F1 Championship - Round 21 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Remove this Banner Ad

Mar 20, 2007
28,066
24,493
AFL Club
West Coast
Final race of the year. It's been a season that promised a lot but ultimately ended in the same Mercedes dominance we have seen for the past 5 years. With the Drivers and Constructors title wrapped up, I wonder if Mercedes will try and gift Bottas a victory that was stolen from him in Sochi. Probably not.

Also its Daniels last race at Red Bull. It's been a mixed bag for him at Red Bull over the years, but I do worry that he is giving up a seat in what could be a pretty strong car with a potentially faster engine next year.

A few individual battles to look out for this weekend in the drivers standings. The top 3 of Hamilton, Vettel and Raikkonnen is pretty secure, as is Daniel in 6th.
Battle for 4th
Bottas (237) vs Verstappen (234)

Best of the Rest (Formula 1.5)
Hulkenberg (69)
Perez (58)
Magnussen (55)
Alonso (50)
Ocon (49)
Sainz (45)

There aren't really any close constructor battles to watch in the last race. Renault and Haas are separated by 24 points for 4th. Force India and Sauber are separated by 6 points but Force India had their points reset mid-season.

In terms of team-mate battles
Mercedes - Hamilton 383 vs Bottas 237
Ferrari - Vettel 302 vs Raikkonnen 251
Red Bull - Vertsappen 234 vs Ricciardo 158
Renault - Hulkenberg 69 vs Sainz 45
Force India - Perez 58 vs Ocon 49
Haas - Magnussen 55 vs Grojsean 35
McLaren - Alonson 50 vs Vandoorne 12
Torro Rosso - Gasly 29 vs Hartley 4
Sauber - Leclerc 33 vs Ericcson 9
Williams - Stroll 6 vs Sirotkin 1


Anyway, the race details
Qualifying: Sunday 12AM EST (9PM WST)
Race: Monday 12AM EST (9PM WST)
Tyres: Hypersoft, Ultrasoft, Supersoft
(Interestingly they reckon everyone will have to use hypers to get through Q2)

The pace seems fairly close soo far.
 

Sabbathen

Club Legend
Aug 17, 2016
1,009
1,022
AFL Club
West Coast
Final race of the year. It's been a season that promised a lot but ultimately ended in the same Mercedes dominance we have seen for the past 5 years. With the Drivers and Constructors title wrapped up, I wonder if Mercedes will try and gift Bottas a victory that was stolen from him in Sochi. Probably not.

Also its Daniels last race at Red Bull. It's been a mixed bag for him at Red Bull over the years, but I do worry that he is giving up a seat in what could be a pretty strong car with a potentially faster engine next year.

A few individual battles to look out for this weekend in the drivers standings. The top 3 of Hamilton, Vettel and Raikkonnen is pretty secure, as is Daniel in 6th.
Battle for 4th
Bottas (237) vs Verstappen (234)

Best of the Rest (Formula 1.5)
Hulkenberg (69)
Perez (58)
Magnussen (55)
Alonso (50)
Ocon (49)
Sainz (45)

There aren't really any close constructor battles to watch in the last race. Renault and Haas are separated by 24 points for 4th. Force India and Sauber are separated by 6 points but Force India had their points reset mid-season.

In terms of team-mate battles
Mercedes - Hamilton 383 vs Bottas 237
Ferrari - Vettel 302 vs Raikkonnen 251
Red Bull - Vertsappen 234 vs Ricciardo 158
Renault - Hulkenberg 69 vs Sainz 45
Force India - Perez 58 vs Ocon 49
Haas - Magnussen 55 vs Grojsean 35
McLaren - Alonson 50 vs Vandoorne 12
Torro Rosso - Gasly 29 vs Hartley 4
Sauber - Leclerc 33 vs Ericcson 9
Williams - Stroll 6 vs Sirotkin 1


Anyway, the race details
Qualifying: Sunday 12AM EST (9PM WST)
Race: Monday 12AM EST (9PM WST)
Tyres: Hypersoft, Ultrasoft, Supersoft
(Interestingly they reckon everyone will have to use hypers to get through Q2)

The pace seems fairly close soo far.
Thanks to you for the effort you've gone to all year, in your pre-race writes ups and creating each thread.
Have to acknowledge Alonso's last race too, he's been one of my favourite drivers over the years.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Mar 20, 2007
28,066
24,493
AFL Club
West Coast
This Honda engine and the RBR package just spell bad news next year.
The improvement from McLaren to Torro has been significant, and they constantly appear high in the speed traps. If they can give more HP than Renault and more reliability then RBR can certainly fight with the Top 2 on Sundays. I doubt Honda will have a "Q3 mode" like the others do.
 

