[Official] Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Thread

[bella]

apparently there's a race this weekend?

hamilton fastest in fp1:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116867

hamilton still ahead in fp2:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116876

[TheNo1F1Fan]

K-Mag impressed with a P3 in FP2.

[djinvicta]

Wheres the Caterhams?

[Nicholosophy]

Any pics of the Caterhams with their new sponsors?

[Peter Mallett]

I was quite surprised to see the empty grand stands yesterday, which is the local weekend. I left that part of the world over a month ago but even then the GP was being pushed fairly heavily in the media. Then today for P3 there seemed to be a few more peeps but not a massive amount.

BTW. Rosberg fastest by 3/10s.

Also interesting responses from Ron D when questioned by Tom Clarkson, although Ron seemed a bit peeved with Tom's closing remarks.

[bjohnsonsmith]

So Abu Dhabi gets the season decider and with double points. Lewis is top of Q1.

[justracing]

Have Williams changed their livery? I thought the Martini colours had a red stripe.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by justracing

Have Williams changed their livery? I thought the Martini colours had a red stripe.

Maybe not allowed sponsorship from an alcoholic drinks company in Abu Dhabi?

[justracing]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

Maybe not allowed sponsorship from an alcoholic drinks company in Abu Dhabi?

Good point, I feared something sinister, fantastic turnaround for Williams this year.

[claude2cv]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

So Abu Dhabi gets the season decider and with double points. Lewis is top of Q1.

AD is the season decider because the points gap is less than a race win. Double points is redundant as well as a rubbish idea.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by claude2cv

AD is the season decider because the points gap is less than a race win. Double points is redundant as well as a rubbish idea.

I'm well aware of that. Maybe I should have included this in my post, .

[fourWheelDrift]

Seems the Red Bulls have failed scrutineering because elements of the front wing are designed to flex under load, here we go again

[Peter Mallett]

Getting tense in Q3

[bjohnsonsmith]

Rosberg on pole.

[ljakse]

I wouldn't be to surprised if:

a) Rosberg cracks under pressure like in Monza, but this time without escape route

or

b) Hamilton goes wild while chasing him, and loses it like in Brasil, but this time without run-off area

[JeremySmith]

Nico will crack under the pressure of been hunted by his faster friend....

[JeremySmith]

Maybe they will have a stiffer one by the morning ?

[sparkione]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

Maybe they will have a stiffer one by the morning ?

Lucky them. We'd all like that...

[Razzzor]

There's not a huge difference in pit lane vs back of the grid start, just a few positions at the start. But if starting from pit lane could they both now change the engine and gearbox so they could run full tit for the race? I doubt they would, especially for Vettel since he already had the change recently.

Does kind of make the Bottas/Vettel/Alonso battle for 4th in points a bit of a letdown, there's no way Bottas will be caught so it's just a decider of seeing if Vettel can catch Alonso in the race. Ferrari's pace here is pretty slow.

As for Caterham... Will Stevens? Really? Gosh he must have some big financial backing behind him. I could probably list 100 drivers I'd put in the car before him.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Razzzor

There's not a huge difference in pit lane vs back of the grid start, just a few positions at the start. But if starting from pit lane could they both now change the engine and gearbox so they could run full tit for the race? I doubt they would, especially for Vettel since he already had the change recently.

Does kind of make the Bottas/Vettel/Alonso battle for 4th in points a bit of a letdown, there's no way Bottas will be caught so it's just a decider of seeing if Vettel can catch Alonso in the race. Ferrari's pace here is pretty slow.

As for Caterham... Will Stevens? Really? Gosh he must have some big financial backing behind him. I could probably list 100 drivers I'd put in the car before him.

Ooh go on then, list away...

The guy has won races and been a general front runner in both FR 2.0 and 3.5.

He deserves a chance and has got in with the job of chipping away at bringing his times down with relish.

He hadn't blotted his copybook by slamming into the barriers either which says a lot!

[Razzzor]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Ooh go on then, list away...

The guy has won races and been a general front runner in both FR 2.0 and 3.5.

He deserves a chance and has got in with the job of chipping away at bringing his times down with relish.

He hadn't blotted his copybook by slamming into the barriers either which says a lot!

Hehe not sure if I could quite manage 100, but I think Lotterer showed with just a qualifying session that you don't have to have raced single seaters for a while to be fast. There's probably almost a dozen Indycar drivers with so much more experience that could do the job, even if they are in different cars and trakcs. Same with with Formula E, there's several in Gp2, WEC,
a few in 3.5, also several recent ex-GP2 fellas/F1 test drivers that aren't doing much. How about the GP2 commentator? :P
Not sure about GP3... probably just Alex Lynn. The rest - Stoneman and Stanaway need a bit more time.

To be honest I haven't watch all the 3.5 races this year, since they're not televised here, so I don't know enough about Will. I'm not against giving Will a chance, good for him. I'm just thinking from a spectators point of view, and if this was the teams last race under their current banner, I personally would have gone for someone more exciting than a fella that's won a grand total of 5 car races in his entire life.

First instance, their own reserve driver Robin Frijns...

[dsg]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

Maybe they will have a stiffer one by the morning ?

If they have the spares, I would change everything and start one or both from pit lane on different strategies. See if they can get one of their cars into 3rd place.

[wolfhound]

To stiffen the wings they will have to take the cars out of perk ferme which will mean starting from the pit lane. Have I got that right?

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

To stiffen the wings they will have to take the cars out of perk ferme which will mean starting from the pit lane. Have I got that right?

I think that is correct....

[wolfhound]

Mind you in that situation they will also be able to change their set up to a pure race set up giving them a potential fast car in the race. I seem to remember them doing that with Vettel's car in the past.