[Official] Round 19: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

[bjohnsonsmith]

I found that comment Mark Webber about the fat lady singing sexist and politically incorrect; there are lots of fat men out there, infact he should have said fat persons.

[White flag man]

Perfect. Alonso takes out Vettel, and himself, on first corner. Job Done!

[Mekola]

I feel this is Las Vegas '81 reloaded. I think Vettel will win the race, Alonso will win the championship, and both Ferrari and Red Bull motorhomes will be happy. Only Webber will lose with all that. Shame...

[stripedcat]

I think Alonso's done it. All he needs to do now is cruise to third till the end. I don't think his engine will give him much bother.

Mark's unfortunately blown it. His mistake in Korea cost him dear. Plus not getting at least 2nd place in qualifying for this race!

Teflonso the brand of racing driver "who is faster than you!"

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

I really don't like the Abu Dhabi - sorry, Abbadabby - track at all. The day-night race makes it a nice-looking spectacle, and the colourful lights and shiny buildings look very impressive, but you have to be quite easily pleased to overlook the quality of the racing, which last year was pretty poor.

to put your post in to context.

the local Dean and Dulucia has once again run out of its full strength house blend (which is my preference). In lieu I was offered the decaf mocha espresso,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, because it is coffee.

The point is that for the western world the essence of racing is a challenge. The philosophy out here is the essence of racing is "spectacle". Whole different view. That said I like the circuit and it's no worse than many, why do we go to Montreal, Hungary etc?

[E.B]

Originally Posted by ralf fan

Red Bull have ballsed this. Webber in 5th.

Alonso pulled a great one to get up to 3rd. Podium will do.

I dont know that Red Bull ballsed it. They have on car on pole.
Vettelo himself ballsed it up by his own admission. Whether he is saving his engine a bit I dont know, Given the importnce of qualifying position perhaps even more this weekend, I am sure they were using every rev and pit of anything to get the time.

Some great performances though and Vettels laps in Q3 were stunning, Credit to Button though for his 2nd row. Interesting to see if the Stewards have anything to say about Hamilton;s Bollard bouncing when he misjudged Massa's speed / position. Certainly not punishable I would think, but he had a reprimand yesterday, so dont know how many strikes you get before a penalty.

I can see some early tears tomorrow. Alonso only needs to play it very cool and get to the finish. Hamilton and Webber need to pick up places to have any chance and Vettel just needs to get a good start and a clean first lap. He has to win at all costs for any chance as does Hamilton..

Mark really stuffed his chances up with his qualy effort this weekend though. He just never seemed to look like he was going to lay down a front row time. All the talk of team assistance or help from Vettel could all be irrelevant now. Vettel said that if Alonso was in third and Mark second with him first then he would allow Mark to pass. Of course Mark has more or less thrown the help option away now as it depended on him putting himself in a position up with Seb on the front row. Alonso I am sure would be much happier with Lewis ahead of him than Mark.

It should be reasonably easy for Mark to thug his way past Alonso though..... Alonso wont fight too hard as long as he can finish with good points, say 4th, he should be able to wrap it up. He can cruise and keep engine stress down and just keep his nose clean and get to the finish. Given he already has a small points lead, if any of the others get tied up with each other earlier in the race it only makes things better for him.

Im thinking there will be tears with one of more of the challengers early in the piece though. Karma would say that Vettel has no more mechanical failures, indeed maybe it would be justice if he had a mechanical problem after his team order bizzo. Again if anyone from RBR has to suffer mechanical woes it has to be Webbers turn surely. And Seb would get the WDC he seems to be racing well enough to deserve it in the past few races where Hamilton and Webber have made their fair share of errors, and Alonso and Vettel are showing consistent quality.

[Trev Campbell]

Originally Posted by stripedcat

I think Alonso's done it. All he needs to do now is cruise to third till the end. I don't think his engine will give him much bother.

Mark's unfortunately blown it. His mistake in Korea cost him dear. Plus not getting at least 2nd place in qualifying for this race!

Teflonso the brand of racing driver "who is faster than you!"

Couldn't have hit the nail on the head any better if I tried. Webber's only hope now is a pile up at the first corner that he's not involved in.

[gert]

Originally Posted by Trev Campbell

Couldn't have hit the nail on the head any better if I tried. Webber's only hope now is a pile up at the first corner that he's not involved in.

Not really. If Hamilton beats Vettel and Alonso's car breaks, he can just sit behind Button and be champion.
Not the most likely scenario probably, but not that far stretched either.

Suppose Hamilton beats Vettel off the line or f-ducts past him on the straight, what is Vettel supposed to do?
Risk anything to get back past Hamilton, or play the waiting game and see if Alonso's car breaks?
In such scenario Hamilton is no factor anyway, and it would be between Vettel and Webber.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

to put your post in to context.

the local Dean and Dulucia has once again run out of its full strength house blend (which is my preference). In lieu I was offered the decaf mocha espresso,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, because it is coffee.

The point is that for the western world the essence of racing is a challenge. The philosophy out here is the essence of racing is "spectacle". Whole different view. That said I like the circuit and it's no worse than many, why do we go to Montreal, Hungary etc?

I always thought of the Hungarian GP, as more of a political move, as it was the first GP to be held behind the Iron Curtain, which was slowly beginning to fall and which finally did 3 years later. Since then it's remained on the calendar

As for Montreal, there's always been a Canadian GP, apart from three races, ever since I first started following F1 back in 1971.

