2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix grid

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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Row 11. Mark Webber 1’39.957
Red Bull
2. Sebastian Vettel 1’40.075
Red Bull
Row 23. Nico Rosberg 1’40.419
Mercedes
4. Lewis Hamilton 1’40.501
Mercedes
Row 35. Nico Hulkenberg 1’40.576
Sauber
6. Romain Grosjean 1’40.997
Lotus
Row 47. Felipe Massa 1’41.015
Ferrari
8. Sergio Perez 1’41.068
McLaren
Row 59. Daniel Ricciardo 1’41.111
Toro Rosso
10. Fernando Alonso 1’41.093
Ferrari
Row 611. Paul di Resta 1’41.133
Force India
12. Jenson Button 1’41.2
McLaren
Row 713. Jean-Eric Vergne 1’41.279
Toro Rosso
14. Pastor Maldonado 1’41.395
Williams
Row 815. Valtteri Bottas 1’41.447
Williams
16. Esteban Gutierrez 1’41.999
Sauber
Row 917. Adrian Sutil 1’42.051
Force India
18. Giedo van der Garde 1’43.252
Caterham
Row 1019. Charles Pic 1’43.528
Caterham
20. Max Chilton 1’44.198
Marussia
Row 1121. Jules Bianchi* 1’43.398
Marussia
22. Kimi Raikkonen** 1’40.542
Lotus

*Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change.
**Sent to back of the grid for failing a technical inspection

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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60 comments on “2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix grid”

  1. Stewards to announce that they’ve deleted a number of times from the session due to exceeding track limits in three…two…one…

    1. yeah, I am holding out on commenting on the grid / quali so far until we see these times actually confirmed.

    2. and ….
      I don’t think so. If they were, they should remove that laps immediately.

    3. as per Autosport

      “The results remain provisional, with several drivers apparently setting their best laps after running all four wheels over the white lines, which they had specifically been warned not to do.”

    4. Can some drivers who are in top 10 (or top 16) get pushed down due to any of their best their lap times (Q1, Q2 or Q3)being invalidated @magnificent-geoffrey?

    5. If I wake up tomorrow to find nothing has happened i’ll be a little more than annoyed.

    6. Steph (@stephanief1990)
      2nd November 2013, 14:30

      If they did it now they’d have to delete almost everyone’s – including Webber’s quickest lap. The stewards have been completely daft on this issue; they should either ban going over the lines completely or allow it but being so inconsistent makes a mockery of things. I don’t see why it should be fine for India but not fine at Abu Dhabi, especially when Sky were stating that the stewards/Whiting were only bothered about one corner at this track.

      1. Yes. It’s the one corner that gets me. Through turn 19 it’s fine to go right up to the barrier, and turn 20 is also fine, but turn 21… Nooooo.

        What sort of logic is that?

        1. It makes absolutely no sense that they would care about turn 21. I remember they warned specifically about turns prior to DRS detection but drivers seem to be obeying that.

    7. I would have thought that the stewards would have done all that during each quali session, otherwise some would have made it to Q2, others would not have, some into Q3, others not. It would be a disaster to only have penalties for the drivers in Q3. That would be ‘inconsistent’ now wouldn’t it….

      1. Steph (@stephanief1990)
        2nd November 2013, 14:39

        @glennb that would be logical but historically “logic” and “stewards” don’t often go together.

    8. Not only every session but also every driver.

  2. Great lap Webber!

    …and now he will retire due to the curse of the pole sitter :P

    1. NO!
      that brilliant lap doesn’t deserve Sunday retirement :(

      1. @adityafakhri in seriousness, I do hope he doesn’t. I want to see a straight fight between Webber and Vettel!

        1. With Webber winning!

          Maybe you disagree ;)

          1. @strontium I wouldn’t be that bothered who wins since Vettel is already champion ;)

            However, I do want to see him beat/equal Ascari’s consecutive race wins record.

