The 2018 Abu Dhabi GP Thread

[cmlean]

This is the place to discuss everything related to the final round of the 2018 season taking place in Abu Dhabi between the 23rd and 25th of November.

To submit your 10 'n' Pole Picks for Abu Dhabi click here, to register in the competition click here

Picks for Abu Dhabi close at the start of Saturday practice

The event timetable for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Friday
1st Practice 13:00 local time - 09:00 GMT
2nd Practice 17:00 local time - 13:00 GMT

Saturday
Practice 14:00 local time - 10:00 GMT
Qualifying 17:00 local time - 13:00 GMT

Sunday
Race 17:00 local time - 13:00 GMT

[cmlean]

Well, so concludes another season where Mercedes has managed to come out on top once more.
Ferrari were pretty well the form team leading into the summer break and then the wheels literally fell off.
Red Bull again showed just what a fabulous chassis they have only to be not so well supported by heir power unit,

Best of the rest
This title could go to probably to any one of three teams. It really depends on the positives that each Renault, Haas and Force India have at each circuit. I think that I will leave them in this order. Force India could have finished further up in the standings except for their mid season restructure.
I am going out on a limb and declaring Sauber the seventh best team.
Next would be Toro Rosso. Honda have made great gains this season so it all looks promising for the supply of power units to Red Bull as well as Toro Rosso next season.
McLaren and then the hapless Williams teams bring up the rear.

Anyway, Abu Dhabi.
This will probably be a Mercedes benefit. Bottas likes it here and he deserves a victory. Don't be surprised if Hamilton moves over and repays Bottas for giving up his home win in Sochi.
Ferrari has a point to prove but it should be too little too late.
Will Max Verstappen get his pole and take the record from Sebastian Vettel? I don't think so.
The rest could fall pretty well as they finished the season.

[Jim Watt]

cmlean in summing up the season before the Abu Dhabi race does a nice job of summing up what was, in the end, not a good season for F1 and a kind of perfect example of how corporate money guarantees predictable and boring racing. So long as Ferrari gets 'preferential' treatment from the FOM and their subservient 'sanctioning body' FIA, along with Mercedes Benz and Renault there will be no 'outlaw' teams trying out their own machines and inviting engine makers to beat the big boys and we'll get season after season of six or eight drivers at the pointy end and ten or twelve back markers who provide moving chicanes during the race and an occasional spectacular exit.

This past year is a good example of the money men protecting their investments and the lucky two or three drivers who work for them. We should have had five or six drivers in contention for the WDC: Hamilton & Vettel yes, but there are at least five other drivers who, given machines equal to the Ferrari and the Merc, would have been in contention. Isn't it really the case that tho only REAL excitement this year came not from Sebastian, Lewis, Kimi and Valteri, but from Max Verstappen. Max is the hungry one, the one who races to win not points but races --and doesn't care who gets in his way. And Max is the man people loved to watch because they love RACING even more than winning and wheel banging more than points chasing. I know. I know. F1 is the premier motorsporting event and the yachts lined up at Abu Dhabi show who matters to Liberty or whatever they're now called.

I'll be back next year and I hope to see more parity and exciting racing. If the calender includes 24 or 25 races, I think there should be enough winners (6 or to guarantee some suspense and some all out racing. Team Orders are as boring as pointless regulations and ridiculous interference in the racing from self-appointed 'stewards' and experts. Let the drivers take care of themselves and the racing will be real enough to matter. Say some driver moves under braking or doesn't give his competitor enough 'room' in race one --there will be twenty some more races to supply him (or her) with reasons to change the way he or she drives. I, for one, enjoyed Esteban Ocon racing to prevent Max from lapping him and I enjoyed Max forcing his way around Esteban and paying for pushing too hard. And I don't care what they had to say to one another later. And, as to this nonsense about 'leaving the circuit to gain an advantage is the most stupid piece of regulation ever dreamed up. Put up Fences or Rails on the circuit (like Indianapolis) and forget about run off areas, drivers will change their driving or pay for not changing. Is it too much to demand of the best drivers in the world to expect them to stay on the road on the way to winning?

Happy Christmas and here's hoping next year sees more drivers on the top step of the podium and more racing.

[10 n Pole Admin]

Grid

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:34.794	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	1:34.956	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
3	1:35.125	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
4	1:35.365	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
5	1:35.401	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
6	1:35.589	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
7	1:36.192	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
8	1:36.237	Charles Leclerc	  Sauber
9	1:36.540	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
10	1:36.542	Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
11	1:36.982	Carlos Sainz	  Renault
12	1:37.132	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
13	1:37.309	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
14	1:37.541	Sergio Perez	  Force India
15	1:37.743	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
16	1:37.994	Brendon Hartley	  Toro Rosso
17	1:38.166	Pierre Gasly	  Toro Rosso
18	1:38.577	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
19	1:38.635	Sergey Sirotkin	  Williams
20	1:38.682	Lance Stroll	  Williams

[10 n Pole Admin]

Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Driver		  Team
1	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
3	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
4	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
5	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
6	Carlos Sainz	  Renault
7	Charles Leclerc	  Sauber
8	Sergio Perez	  Force India
9	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
10	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
11	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
12	Brendon Hartley	  Toro Rosso
13	Lance Stroll	  Williams
14	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
15	Sergey Sirotkin	  Williams
DNF	Pierre Gasly	  Toro Rosso 
DNF	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
DNF	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
DNF	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
DNF	Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault