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Hello everyone and welcome to F1 Fanatic Live for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend.
First practice is coming up in a couple of minutes.
As usual track temperatures for this first session in Abu Dhabi are likely to be considerably higher than what we’ll see in the race. It’s registering 43C at the moment. So this session is usually a poor guide to form for the weekend ahead.
What we’re looking at really is a 90-minute test session and, demonstrating that point, Raikkonen has gone out with an absolutely huge test rig on the back of his car.
“OK Kimi so after seven we go on the 200kph limit. You limft off, coast to 80, down to third gear and back up to the limit. Same thing after nine.”
Raikkonen: “Yeah there is not enough space to go back up.”
“OK no problem Kimi.”
Good day everyone!
Is anyone on here seriously bothered as much about the larger choice in tyres as much as Sky tauts it’s a problem or Buxton etc makes of it?
To me it just means that they can make smaller steps between the compounds so that the 3 they offer for a single weekend can be a better match to the track and the different cars.
I think the reaction has bordered on hysterical.
Does anyone think Ferrari would let Kimi win here if he would be in the lead from Vettel by the end?
Can’t see why. It would be tantamount to admitting they did the dirty on him in Hungary and Monaco.
Lengthy feedback from Gasly: “Basically the traction in the low-speed are a bit snappy. And when I go over the kerbs it just upsets all the car, it kind of puts me wider. The front is just kind of bouncing on the kerb and then afterwards when we’re at the apex it’s difficult for me to really use all the inside kerbs. And too much understeer in high speed as well, especially turn 20.”
We’re getting to hear a lot from Toro Rosso at the moment:
Hartley: “Yeah disaster middle and last sector. First sector was up four-tenths.”
“Yeah copy that we saw that no worries.”
Hartley; “Yeah struggling big time with the rear entries and exits, also in high-speed.”
The first 40 minutes are done, the drivers are all in to hand their first sets of tyres back, here’s the times so far:
Raikkonen 1’39.841
Vettel 1’40.192
Verstappen 1’40.514
Perez 1’40.892
Ricciardo 1’40.968
Hamilton 1’41.135
Vandoorne 1’41.373
Massa 1’41.723
Hulkenberg 1’42.175
Russell 1’42.196
Gasly 1’42.391
Sainz Jnr 1’42.547
Grosjean 1’42.574
Bottas 1’42.652
Stroll 1’42.812
Giovinazzi 1’43.530
Wehrlein 1’43.672
Ericsson 1’43.733
Hartley 1’44.118
Some big team mate gaps at the moment, again because this is more ‘testing’ than ‘practice’:
GAS -1.727s HAR
PER -1.304s RUS
MAS -1.089s STR
GRO -0.956s GIO
HAM -0.615s BOT
VER -0.454s RIC
HUL -0.372s SAI
RAI -0.351s VET
WEH -0.061s ERI
Surprissing and shocking gap between Max and Ric, Max nearly same as Hamilton in 2nd but Ric more than 1.6 seconds behind in 8th place – both on US tyre.
Yeah that’s not going to be driver performance.
Agree but Riccardio also has done fast laps on UC so it my guess it is engine related where Renault told Red Bull to tune Riccardio engine down more than engine of Max. I hope with qualifying and race that difference disappears.
Really sad and bad from Renault that Red Bull has to tune down engines because of shortage of spare parts and usage of refurbished parts. Team with 300m+ budget forced to use refurbished parts => NUTS.
Really sad and bad from Renault that Red
Off course it makes sense – first of all none of them want penalties. And then, would Red Bull want to use refurbished parts now and have Renault already fully working for next year or push them to keep up supply of new parts and delay things a bit for next year. Anyone would choose the first, if they are sensible
I guess they might be running slightly different programs. And off course daniel did set his time at an earlier stage of the session. But yeah, huge difference
Could be – but Riccardo set his first US lap early but Max was 0.5 second around that same time on SS. Riccardo did minimal 2 times laps after Max did his US timed lap and was not able to improve on his earlier time.
Think Vetel and Hamilton could be quite close on performance here. But concerned this track never really produces good races.
In that sense, it would be better to have Hamilton leading Vettel on the attack, since the Ferrari seems at least a tad better at following and attacking. And we can hope either of the Red Bulls getting into the mix spices it up a bit, neither seems bothered with “hard to overtake” :-)
Encouragingly close so far, with the usual caveat about track temperature being unrepresentatively high in this session:
1. Ferrari – 1’39.006
2. Mercedes – 1’39.126 +0.12
3. Red Bull – 1’39.154 +0.15
4. Force India – 1’40.293 +1.29
5. McLaren – 1’40.522 +1.52
6. Williams – 1’40.723 +1.72
7. Haas – 1’41.306 +2.30
8. Toro Rosso – 1’41.646 +2.64
9. Renault – 1’41.748 +2.74
10. Sauber – 1’41.752 +2.75
Chase Carey: “we’re going to make the halo a positive, an attractive part of the car”
Good grief.
Second practice is go. Worth noting this session begins at the same time of day as qualifying and the race.
This track is so sterile. Does anybody live in the UAE, aside from the guest workers?
Horrible track. I’ve long given up on trying to find anything positive to say about it.
The Christmas tree lights on the hotel?
Prost Senna, Schumacher Hakkinnen, Croft Kravitz
Legendary F1 rivalries
Ricciardo radio:
“You will have Ericsson passing you, just watch your mirrors, he’ll be very close at pit exit. Ericsson I expect he’ll be on a hot lap. May be slow.”
Ricciardo: “Yeah I think he’s aborted it.”
“Understood. OK so do your own pace.”
Ricciardo: “OK that’s really hard to see. I don’t think I could have done anything to avoid it.”
“Understood. OK there have been some reports of a car laying down a little bit of oil. Just have a feel on this lap now.”
Times before the qualifying simulations began:
Hamilton 1’38.912
Ricciardo 1’39.346
Bottas 1’39.758
Vettel 1’39.761
Raikkonen 1’39.790
Verstappen 1’40.089
Vandoorne 1’40.178
Perez 1’40.553
Gasly 1’40.694
Alonso 1’40.804
Sainz Jnr 1’40.973
Hulkenberg 1’41.259
Stroll 1’41.534
Ocon 1’41.543
Grosjean 1’41.560
Massa 1’41.665
Ericsson 1’42.149
Wehrlein 1’42.154
Magnussen 1’42.206
Hartley 1’42.616
New track record for Hamilton (who held the old track record). 1’37.877 beats his 1’38.434 from 2011.
Sarcasm failure at Red Bull:
“OK mate we saw, looked like Grosjean got in your way. Take it easy, we’ll go for another lap.”
Ricciardo: “Nah he was good. He didn’t get in my way.”
“I’m not sure your sarcasm comes across very well.”
Ricciardo. Yeah. [Censored by FOM].”
“Understood.”
Grosjean: “What was that, mate? There is a stall on the car somewhere.”
“Yeah something’s unpredictable, yeah.”
Grosjean: “Check the vibration.”
“Wehrlein’s pushing. We’ll check the vibration. There’s a reasonable level of rear vibration not too high. See if it settles down. OK so we’re just looking into that rear…”
Grosjean: “Yeah the Wiliams was in front but there’s no reason.”
“Yeah understood.”
Halfway through FP2 here’s the gaps between the teams:
1. Mercedes – 1’37.877
2. Ferrari – 1’38.026 +0.15
3. Red Bull – 1’38.180 +0.30
4. Renault – 1’39.529 +1.65
5. McLaren – 1’39.559 +1.68
6. Williams – 1’39.635 +1.76
7. Force India – 1’40.553 +2.68
8. Toro Rosso – 1’40.694 +2.82
9. Haas – 1’41.128 +3.25
10. Sauber – 1’41.270 +3.39
And the team mates:
GAS -0.802s HAR
RIC -0.714s VER
MAS -0.694s STR
HUL -0.672s SAI
HAM -0.66s BOT
PER -0.503s OCO
MAG -0.432s GRO
VET -0.326s RAI
ALO -0.112s VAN
WEH -0.032s ERI
Last F1 race weekend for US broadcaster NBCSN. We wait in limbo for what happens in 2018.
Second practice is done and for the 19th time this year we have a new track record. Here’s the session report:
https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/11/24/2017-abu-dhabi-grand-prix-second-practice-result-fp2/
Hello everyone and welcome to what is probably the least meaningful session of the year. Final practice at Yas Marina: The track is way hotter than it’ll be for qualifying or the race, and the teams have got their cars in race trim so there’s not much testing they can do. Nonetheless we’ve got an hour on the clock so let’s see what happens.
