Abu DhabiGP/Fernando Collects £800 & can pass go Thread - Contains Quali & Race spoilers

[Fernando]

First topic message reminder :

Yas Marina wants for nothing in terms of facilities. If only the same could be said of its track.

Track data: Yas Marina

Lap length 5.554km (3.451 miles)
Grand prix distance 305.355km (189.739 miles)
Lap record (race) 1’40.279 (Sebastian Vettel, 2009)
Fastest lap (any session) 1’38.434 (Lewis Hamilton, 2011, qualifying two)
Tyre compounds See drivers’ choices
2015 Rate the Race 5.25 out of 10
2015 Driver of the Weekend Sergio Perez
Yas Marina track data in full

But the circuit which has the honour of holding this year’s title-deciding race leaves everything to be desired when it comes to challenging the world’s best drivers and cars.

It’s wide, smooth, flat and – aside from a pair of lengthy straights – slow. Whatever brief the track designer was given, showcasing F1 at its best was not it.

“It’s not the most thrilling of tracks,” says master of understatement Daniil Kvyat, “as many of the corners are very similar”. Other drivers have been similarly dismissive of its untaxing, stop-start nature.

The track has produced few riveting races since it first appeared on the calendar in 2009. The surprise outcome of the 2010 title-decider and Sebastian Vettel’s race through the field two years later stick in the mind. But last year’s forgettable finale was more typical of what we’ve come to expect from this venue.

Abu Dhabi’s stable climate means we can discount the possibility of surprising weather changes playing a role in Sunday’s championship finale. But Pirelli’s decision to bring its most aggressive tyre selection could offer the drivers new strategic options this year.

A lap of Yas Marina


From the start line the drivers arrive quickly at turn one. This is the first of many 90-degree corners but is quicker than the rest, typically taken in fourth gear. Accelerating out of the left-hander the drivers approach what passes for the most interesting section on the track – the flat-out sweep through turns two, three and four.
The pit lane entrance joins the track at this point and we have seen some near-misses as drivers blend in with traffic. Fernando Alonso took a punishing ride over the kerbs here in 2013.

As the drivers leave turn four at speed they are quickly upon the next sequence of corners: a slow chicane followed by a hairpin. “You go down the hill, braking into six – very tricky braking turning into six, then straight away into seven,” explains Romain Grosjean. “You need to be well positioned for the hairpin going down the back straight. It’s tricky to get the car to turn.”

Two long straights separated by the turn eight/nine chicane follow. “Again you need to be well positioned between the left and right-hand side corners,” says Grosjean. “Then it’s another straight line on to 11, 12 and 13. It’s a triple chicane and as soon as you exit that part you go flat out then brake for turn 14, which is a 90-degree left-hand side corner.”


Following the tricky curved approach to turn 17 the final sector of the lap involves a sequence of slow bends, most of which are right-angles. “As soon as you go out of 17 you have to brake again for 18,” says Grosjean. Two left-handers lead them beneath the Yas Viceroy hotel, with a “tricky exit” as the cars straighten up ahead of the final pair of bends.
“The second to last corner is good,” comments Grosjean. “It’s high speed in fourth or fifth gear.”

After that the run-off area at the final corner invites drivers to run wide. “The last corner is very tricky,” Grosjean explains. “It’s very wide on the entry phase with the pit lane on the right-hand side. It’s not easy to find a line.”

[dyrewolfe]

Button running well in 7th, catching Bottas!

Circuit characteristics suiting the McLaren or have they made another jump in progress?

[Guest]

Looks like both will need to stop again

[GSC]

Knowing Pirelli tyres, they'll probably both go to the end

[Guest]

Poor stop for Lewis. Now it's hammer time to win the race

[Guest]

Rosberg on the quicker tyre

[dyrewolfe]

Hamilton on softs, Rosberg on super-softs.

Can't see how Lewis will get past him.

Hamilton shafted by poor strategy yet again?

[tinfoil]Or a deliberate move by Mercedes to ensure Nico builds his championship lead[/tinfoil]

[dyrewolfe]

Lewis questioning his team over the radio as to why Nico is on the softer tyres.