Acinath

Norm Smith Medallist
Aug 5, 2014
7,122
9,882
AFL Club
Richmond
The improvement from McLaren to Torro has been significant, and they constantly appear high in the speed traps. If they can give more HP than Renault and more reliability then RBR can certainly fight with the Top 2 on Sundays. I doubt Honda will have a "Q3 mode" like the others do.

No argument that is has been significantly better for TR over McLaren. I still have my doubts about the way it’s packaged in the Red Bull car though.
 

davis_756

Cancelled
May 24, 2008
9,938
4,358
unknown
AFL Club
Carlton
Hopefully dan gets away from the line well, they have the race pace to win again and it would be great to go out on a high.
 
Mar 20, 2007
28,066
24,493
AFL Club
West Coast
No argument that is has been significantly better for TR over McLaren. I still have my doubts about the way it’s packaged in the Red Bull car though.
Time will tell. Being a works team though, you'd think Red Bull would be able to customise the engine to go well with their aggressive aero setup. I think this has been the reason why the Renault engine has blown up more in the Red Bull than it has in the works Renault.
 

davis_756

Cancelled
May 24, 2008
9,938
4,358
unknown
AFL Club
Carlton
Time will tell. Being a works team though, you'd think Red Bull would be able to customise the engine to go well with their aggressive aero setup. I think this has been the reason why the Renault engine has blown up more in the Red Bull than it has in the works Renault.
How much flexibility can Honda really have? Its taken them years to get to this point of reasonable reliability with comparable horse power to the renault, redesigning to fit around the red bull chassis could set them back 18 months or force red bull to make design changes.
 

Sabbathen

Club Legend
Aug 17, 2016
1,009
1,022
AFL Club
West Coast
All Renault powered teams over the past 2 years have outperformed the Honda engine. Renault have also spent up big on securing Ricciardo for the next 2 years atleast. You don't invest that sort of money unless you think you can take it to the next level. Winter testing is going to be pretty interesting that's for sure.
 

davis_756

Cancelled
May 24, 2008
9,938
4,358
unknown
AFL Club
Carlton
Reading the article in relation to the new engine for Renault next year its appears they already have improvements that just can't implement on the current engine so reliability aside they should have a more powerful engine then the spec-c engine they are currently running.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

davis_756

Cancelled
May 24, 2008
9,938
4,358
unknown
AFL Club
Carlton
Hypothetical time.
If Ham was to do a Nico, what then?
There's no lead driver left unsigned. I think Merc would be in a pickle.
I would not be surprised to get that surprising announcement.
Ocon would get the gig surely and then one of him or Bottas would be moved on in 2020 after they poached a Ricciardo, Verstappen, etc
 
Mar 20, 2007
28,066
24,493
AFL Club
West Coast
Sorry, you've lost me.

Reading the article in relation to the new engine for Renault next year its appears they already have improvements that just can't implement on the current engine so reliability aside they should have a more powerful engine then the spec-c engine they are currently running.
For the sake of F1 I sure hope so. Can you imagine the carry on if Hamilton equals Schumacher ?

Hypothetical time.
If Ham was to do a Nico, what then?
There's no lead driver left unsigned. I think Merc would be in a pickle.
I would not be surprised to get that surprising announcement.
Has Hamilton ever shown interest in other forms of Motorsport?
I know he rates himself as a musician (or rather rates himself living the lifestyle of a musician) but I reckon he will at least see out his contract until 2020 and possibly pull the pin then if the others have caught up by then.
 
May 7, 2007
5,109
6,047
AFL Club
Adelaide
It was his goin off about this years car and how it was his best car ever etc.
I doubt it happens but its around that time.
I would not stop when you can write your name as 1 of the best ever. The WDC is his for the taking next year. Why stop?
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Back