Would like RIC or RAI to win tomorrow just for a change
Hamilton grassing up Vettel:
Hamilton: “Vettel just went very wide at the exit of turn one. I don’t know it that’s allowed.”
“OK copy we’ll review. I think the opinion is the Astroturf should make it slower”
Hamilton: “He went way beyond the Astroturf.”
Is there no live timing available ?
See the ‘live timing’ links at the top of the page.
Team mate gaps with 11 minutes left:
MAS -1.471s STR
VER -0.573s RIC
HUL -0.556s SAI
HAM -0.273s BOT
ERI -0.21s WEH
PER -0.184s OCO
ALO -0.122s VAN
GAS -0.087s HAR
RAI -0.017s VET
MAG -0.007s GRO
Honda really are getting better..
F1 has tweet ‘the last F1 practice for Massa’
soon it will be ‘the last F1 qualifying for Massa’
next: ‘the last F1 stint on Supersofts for Massa’
Team gaps:
1. Mercedes – 1’37.627
2. Ferrari – 1’38.157 +0.53
3. Red Bull – 1’38.340 +0.71
4. McLaren – 1’39.155 +1.53
5. Force India – 1’39.367 +1.74
6. Renault – 1’39.418 +1.79
7. Williams – 1’39.446 +1.82
8. Haas – 1’39.831 +2.20
9. Sauber – 1’40.307 +2.68
10. Toro Rosso – 1’40.737 +3.11
Perhaps it’s too soon, but Hartley is not impressing. It’s not too soon on Stroll.
On the whole, Stroll hasn’t been good. But you can’t really forget he’s the only driver outside of the top 3 teams to get podium this year. And it is also pretty clear that on the whole, Williams has been the 5th best team, not the 4th. That podium may have been a bit lucky, but it was still a real achievement. There were rather a lot of highly rated drivers that did worse than him that day. He may have had some bad races recently, but in the middle of the season, he did make a lot of progress from the start. During the races, He’s also only caused one retirement. Verstappen caused 2 in his first season and even this year he’s been responsible for one. Stroll has been slow, but usually keeps himself out of trouble. I think he will improve.
Stroll inherited that podium thanks to a cavalcade of misfortune occuring ahead of him. He didn’t earn it on speed. means nothing.
Hartley is not impressing at all
Thanks for joining in guys, here’s the session report:
https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/11/25/2017-abu-dhabi-grand-prix-third-practice-result-fp3/
And be sure to get your final predictions in!:
https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/11/24/make-your-2017-abu-dhabi-grand-prix-predictions/
My pole time prediction: 1:36.727 by Hamilton.
Hello everyone and welcome to the final qualifying session of 2017!
Hamilton is looking a strong bet for pole at the moment but we all remember what happened last time…
With Ocon and now George Russel look like Wehrlien F1 career is done. Toto seem a bit relief when he said Williams wants Kubica more
Unfortunately that’s how things seem to be at the moment. I really hope Wehrlein would get the remaining seat at Williams, but as is well known, Kubica seems to be the number #1 priority at the moment.
Horner just said Renault was not a partner. Just supplier!
Shows what’s wrong with RBRs attetude, doesn’t it
Hard cold fact?
I’d say so. Renault have their own works team.
jeez Horner on Ch4 answering EJ that Renault is not a partner to the team “you don’t pay a partner”. Ej corrects him that to him every engine supplier was considered a partner for him. And when you look at many succesuful companies, they are that only when they DO treat their suppliers as partners
jeah, was a good moment for EJ there, calling Horner out on nonsense.
It’s as if they program the track temperature at Yas Marina:
FP1: 43C
FP2: 32C
FP3: 43C
Q1: 32C
That sunset view, though.
yeah, the visuals are not too bad around the track. Shame it doesn’t happen to be a good race track too though
Indeed.
Still, final qualifying session of the year, will miss this in a day’s time…
True enough Keith! The second year in a row where i felt the season really did carry on unto the last race, even when this year Lewis’s wrapped it up.