    2. I wonder what could have happened had Lewis not spun and Vettel not making a mistake at turn 1. Because Lewis’ sector times showed that he could have displaced Rosberg.
      Lewis’ last sector times: S1: 17.7; S2: 42.4 ; S3 stop.
      Rosberg’s last sector times: S1: 17.9; S2: 42.6; S3: 39.9
      Vettel’s last sector times: S1: 17.8 S2: 42.4; S3: 39.9
      Lewis made a huge mistake that would have cost him pole or 2nd place..
      This is Mark at his best!!!

    3. Oh come’on.

      He will so his usual standard operating procedure; Bad start

      1. He will do*

  3. Mark’s diary for this week.

    1) Arrive in Abu Dahbi
    2) Get in the car
    3) ?
    4) Profit

    1. Kimi’s diary:

      1) Arrive in Abu Dhabi
      2) Get in the car
      3)
      4) Don’t get paid

  4. Phenomenal lap by Webber. I hope his start off the line tomorrow is as good. Unsurprising that the Ferraris are where they are, the car’s looked horrible all weekend. Hulkenberg once again showing his quality. I expect a giant killing performance from him tomorrow!

    1. massa again ahead of Alonso so there’s a bit more in the car but overall its horrible

      1. Yep Alonso bottled his Q2 lap on fresh tyres. Again he has nobody to blame but himself for being where he is. That is to take nothing away from Felipe who’s come alive in quali and at least there he looks almost like himself from 2008.

        There’s nothing in the USA or Interlagos that’s like the 3rd sector here so I’m hoping Ferrari pick up some form for the last two GP.

    2. Agree with every single statement of yours @colossal-squid.

  5. lewis spinning : not scary :P

  6. Awesome lap by Webber

  7. Great job Webber (shame his KERS will fail on lap 34) and Hulkenberg. Very close quali between Lewis and Britney!

    1. Ah, the pole sitter curse.

      I was wondering who will be the unlucky one. With MW starting on pole it make sense.

  8. This is the first time Webber has out qualified Vettel entirely on merit this season, isn’t it?

    1. Absolutely. He deserved it as he nailed the lap when it was important.

      So many predictions for pole screwed up.^^

    2. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      2nd November 2013, 14:29

      I know Vettel’s KERS didn’t work properly in Japan, but I’m still claiming it haha.

    3. @vettel1 Considering Alan Peasland mentioning on thursday that Webbers replacement chassis since Suzuka is actually heavier than the regular one, Mark did very well lately. It may not be a huge difference but he is already bigger and heavier than Seb so this won’t help him either.

      1. @bananarama surely it will still be below the 642kg?

        1. @vettel1 It is just that Webber is already heavier which gives them less weight to place in the car and with a chassis that is heavier than his teammates that will be even less. It may only be a few kg overall but in a session where so many drivers were inside one second of each other (Q2) and a time where teams don’t want to hire drivers who are too heavy it is still no advantage. It may only account for a few thousandths of a second but I thought it is a nice piece of info.

      2. The pre-Korea chassis was a super-light one they developed!

  9. I wonder what all the ppl who has Romain has become faster than Kimi are saying now.

    1. That he probably still is. One qualifying session is no reason for opinions to sway one way or the other anyhow.

    2. They’ve also diverged on chassis: Räikkönen has the short wheelbase car and Grosjean the long, which could explain it.

      1. But isn’t it so that they have been telling that long wheelbase is faster than short wheelbase and running that longwheelbase for last 5-6 races ?

    3. @scuderia_fan85 Yellow flags ruined Grosjeans and Perez’s last run.

      1. Also Kimi’s

    4. @scuderia_fan85
      it’s the other way around on short wheelbase. Kimi mastered it while Romain struggled. sometimes you just can’t compare any driver -even they are/were teammates- because they like different setups. but of course, adaptability is one of the attribute of great ones.
      opinions are opinions, not proving anything, cheers! (from: kimi fan)

    5. It was down to experience.
      Kimi already know that by using shorter car he would have easier 3rd sector, that can save some tires. Looks like Grosjean went 4x in soft so nowhere near Kimi even without yellow flag, 0.2s down already after 1st sector and falling fast.

