Grand Prix 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

So here it is, the season finale and the two Mercedes drivers go in to it with the chance of taking the title. Hamilton leads Rosberg by 17 points so a repeat of the result in Brazil makes Lewis the Champion but double points means that the permutations are almost endless (boringly endless that is).

Two titles have already been sown up. Mercedes are constructors Champions and Nico Rosberg is the Pole Position Champion. Hands up all those who thought he would beat Lewis in qualifying? No one? Thought not. There will be a few other cars and drivers at the race but, frankly, all most of us will be interested in is which of the Merc drivers comes out on top. With 10 wins to 6 Lewis would have won on Bernie's Gold Medal system but then the Ring Master decided that simply winning races isn't enough and to keep things "interesting" decided making one race result worth twice that of any other was a good idea. I wonder what craziness will be visited on us fans next year. Perhaps something for a separate discussion.

Back to the race, this is the one which starts in the sunshine and then gets dark and it has the weird pit lane which makes the cars look like they are leaving a multi-storey car park. For anyone going, Ferrari World is just outside the circuit, somehow I don't think it will be Ferrari World inside.

Anyone got any other thoughts? Can Williams steal a win? Will McLaren carry on improving? Will this be Jenson Button's final race in F1? Sebastian Vettel will be saying goodbye to Red Bull, Sutil and Gutierrez will, most likely, be saying goodbye to F1 and we've already said goodbye to Caterham and Marussia.

Hope you are sitting comfortably, let the final race begin.
 
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I think Hamilton has essentially been beaten during qualifying this year due to his braking style, which is very late and very severe.
That has the tendency to cause more errors when the brakes are new.

During the race, as the brakes bed in, it is no longer an issue and the speed advantage he has over Rosberg becomes evident.
 
I didn't want to mention it at the time but having watched the GP3 races I was very encouraged. I couldn't help noticing a pattern, second on the grid consistently made it into turn one first.
 
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They had a theory about this after the race. Due to the shade caused by the grandstand the racing line and pole position was cooler, the other side of the track in the sun retained more heat and this was transferred to the tyres.
 
It was interesting both Rosberg and Bottas had poor starts, Bottas directly behind Rosberg having an even worse start. I thought at the time whether there were adhesion problems caused by something. - smooth surface, oil or whatever. I guess they both just messed up though.
 
During the race, as the brakes bed in, it is no longer an issue and the speed advantage he has over Rosberg becomes evident.

I suspect lift and coast has a lot to do with Lewis being less brake happy during races.

They had a theory about this after the race. Due to the shade caused by the grandstand the racing line and pole position was cooler, the other side of the track in the sun retained more heat and this was transferred to the tyres.

Both Lewis and Felipe set off like scolded cats.
 
Now the big question is, did Hamilton know this prior to qualifying and did he deliberately lock up so he started second on the grid?
 
Now the big question is, did Hamilton know this prior to qualifying and did he deliberately lock up so he started second on the grid?
He didn't seem overly concerned about not being on pole. However, he must have been very encouraged by his long run pace in free practice, it was a lot quicker than Nico's and more consistent.
 
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Rosberg
FP1
19P 10:15.950
20 2:44.902
21 1:48.146
22 1:48.707
23 1:49.746
24 1:48.459
25 1:48.333
26 1:48.930
27 1:48.579
28 1:50.298
29 2:17.488
30 2:28.746
31P 2:45.866

FP2
16P 8:41.233
17 2:51.242
18 1:47.597
19 1:47.725
20 1:49.710
21 1:47.718
22 1:49.341
23 1:47.809
24 1:50.197
25P 1:54.080

26 2:27.175
27 1:48.543
28 1:48.001
29 1:48.570
30 1:52.982
31 1:49.542
32 1:47.269
33 1:50.478
34 1:47.215
35 2:07.342
36 2:25.060
37P 2:37.779

----------------

Hamilton
FP1
19P 2:39.605
20 7:58.739
21 1:48.300
22 1:48.054
23 1:56.885
24 1:48.820
25 1:48.050
26 1:48.254
27 1:48.557
28 1:48.484
29 1:48.507
30 2:16.006
31 2:28.790
32P 2:35.932

FP2
16P 2:50.962
17 2:49.100
18 1:48.079
19 1:47.173
20 1:47.168
21 1:47.201
22 1:48.248
23 1:48.557
24 1:48.676
25P 1:52.961

26 2:15.543
27 1:47.350
28 1:47.538
29 1:59.361
30 1:47.053
31 1:47.066
32 1:47.083
33 2:10.270
34 2:14.895
35P 2:53.145
 
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