Ericson on top. But really only until his teammate and then the rest beat him. Apart from Grosjean who went wide in the last corner. And then we get Bottas and Hamilton taking down the lap record again.
Vettel almost half a second behind Bottas. Running with lower settings? Or did he make a mistake in his lap
The sun is nicely in the eyes at times, like for Magnussen, isn’t?
Pity to think there are drivers like Wehrlein and possibly Ericsson for whom this is their last race weekend and we don’t know for sure.
Somehow Stroll has a seat and the Sauber boys are under pressure. Both Ericsson and Wehrlein are faster.
Good lap for Bottas then! That will get Lewis fired up :-)
Look at Vandoorne going. I guess track evolution / temperature is part of that
I guess those STR cars are really running at power levels of Honda early this year right now.
Dear me Toro Rosso are having a rotten weekend. Renault looking good to jump them in the points…
Sains changed team at the right moment!
Torro Rosso keep on changing both their drivers at the same time, meaning that we have no idea whether the new rookies are any good… Maybe it was just that Sainz and to a lesser extent Kyvat were exceptional, and these two are just no use in comparison. They need to stagger their driver switches.
Shouldn’t have kept Kvyat for this year. Made no sense.
But having Sainz along Hulk, Renault is basicaly doubling their point scoring per race.
In Kyvat’s last race, he looked great compared to Gasly or Hartley, I forget which. True, they shouldn’t have had Kyvat this year, but keeping him for 2 more races would have helped judge the new rookies.
Gasly was in Japan in Austin for the (cancelled due to the weather) last round of the Japanese series. But off course Hartley did have little running in all of his GP weekends so far
Their best speeds in the trap are 316 (Gasly) and 314 (Hartley). That’s slower than everyone bar McLaren. Even Sauber’s year-old Ferraris are quicker. Cleraly got those old Renaults turned well down.
already practising for Honda power units :-o
De ja vu. HAR in Toro Rosso and HAR in Manor in the last place.
Think we’re going to get an angry Grosjean radio message…
Good effort from Stroll to get at least into Q2. But he is still a second off a reinvigorated Massa. Shame we didn’t see Felipe pushing the car as much for every race.
I didn’t expect Rosberg to be on trackside this weekend, LOL.
Why not?
Because he had already been to a quite a few races before.
VER is really off the pace for some reason.
Does Verstappen have an older engine than Ricciardo this race? Huge difference between them really
Didn’t temperature drop will make tyre windows narrower? Why didn’t Williams make use of early stint?
Track evolution and also colder temperatures help engine power.
If Renault get an 8th place in race, and TR get nothing, I think they are equal on points. Who would win in the championship then?
it would be down to their best positions
Did Hulk get a 6th once? I don’t remember TR getting a high position.
Pretty sure Sainz got a 6th for STR, I do think Hulk got one for Renault earlier too.
Hmm, complicated. Keith, can you tell us in the preview later?
Sainz got 4th for STR in Singapore.
My memory really isn’t what it used to be… Wow, quite a result. Thanks!
Right you are @jerejj!
Was that Ocon or Perez getting in Hulk’s way. That was quite dangerous.
Looked like Perez.
Perez, definitely a fine for him.
Aaaand Stroll is a full second down on Massa again. 5th time in a row.
Good night, Williams.
It’s such a sad story that from these two Williams drivers, it’s the faster who has to yield his seat.
Bit farcical, isn’t it? Especially since he’s not just a little bit faster, but enormously so.
Well, to be honest, Massa has shown this level of speed / hunger to perform only in the last two races and maybe 1-2 times earlier this year. But yeah, if it weren’t for the money Lance wouldn’t be retained IMO
I’m not sure we’ve been watching the same season.
Yeah, gotta agree with nase.
You guys think we saw Massa getting everything there was in that Williams every race? I don’t.
Probably not, but he still got way more out of it than Stroll even in his best days. They should drop Stroll or both. Not just Massa.
Oh, we certainly agree on Stroll, he maybe had one or 2 races where he was on hte pace. And he held on well in Baku to finish (where Massa had to stop the car running in front of Lance off course).
Sounds like a loaded question. He’s been pretty much on the same level all season, outpacing Stroll by 0.5-1 seconds in qualifyings and races with very few exceptions. Hardly ever made mistakes, but was affected by LOTS of technical issues outside of his control.