Had to laugh at the response ("We believe this is the best tyre..." ).

[Guest]

Rosberg has won this

[GSC]

Without wanting to engage in conspiracy theories, there are many possible reasons Lewis' team went for a different tyre compound

[Jermaine2015]

Rosberg only had one set of softs tyres so he didn't have the option of using that compound again.

[dyrewolfe]

Rosberg has won this

Has has driven well tbf, but he's also had some help. 2 flawless pit stops, compared to Hamilton's decidedly longer ones, as well as better tyre strategy.

[GSC]

He hasn't won anything yet...

[dyrewolfe]

Rosberg only had one set of softs tyres so he didn't have the option of using that compound again.

Maybe so, but the softest tyre is usually the best to use for the final stint, when the track is rubbered in and the cars are at their lightest.

You have to wonder why Hamilton didn't have some super-softs left, be they new or used.

[Guest]

Yessssssss

[Guest]

Rosberg you muppet, rammed lewis

[dyrewolfe]

HAMILTON!

Rosberg tries to squeeze him again but pays the price this time!

[Jermaine2015]

Another fluke job for Hamilton...

[GSC]

More stupidity, this time Rosberg. Toto is going to be unbelievably peed this time.

[Guest]

13pt swing. Rosberg

[dyrewolfe]

Jesus what a finish!

Against the odds Hamilton prevails. Rosberg gets his just desserts for again failing to give his team mate room (also good for the championship).

Great drives by Verstappen (3rd), Button (6th) and Grosjean (7th)

-------------

EDIT:

Rosberg's crash means Max gets 2nd and Kimi gets on the podium.

[dyrewolfe]

Another fluke job for Hamilton...

Another troll job from Jermaine2015

[GSC]

Mansell said it best, rarely have I seen 2 teammates so unprofessional to each other.

[dyrewolfe]

Mansell said it best, rarely have I seen 2 teammates so unprofessional to each other.

I think any kind of friendship they once had must be well and truly over.

While I certainly don't condone that kind of behaviour on track, you have to say its making the championship interesting...and gave us a hell of a finish to the race.

[Guest]

Booing the driver who did nothing wrong. Well done Austrian/Germans

[dyrewolfe]

LOL!

Hamilton getting booed by the crowd. Nice response, "thats their problem".

Stay classy Austria.

[Mad for Chelsea]

silly from Rosberg, seems to have decided this year that he's not letting Hamilton past no matter what, but that was beyond just being robust. Serves him right really. Rosberg now under investigation for the incident, and wouldn't be too surprised to see him get some sort of penalty for causing the collision TBH.

Good "never say die" attitude from Hamilton, and what a swing in the title race.

Hamilton getting heavily booed by the crowd, muppets

[GSC]

Rosberg had a brake problem.

[dyrewolfe]

Rosberg had a brake problem.

Are you saying he simply couldn't stop, rather than intentionally hitting Lewis / trying to force him off?

Not heard anything to that effect so far. Hopefully the investigation will clear this up.

[GSC]

Reverse the incident at Silverstone and Rosberg gets booed on the podium if we're being honest.

[GSC]

Lauda said he had the problem.

Be surprised if Rosberg gets a penalty for that. The only loser in the incident was him anyway. Judging by some of the Merc incidents they've let go, would be harsh

[dyrewolfe]

Reverse the incident at Silverstone and Rosberg gets booed on the podium if we're being honest.

Heh. I'd like to think British fans would be more fair-minded if it seemed pretty clear Lewis was at fault, but you're probably right.

[Guest]

Rosberg ' Lewis turned in on me & caused the collision'

Joker

[GSC]

Interesting to me that Merc have refused to apportion blame so far, usually they're pretty happy to call Rosberg a **** when he does something stupid

[Mad for Chelsea]

well you can't argue the rivalry/petulance/collisions haven't made the season more interesting at least

[Guest]

Clear it was Nico's fault, nobody really cares what Toto has to say.

Hamilton did overtake under yellow, they just showed, but he would of had about 0.5 seconds to see it before he made the overtake.