[willb]

Originally Posted by E.B

Interesting to see if the Stewards have anything to say about Hamilton;s Bollard bouncing when he misjudged Massa's speed / position. Certainly not punishable I would think, but he had a reprimand yesterday, so dont know how many strikes you get before a penalty..

Technically they should punish him. IIRC whether it is intentional or not impeding another car is subject to a penalty.
Hamilton's radio at time has him blaming Massa for forcing him off the track.

[Chiefy]

Originally Posted by willb

Technically they should punish him. IIRC whether it is intentional or not impeding another car is subject to a penalty.
Hamilton's radio at time has him blaming Massa for forcing him off the track.

But did not Massa impede Hamilton?

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by willb

Technically they should punish him. IIRC whether it is intentional or not impeding another car is subject to a penalty.
Hamilton's radio at time has him blaming Massa for forcing him off the track.

Thing is Massa got through the session fine and Lewis did attempt to move out of the way. Had it been Q3 he'd be in danger though, and rightly so.

[andy666]

Originally Posted by Paulaweybridge

I just loved "The 'X' Factor" introduction by the Beeb for today's qualifying.....

They even used the guy who introduces ITV's show.

Wonder how much they had to pay Simon Cowell's company?

Hated the X Factor style intro today , how can the bbc stoop so low as to use something of a low rate talentless talent show.

[flor]

Could someone tell me the mileage of Alonso's engine?

[jab]

I thought it was a great pastiche actually

Race is nicely poised for tomorrow. I think it would've been a bit boring had it been the top 4 all line astern as we've seen recently - Button getting in there and Lewis doing well stirs things up a bit, although I was disappointed Rosberg ended up down in 9th after some decent runs, though I guess he could've done with another flier. Maybe he can get up there too

Hopefully Fernando will be able to guide it home for a podium tomorrow. Hopefully...

[Teretonga]

I think the title is now Alonso's to lose.
Webber is a row back on the grid, Vettel has to win to have any real hope unless Alonso retires and Hamilton needs all three to retire so he can win...

I would like to see a race that throws everything up in the air and it all come down to the last lap... with all four in contention until the last half lap.....

[willb]

Originally Posted by Chiefy

But did not Massa impede Hamilton?

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Thing is Massa got through the session fine and Lewis did attempt to move out of the way. Had it been Q3 he'd be in danger though, and rightly so.

Massa was coming up on Hamilton, Hamilton had slowed down and was on the racing line when he got to the corner. However, it was Massa's out lap and not a lap for time and the stewards did not issue a penalty. see http://en.espnf1.com/abudhabi/motors...ory/34192.html

[willb]

Sunday's race may be very interesting. Hamilton is warning everyone else not to wheel to wheel with him. http://en.espnf1.com/abudhabi/motors...ory/34190.html It could be very messy if Hamilton and/or Alonso get a good start and Vettel does not.
After his fast times on the hard tires, Rosberg used the option tires in Q3 and was not able to be as fast as the others.

[SSbaby]

I only have one thing to say before the race, tonight (AEST)...

Go Mark Webber!!!

[stripedcat]

Originally Posted by willb

Sunday's race may be very interesting. Hamilton is warning everyone else not to wheel to wheel with him. http://en.espnf1.com/abudhabi/motors...ory/34190.html It could be very messy if Hamilton and/or Alonso get a good start and Vettel does not.

Sadly that is what cost Hamilton the title this year. Things could get very messy for Lewis. If he goes for a move on Vettel and it doesn't pay off, plus he takes either himself or Vettel off in the process.

I suspect Webber will go for it as well. He has too. I don't know if we'll have any racing incident between him and Alonso.

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by andy666

Hated the X Factor style intro today , how can the bbc stoop so low as to use something of a low rate talentless talent show.

Oh god, they didn't did they? Glad I tuned in after that.

[Hazard]

My expectations for the race...and may be wrong. In some cases I hope so...

Mark Webber doesn't generally do well when he's not right at the sharp end. If he actually has the pace to move up (which he probably does, judging by Vettel), he'll probably make contact whilst doing it and it'll be over, else he'll just sit there and the title will fade away.

Worst yet is if Massa actually races him at the start, as Massa will easily have been instructed to 'fight hard' - the 'don't take each other out' rule is certainly void in Massa's case.

Vettel's pretty safe to drive into the distance and win undisturbed I reckon, so it's all down to what happens behind him.

Hamilton will probably sit in second and not be able to do much about Vettel, he knows his only chance will be to get ahead at the start, but Lewis hasn't had much luck with that, Vettel's always been a top starter.

Alonso will watch behind him as he can't afford to lose any positions, but in all likelihood will cruise to third and win the championship as he's the least likely of the top four to feel the pressure. This means he'd win it by just five points of course, which will let the British tabloids go on the attack about Germany.

Critically, it has all the makings of a really dull race, so I'm hoping all the above is wrong!

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by Hazard

Alonso will watch behind him as he can't afford to lose any positions, but in all likelihood will cruise to third and win the championship as he's the least likely of the top four to feel the pressure. This means he'd win it by just five points of course, which will let the British tabloids go on the attack about Germany.

Don't call me a tabloid!

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by TrapezeArtist

Don't call me a tabloid!

Hehe, sorry...I forgot...and plenty of others

[Lancsbreaker]

Never seen Eddie Jordan do such ****-kissing as with Bernie and the Crown Prince!