I can think of exactly one session where it is clear he didn’t come close to the car’s limits, and that was qualifying in Monza. For the rest of the season there is absolutely no positive evidence for him underperforming.
Power unit problems for Sainz:
Sainz: “Engine failure or something. I just lost the power.”
“Slow in-lap.”
Sainz: “Exit of the last corner. I had a massive blip from the engine. Last corner”
“So avoid going to full throttle please.”
Sainz: “What happened there?”
“We’ll talk about it when you’re back in the garage.”
Well, that explains why he did not set a faster lap then. :-(
I love the irony, Massa in his last qualifying pushes out Alonso. Curious if Alonso’s engineer told Alonso, sorry Alonso, Massa was faster than you :-)
^This, I laughed when I saw Massa go P10.
:-)
NOW they are showing where the laptimes can be. Nice one Bottas. Would be good if he can beat Lewis for pole here, that would be exactly what he needs
I think Bottas is safe. Only Kimi and Massa better their first stint in Q2.
could well be that track temps mean that the tyres are not quite in the window anymore.
Great effort from Daniel too.
Hello everyone and welcome to F1 Fanatic Live for the final race of 2017, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hopefully we get a final lap as exciting as the one in F2:
https://twitter.com/RaceVideoIndex/status/934738341848903680
I expect the official lap record (1:40.279 from the inaugural race) to get beaten on this circuit as well even though it’s from the refuelling-era.
Bottas saying he had a bad start in Interlagos. Actually it wasn’t that bad a getaway, he just completely failed to defend his position from Vettel. Wonder how tough he’ll be with Hamilton.
Agreed. Hopefully, this time around he’ll manage to stay in front going into turn 1.
Didn’t he have some wheelspin after first getting going fine that also did not help him keep in front?
A stats info: For the 2nd season running Verstappen, Hulkenberg, and Massa will start this race from 6th, 7th, and 10th on the grid respectively.
Nothing broadcast from the radios on the reconnaissance laps, hopefully that means no one with any problems.
Nice Force India woolly hats.
Anyone knows what’s up with those funny hats?!? The CNBNC reported asked a FI lady and she said “it’s cold”. HAHA
Spectacular fly by demonstration!!!
Hi everyone
Hello from Malaysia, last race of the season yo!
Why did we have to watch a drum solo on sky :(
Hey everyone – thought I’d sign on for the last race of the season. In all seriousness, petty complaints aside, 2017 was a great year compared to the ones before in the v6 hybrid era. I’ll miss you 2017!
So true, I really loved the season. And the cars are spectacular, let’s appreciate that. Especially in light of next year’s HALO introduction :-(
There’s no sugar-coating this one: Yas Marina is a terrible circuit which struggles to produce excitement even when there’s a championship hanging in the balance. So hopefully we get lucky today.
Whatever happens, it’s the final trace of 2017 so enjoy it everyone! It’s been a pleasure and privilege to chat F1 with you all season and I look forward to doing it again soon.
Thanks everyone and enjoy the season finale…
Oh, and who’s your tip to win? I’m going for Bottas.
I think Hamilton’s going to get him on the start
I don’t know when but I’m sure that Hamilton will get him at some point in the race.
Lewis 99%
Vettel 0.5%
Bottas 0.4%
others 0.1%
Hamilton, after Riciardo elbow out Vettel
If Vettel is ninth or lower, then I think Lewis will let Valtteri by. Otherwise I think the race will go to Lewis.
What did KMag do?
I guess some kind of incident between him and Vadoorne who also dropped back a bit? But off course with the boatloads of runoff he managed to get back on track without damaging the car.
Replay looks like it was a solo spin.
Director still didn’t show the incident between HUL and PER :-(
Shame, normally they show it when they give info it is being investigated.
Perez: “What’s going on with Charlie, man?”
“It’s with the stewards.”
Perez: “They don’t have to be a genius to realise that he cut the corner and he gained an advantage.”
Perez: “We discussed that on the drivers briefing.”
yeah, got Hulk a 5 second penalty. But we still haven’t even been shown the incident
Finally, they showed it, pretty clear one that.
5 second penalty are better than give back position
Have to wonder if Hulkenberg knew that’s what the penalty would be and knew he’d gain more by not giving the place back.
