lewis. Even though I am a Lewis fan, I think he did not deliver on his final run and Vettel did a better job today. There is nothing else to discuss on why it happened, other than the fact he did not drive a clear first and second sector.
 
Right so who do we think will win tomorrow?

Unfortunately I cannot see past Vettel winning unless the McLaren's get him down to the first corner. Red Bull always seem very fast on higher fuel and McLaren's pace generally gets better throughout the race. Due to it being difficult to overtake and the McLaren's having a top speed advantage, if they could somehow pip Vettel at the start then it could be an interesting race.

I think it'll only be 2 stops and we could have some cars attempting a 1 stopper. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in the Sauber, Force India and Torro Rosso battle and whether Torro Rosso can actually surprise everyone and make some overtakes stick with their very impressive top speed.
 
Great job by Vettel in what appeared to be the 2nd fastest car today. Even though Hamilton didn't get pole I think he might have the best setup for the race, of the top 3 teams he had the fastest straight line speed of 316km/h compared to Red Bull's 308, Button's 311 and the Ferrari's 313 so at least he may be able to make good use of the DRS. Anyone notice Vettel's front wing oscillating though not to extent of Massa's wing. Ferrari must have missed something when they copied it.
 
Great job by Vettel in what appeared to be the 2nd fastest car today. Even though Hamilton didn't get pole I think he might have the best setup for the race, of the top 3 teams he had the fastest straight line speed of 316km/h compared to Red Bull's 308, Button's 311 and the Ferrari's 313 so at least he may be able to make good use of the DRS. Anyone notice Vettel's front wing oscillating though not to extent of Massa's wing. Ferrari must have missed something when they copied it.

I might be wrong but that difference in speed is likely to him slip-streaming someone and not down to a big setup difference compared with Button for example. I think the cars were near identical in speed over 1 lap and Vettel just did a better lap than Hamilton and Button did a better lap than Webber.
 
I might be wrong but that difference in speed is likely to him slip-streaming someone and not down to a big setup difference compared with Button for example. I think the cars were near identical in speed over 1 lap and Vettel just did a better lap than Hamilton and Button did a better lap than Webber.

I wouldn't have thought so, they should be hitting the limiter at the end of the straight so slip streaming wouldn't really benefit them. Most team's setup both their cars fairly similarly and some of them must have slip-streamed another car at some point, but looking at the speed trap 9 teams had both their cars top speed within 0.6km/h of each other, so I think only a setup difference can account for Hamilton's top speed.
 
I might be wrong but that difference in speed is likely to him slip-streaming someone and not down to a big setup difference compared with Button for example. I think the cars were near identical in speed over 1 lap and Vettel just did a better lap than Hamilton and Button did a better lap than Webber.
The difference has been consistent throughout FP too.
FP1
HAM 315.6
WEB 313.0
VET 312.3
MAS 312.2
ALO 312.2
BUT 311.6

FP2
HAM 315.7
ALO 313.4
MAS 313.4
WEB 313.1
VET 312.8
BUT 311.6

FP3
HAM 315.6
MAS 313.9
ALO 313.2
BUT 311.6
WEB 308.9
VET 308.3

QUAL
HAM 316.2
ALO 313.8
MAS 313.4
BUT 311.8
WEB 308.9
VET 308.5

Very consistent trap speeds for the drivers, except for the noticeable shift in the two Red Bull cars for the Saturday sessions FP3/Qual, presumably changing set-up to a higher downforce one.

Webber's race will come undone if he has another one of his wonder starts and gets stuck behind the Mercedes (317 kp/h)
 
If the top 3 can get decent starts and avoid any interlopers, I think we might be in for an enjoyable, probably quite a tense, battle. If Seb can pull out the gap in the early laps from the McLaren drivers I'll be very impressed.

Look out for Perez in the late stages if tyre degradation is high...though it might not work out like that.
 
Just watched the post qualifying interviews from Hamilton and Vettel, Hamilton warning that he wont ease off into the first corner so that would be interesting, also Vettel never fails to make his replies funnny, especially mentioning seeing Mansell in made taussads and that the only German in there is not so popular. His montage of interviews would be legendary in times to come, just read what he said after winning Indian GP.

http://www.formula1blog.com/2011/11/05/why-sebastian-vettel-should-be-your-investment-broker/
 
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