      1. I would rather think its more about Kimi not feeling great with how the long WB car handles so he reverted to the old one, while Grosjean had a good pace on the longer WB car so stuck with it.
        Kimi got back to where he was before, Grosjean is still very good, but we have to take into account that his fastest lap was probably hurt by that yellow flag (Kimi did improve his lap as he was a bit further up the track, I guess). And maybe the shorter WB car is better fit for the carpark part of this track too.

    6. Grosjean had both Gearbox-issues and vibration-issues in Q3, the latter being caused by some of the garage-floor sticking to his tires (yes, you read that right).

  10. Incredible from Webber. Glad to see Hulkenberg in P6.

  11. As a Webber fan it aren’t really good times. Makes me enjoy these even more, standing in front of my TV cheering out loud while I’m alone at home. Brings a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

    In my predictions I set the pole lap to be 1:39:900, sadly I doubted it would come from Webber but I couldn’t care less now.

    1. Mistake, I checked and said it would be a 1:39:800, planned on 1:39:900 but changed later.

    2. I’d rather my predictions be wrong and Webber won!!!

      It would be nice for him, and healthy for Formula 1

  12. First time Webber beats Vettel on merit this year. Di Resta well over half a second faster than Sutil, wow. Raikkonen fights back against Grosjean. Ricciardo smashes Vergne again, as does Perez against Button. I really hope Massa gets a seat next year, he’s still quick!

  13. Can anyone confirm what is broken in Lewis’ car ? Can he run with it or will he be starting from the back . I don’t want his gearbox to fail in the middle of the race . Please ….anything but that deja vu

    1. @hamilfan
      No idea what is broken, but he can’t start the race with it tomorrow that is for sure.
      But unless it is a geabox problem (which seems unlikely, due to the nature of the spin) they can replace it and his starting position will remain.

    2. (@hamilfan
      Lewis said that he had a snap of oversteer as he exited the turn 11-12 chicane, then the car just went lost so nothing much too worry, what is worrying is this:
      Lewis’ last sector times: S1: 17.7; S2: 42.4 ; S3 stop.
      Rosberg’s last sector times: S1: 17.9; S2: 42.6; S3: 39.9
      Vettel’s last sector times: S1: 17.8 S2: 42.4; S3: 39.9

      Lewis’ spun might have cost him a chance for pole or 2nd place. He was up on Rosberg’s 1.39.4… Had he had a good final sector, which is where he gains most of his time, he could have challenged pole or 2nd place..

    3. Thank you guys . I just hope he keeps the position at least . I so wanted him to beat Rosberg this weekend just to return the compliment for the past few grand prix . Would hate to see him stuck behind traffic .

  14. I’m hoping for a Nico Rosberg pole since he was advised not to go over in the last curve before the start straight, while Webber and Vettel compensated their disadvantage in the last sector by doing just that. Pole for Nico would be fair, I reckon.

  15. Congrats to Mark. Coming from .5 sec down to nearly .5 sec up when it mattered. I thought Seb was crying during the interview until it occurred to me that he was sweating his nuts off :) Well done to Nico too. Pity Lewis couldn’t keep it together but hats off for giving it everything. With Mark’s starting performance, car reliability and ability to make the tyres last, I can’t see him losing this one ;)
    Good luck to all your drivers tomorrow.

  16. Well about time Webber beat Vettel entirely on merit… though I don’t see the reason to start showering him with tons of praise, otherwise shouldn’t we do the same for Vettel for all the poles he obtained :P It’s pretty much the reason why Petrov finally managed to outqualify Kubica at Hungary 2010 despite the then vast difference in their abilities; it’s bound to happen at point or another.

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