Yes, I think 5 seconds a fair compromise. I mean, Perez just didn’t turn into the corner, so he wasn’t that innocent either.
on this track probably yes. I bet Alonso would have grabbed that penalty with both hands in 2010 if it would help him past PEtrov
Bottas stringing together those fastest laps now. No sign of him not running well in the first phase of the race this time. Maybe because it’s him in the free air this time?
*conspiracy incoming* Or perhaps Hamilton is purposefully not pressurizing…
No position changes in the top 12… Abu Dhabi in a nutshell.
Turning into a snooze fest! Such a shame this garbage circuit is the last race of the season.
Hulk now has a 5 second gap to Perez
He had a clean air advantage
yup, and using it to his advantage. Seems to have been the clever choice to go for track position
Abu Dhabi has no soul.
10 laps in and no position changes in the top 12…
Although the Grosjean Stroll duel is simmering along.
For 13th..
hey, better at least one for 13th than nothing at all to watch but cars going fast!
yep, I like f1 drivers to fight for position, whatever the position.
yup, thank the racing gods for at least that battle
Hulk did 3 personal best laps in a row. He is nailing this drive.
Still not got 5s on Perez though.
Hulk gained about half a second last lap, now it’s 5,3, wait already 5,6
Since the start they have only been focusing on grosjean
Damn DC with a ship, having to ask his captain to move it over.
Nice racing by both there
very much so yeah.
indeed. Quite agressive corner turn-ins from GRO when he was outside, but they made it work
Yas Marina at its very best… And rock solid tyres that allow to push for the entire distance. That’s how one-stop works.
Yes. Undercut it, Stroll!
Yeah, good thinking. Especially with his flatspotted tyres he would be worse off staying out
Hulkenberg’s decision not to let Perez past looks like it’ll pay off. He’s more than five seconds ahead now.
Crofty trying very hard to make this race look interesting for 13th..ho hum
Alonso again doing what he did in Brazil, taking the DRS every lap to keep himself from being passed by Sainz
Lock-up Lance!
Is there a record for most laps from the start of a race without a position change in the top 10?
Stroll calling the shots on the radio:
Stroll: “Can we box this lap? I would really suggest it. I would rather go all the way.
“Stand by.”
Stroll: “No time to stand by.”
“Stand by, Lance.”
Stroll: “Yeah but I have two major flat spots… Box box box. I have to box. Box now.”
“OK, box this lap, box this lap.”
Very interesting. Thanks for the service :)
Remember that if he’s complaining about tyre life at the end of the race!
Stroll: “You are mistaken. That’s an order!”
Fascinating (or saddening) to compare ALO’s acceleration with DRS to MAS in front without. The honda is about the same speed with DRS as the williams without
Max undercutting Kimi I guess?
Can he regain anything on the SuperSofts?
He’s 0.5s behidn Ocon, so that won’t work unless he pulls sth out of the bag
It depends on how Kimi now gets out. And it helps RBR push Kimi into stopping relatively early
Max still behind Kimi after he Kimi pits.
Perez now dropping down quite a bit from Hulk.
Verstappen a 2.1 sec pitstop. I didn’t think that was even possible.
Williams and Red Bull both managed a 1.9 second stop one year.
Alonso must be intimately familiar with the Williams’ gearbox by now, given how long he spent behind Massa at Interlagos.
Lovely move there from Max to get by Ocon
Wow, that was from quite far back from VER agains OCO. Great he pulled it off
Verstappen said he missed a gear shift – wouldn’t have thought that was possible.
Interesting, yeah, who’d have known they can do that with the sequential gearboxes
Kimi get’s lucky with Perez pitting so he doesn’t get held up much
Gasley doing that on his own?
With that real wheel getting stuck it will be tight between Hulk and Perez
only just ahead of Perez.
Force India amnesia:
Perez: “What did you do with front wing?”
“Exactly what you asked.”
Perez: “And what did I ask?”
“You didn’t want to go too low.”
LOL
Haha
Director couldn’t have missed the HUL pass more skillfully :-(
yeah, instead we got to see Daniel picking up new tyres slowly
Luckily Grosjean took it back and we can get it again then
Ricciardo in too
Slow stop.
Was at short notice.
….and Danny is out!
looks like something flew off his car before the stops. now pulling off with a hydraulics issue
And out.
