2021 - Race 22 Abu Dhabi

[truefan72]

Of course mercedes cant figure out how to respond to the rbr teamwork. Smh they needed both cars out much earlier so hamilton could do what max did. Oh well. Absolutely botched it IMO


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[denkimi]

So perez can take hamilton out at the start, but bottas can't take verstappen out.

That will be a blow to Hamilton's chances.

[Nitrodaze]

Of course mercedes cant figure out how to respond to the rbr teamwork. Smh they needed both cars out much earlier so hamilton could do what max did. Oh well. Absolutely botched it IMO


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Something odd happened with the two Mercedes there. They went out together but Bottas suddenly dropped back it appears. I would have thought he would try to take the slipstream of Hamilton in front to finish in the top three. But he finished 6th with a Mercedes powered Mclaren finishing 3rd ahead. I think there was something internal to Mercedes that happened during qualifying.

What a lap by Verstappen? Redbull had to think out of the box to find a way to beat Mercedes to pole. Assisted slipstreaming worked a treat. Mercedes has done this in the past. Being Bottas' last race, l wonder if he was reluctant to assist on his last race. Because, it looked very odd the way his lap went. He seemed to not really try to get a decent lap or was l imagining this.

I don't think slipstream alone would account for the Verstappen lap. it was such a huge jump forward. About 0.7seconds jump in performance. I wonder if Redbull has been up to something. There is something off about that. It really made me wonder when he went even faster without the aid of slipstreaming by 0.010. There has to be something else done to the car to produce such speed.

[Zico]

Well, well, Qualy really couldn't have worked out much better to provide all of us with a total nailbiter finale.
Max on pole and starting on softs which could well come back to hurt him. Should help him off the line but its not on the optimal strategy. Lewis can either possibly get the undercut/overcut or attack max in his final stint on the softs.

Perez may be able to help out in the strategy battle between Lewis and Max but probably needs to clear Lando.. not an easy task.
Bottas disappointing, not be closer to the front to be able to get involved in the strategy game.
I suspect Lando may well be asked to try to help Merc out if he can.

Max must be slight favourite for the WDC right now but we all know that can change in an instant. Just hoping for a clean race and for it to all be settled on track. Strangely, I'm still expecting Lewis to win tomorrow.

Hopefully it turns out to be as exciting as it has set its self up to be. Roll on tomorrow!

[Zico]

I don't think slipstream alone would account for the Verstappen lap. it was such a huge jump forward. About 0.7seconds jump in performance. I wonder if Redbull are have been up to something. There is something off about that. It really made me wonder when he went even faster without the aid of slipstreaming by 0.010. There has to be something else done to the car to produce such speed.

They reckoned the slipstream was worth around 2 - 3 tenths so either it was a totally nailed lap or they have been working very hard on the car.
Up to something? I know Max has fancy new floor that is supposed to help on the straights. Perez tried it at the last race and while it worked, it didn't suit the circuit due to the fast corners. Maybe it works a bit better here. We'll see..

[F1nKS]

None of the data said that RBR had a chance for pole and if Mercedes was leading after lap 1, RBR had no chance of overtaking. Some excellent strategery by Red Bull to bring some spiciness back.

1. The play to go to soft tires and not to give it away until it was too late for Mercedes.

2. The SergioTOW. Excellent teamwork.

The question now will Hamilton pit Verstappen at the first corner and hope the stewards look the other way because it is "lap 1".

[Nitrodaze]

They reckoned the slipstream was worth around 2 - 3 tenths so either it was a totally nailed lap or they have been working very hard on the car.
Up to something? I know Max has fancy new floor that is supposed to help on the straights. Perez tried it at the last race and while it worked, it didn't suit the circuit due to the fast corners. Maybe it works a bit better here. We'll see..

I doubt that too. As we would have seen evidence of it in Q2 where they ran the red-walled Super tyres too. The gap of the Super to the Yellow walled Medium tyres was consistent with Mercedes still being faster.

It is going to be a very strategic race tomorrow. Redbull would need the pace demonstrated in quali to nullify the disadvantage of racing a two-stop strategy tomorrow. Mercedes without Bottas in the mix are very disadvantaged, especially with Perez being close enough to have an influence on the effectiveness of Mdercedes' strategy. Right now, it is looking like a Verstappen victory.

But you would be very foolish to discount Hamiton and Mercedes even with this scenario.

[The Black Knight]

Of course mercedes cant figure out how to respond to the rbr teamwork. Smh they needed both cars out much earlier so hamilton could do what max did. Oh well. Absolutely botched it IMO


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Second is okay. I think Max pulled an amazing lap out of the bag and I don't think the tow was worth enough today. Tomorrow is where the points get handed out and historically starting on second place in Abu Dhabi is just as good as first as the grid spot yields lots of grip.

[Zico]

None of the data said that RBR had a chance for pole and if Mercedes was leading after lap 1, RBR had no chance of overtaking. Some excellent strategery by Red Bull to bring some spiciness back.

1. The play to go to soft tires and not to give it away until it was too late for Mercedes.

2. The SergioTOW. Excellent teamwork.

The question now will Hamilton pit Verstappen at the first corner and hope the stewards look the other way because it is "lap 1".

Re- Point 1. Yep, that did cross my mind at the time, if that is the case, it points to RB not expecting to get pole either but were just able to get closer to perfection while Lewis/Merc just had a mediocre Q3 by their standards.

If Lewis does try to 'pit' Max at the first corner he had better be very good at it (like Silverstone) and not wreck his own car... but if he does achieve it, maybe Perez will be given a job to do? Could get really dirty but let's hope not..

[F1nKS]

Tomorrow is where the points get handed out and historically starting on second place in Abu Dhabi is just as good as first as the grid spot yields lots of grip.

I believe I heard the commentators say that in the last 6 races, whoever was on the pole, has won the last 6 races.