[Mad for Chelsea]

Suggestions that Rosberg had pretty much lost his brakes, which may explain things a bit. Wolf sounding particularly angry, can't help but wonder if some unofficial team orders have been ignored here (though that doesn't square with what Hamilton's engineer was telling him).

[GSC]

I'm with you MfC, beginning to suspect team orders have been enacted and Lewis was told to back off. Would explain Totos and Laudas mixed reactions.

[Mad for Chelsea]

Can't help but feel Mercedes could have saved themselves much aggro if they hadn't rather screwed Hamilton's race beforehand with poor pit stops and odd strategy. If the two stop was always the plan, why wait so long for Hamilton's first stop? Or was it a reaction to Vettel's tyre blowing up, with the initial plan a one-stop for Hamilton?

Back to Wolf. It's the fact that he's laying into both drivers, when really Hamilton cannot be blamed for the incident (note the stewards have only looked at Rosberg's role) ass he had nowhere to go, that makes me wonder. But then I'm not sure why Hamilton's engineer was telling him so clearly to go for it. Puzzling

[nathan]

Apparently Rosberg said he had the racing line and that Hamilton just turned in on him.

He looks way off the racing line and his wheels don't seem to be pointing into the corner...

Link to pic

[nathan]

Lauda saying it was pretty much Rosbergs fault.

He said: “We have to look into it carefully, it was not funny to watch.

“Nico had a brake problem when he came into the last corner, so therefore he went long and then Lewis was pushed to the outside, but why then afterwards they hit each other, this I don’t understand. I know that Nico had a brake problem, this is clear.
“But in the end, why they hit? This I didn’t see clear enough, this is completely wrong. The first issue was the brake problem, they why did they hit other, so I think it was Nico’s fault but we have to look again.”

[nathan]

Have to say, the on board footage doesn't look good for Rosberg.

https://mobile.twitter.com/F1_LAT/status/749621844169396228

[GSC]

Toto said they planned a one stop mfc

[Guest]

... Rosberg, seems to have decided this year that he's not letting Hamilton past no matter what ...

^ This.

[Guest]

There is no defence for Nico, clear as day. Totally ballsed it up, pressure got to him at turn 1, as it always does, when he sees Lewis in the mirrors & then his idea to ram Hamilton off the track this season at all costs, also embarrasingly backfired again. He doesn't have the race craft or skill to perform in those situations.

[toml]

Have to say, the on board footage doesn't look good for Rosberg.

https://mobile.twitter.com/F1_LAT/status/749621844169396228

Looks absolutely terrible! He turns in far too late and also with no conviction. You can't understeer if you don't steer!
After the collision you can see hime lock the steering wheel round which was nothing like his first attempt at steering.

[nathan]

Looks like he's got a 10 second penalty, but still not admitting it was his fault. Typical f1 driver.

The penalty didn't effect the result though

[Guest]

+2 penalty points on Rosberg's licence

[Fernando]

Apparently he had a brake by wire failure, It wasn't exactly dubious that crash fairly obvious who's fault that was.

[nathan]

A brake by wire failure doesn't stop you from turning the steering wheel

[dyrewolfe]

I'm with you MfC, beginning to suspect team orders have been enacted and Lewis was told to back off. Would explain Totos and Laudas mixed reactions.

If there were team orders, I'm so glad Lewis ignored them. These guys are supposed to be fighting for the championship, for god's sake!

No quicker way to kill interest in F1 than "managing" race results, just to ensure both cars finish the race.

TBH Toto's reaction was just what you'd expect from team mates hitting each other, whether orders had been issued or not. Didn't see Lauda's reaction.

A brake by wire failure doesn't stop you from turning the steering wheel

Very good point. After watching the slow-mo replays on the BBC highlights, they compared Rosberg's approach and line through the corner while following a Williams, with the line he took trying to fend Lewis off.

Basically Rosberg made NO attempt to turn until after he'd hit Hamilton. Looked like a deliberate attempt to run Lewis off the track. Also note Rosberg hugged the white line afterwards to try and prevent Lewis rejoining the track.

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