Great news for Renault ironically.
yeah. It was not the engine breaking down AND they get better points from Hulk
Lewis puts his head down and cranks out serious speed.
And doing another lap now
Hahaha! Clown Gasly entertains Arabs.
Ricciardo’s stoppage:
Ricciardo: “I think I’m losing power steering.”
“OK understood. Do not shift gear if you can.”
Ricciardo: “Want me to stay in sixth? It’s gone, it’s gone. [Loud sigh]”
“OK mate. We’ve got a hydraulic problem. Go mode one and switch off mate. I can see what you’re doing, just pull as far off the track as you can. You were doing a really good job until that point. You were quicker than Raikkonen behind you. Go to P0.”
Bah, we missed ALO exiting the pits close with MAS :-(
At least we did get the follow up battle though.
Yeah. I’m just frustrated that when even *I know* that it’s going to be close then I want our camera crew to get it as well.
Agree. The same when they cut away to Ricciardo instead of staying with GRO-HUL-PER
From the interval between Hamilton and Bottas it shouldn’t be enough for Hamilton
…and it is not.
Especially since Bottas set another fastest lap. I like this battle really. Bit of Rosberg vs Hamilton 2014 :-)
Everyone’s thoughts are on Tuesday and Wednesday when Kubica will be testing!
Alonso now going quite a bit better than Massa on track. Even without DRS. But yeah, shame it’s not to replace Lance at that team though
Sainz is doing a great job of overcutting Alonso and Massa. 1 second quicker over a single lap, on old tyres.
Ocon still out too at the front. And yeah, looks like Sainz could get Alonso
Lewis now right behind Valtteri
But Bottas seems to have gotten himself out of DRS rainge now.
closing to DRS range.
I think you all know me well enough to respect that I don’t particularly care who wins, but I’m really hoping Hamilton makes a fight of this one. It was such a good title fight for so long this year, we were really robbed by Ferrari’s collapse, would be great if the season can end on a high.
Agree, we really need a good battle for the win today.
I agree on both accounts :)
Anything to make what is quite clearly a 4/10 race into something more memorable.
Well he is closing the gap, so I wouldn’t put that beyond Hamilton.
Agree
Hm, so according to what Daniel said, it seems he did hit the wall before his issue.
Those lapped cars could make the P1 fight very interesting
Lewis within DRS range and flying.
Now both get DRS, and Bottas gets past MAG cleanly. Still close, now only DRS for Hamilton
Merc gap to VET may get big enough to allow a 2 stop. Could that add drama in 10 laps or so?
Now Bottas got the gap up nicely, but Lewis is now gaining. And the traffic will make it even more interesing
Great to see HAM taking every last bit of slipstream even from VAN. Quite aggressive considering the speed differential. I love it
Hamilton is clearly pushing. Good, Good. Having fun. Still 25 laps to find the right gap.
Meanwhile VER is getting towards DRS range now
Did Stroll pit again, or does he have an issue? He is 8 seconds behind Hartley.
I pitted again. Now back on US tyres
Sigh
Grosjean last who hasn’t pitted
Ooh Sainz gone!
oh, no. One wheel not on …
wow, he almost binned it in the tunnel there.
They didn’t even get the gun on the wheel by the look of it
Something like that usually carries a heavy grid penalty… How does that work with it being the last race of the year? Just a fine?
Yeah, I guess it will be a large fine.
Hamilton now again on 1 second, just outside of DRS
And VER is now right on Kimi
Geez, Stroll might be going for a 3 stop race, with all those lockups! Ericsson now right on his tail again
Hm, looks like it is rather something with the car making him not able to run full speed
He’s not called Lock-up Lance for nothing!
Oh, so Stoffel had an issue? I just saw him losing a bit at the start
Dumb coverage by Star Sports with commercial breaks in the MIDDLE OF THE RACE DAMMIT!!!
Don’t worry, there’s no action anyway.
Big stuff from Fernando – I’d never expect him to say what he did about Stoffel before his McLaren Honda times. These years have been hard, and they have humbled him.
If Lance keeps killing his tyres, Williams will have to get creative if they don’t want to retire him with a ‘hydraulics’ issue (looking at you, Red Bull …)
Just out of curiosity, what would happen if someone bins it in the pitlane exit. What if it was Stroll instead of Sainz?
I would assume red flag and stop on the grid since it would be a safety issue for those on old tyres
Merc nearly a full pitstop ahead of Vettel now. Bring them in, stick on some fresh tyres and let them go for it for the final laps.
Yeah, I saw that too, would be nice, but I don’t think they will go for it unless either of them lockup and needs it
Yeah, I don’t think it’s likely, particularly after what just happened to Carlos. Not worth the risk for them, probably. Would be cool though…
The pit camera seems to have been stuck on the same lady in the Haas garage for the last ten minutes. No idea who she is but someone’s obviously very fond of her.
Speaking of random celebrities, who’s the man in the Ferrari garage with the bright suits? Yellow yesterday.
I assume they’re showing him because he’s famous anyway.
He is some big wig from FIAT if I remember correctly
@gylnh Lapo Elkann? Fiat head honcho.
Ok they switched to SAinz so we missed Verstappen passing Wehrlein. And MAG is non cooperative. And Verstappen more or less has to push the issue. I hope Wehrlein at least profits from that
Damn, Wehrlein with that mooove!
And KMag comes back!
Still not a fan, the way he went about impeding Verstappen there
KMag was a bit slow to let Kimi by just before that too. Obviously worried about Wehlein.
Back end of the field, VAN onwards, looking very close
Bottas surely has this wrapped up now
I think Hamilton might be giving it just a bit of a breather before having a last go.
Hamilton swearing on the radio which is unusual for him.
Encouragement to Hartley from the pits. Presumably with their move to Honda coming up, they know this could be the last chance they get to overtake someone for quite some time…
Painful thought..
This has been a disgusting weekend from K-Mag.
to be fair he did show some good racing coming back on Wehrlein, but yeah, not very fair there with RAI,VER …
Building a rep like he is can only be a hindrance for his career.
Indeed, though I guess if Haas are happy, he can hang with them for a while, maybe they will somehow manage to climb up the grid. Maybe.
It’s the #blessed Lap 44. Hamilton doesn’t seem like he’ll win. Welcome to prove me wrong!
Amused by the BBC commentators talking about moving the season finale to Montreal. A quick search reveals it’s -2C there at the moment…
First race with snow tyres. ;-)
Oo I wonder what will they call them. They’ll need to add a new color to the rainbow.
Listening to the radio Keith? YEah, would be quite interesting though. Pirelli bringing winter tyres?
Brrr..
Well if F1 changed its season to run from January to September instead of March to November… it could be done!
Snow on the ground as well.
It feels like 2016 with SUCH a gap between Mercs and Ferrari.
Stroll still locking up. Is there really an issue with his car? Because so far it just looks like he ruined his own race with those lockups
Hamilton almost did have a go there!
Bottas had a lockup and slowed a bit.
Looks like it will either be a Valtteri mistake or he will concede the position if Lewis is going to win.
Another FLAP from Bottas, getting close to the all time fastest lap here now.
Lewis has backed off to over 4 sec. behind Valtteri.
Not as much backed off, more that Bottas has done two FLAPS going a second lower than they were doing before.
F1 2017 Abu Dhabi GP- Ricciardo retirement
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6aljgg
Hamilton dropped off Bottas like a stone. Tyres gone off the cliff methinks.
Rather it was Bottas who sped up quite significantly after Vettel did his FLAP. After that Valtteri suddenly went a second below the laps they were going before that.
Looks like Bottas was just managing the pace for the 30 laps before that.
Very, very, very distant third is Sebastian.
No evident enthusiasm for the race from the German. Just held position.
Everybody held position near the top except RIC, MAS.
Verstappen might have had a shot at Kimi if not for Magnussen getting in the way.
Unless I’m very much mistaken, Hulkenberg has leapfrogged both Williams to 10th in the driver’s standings as well.
yep. And Kimi beat Ricciardo to 5th due to Daniels DNF
6th place for Renault in the Constructors’ Championship, but unfortunately for Sainz, the 2nd DNF in a row on this circuit.
Alright, cheers Keith and all!
well that was it then..thanks Keith and mods, it was a great year..see everybody next year, enjoy the holidays
Very true words Lewis. I also think that they should change the track (quite drastically IMO)
Agreed this is no kind of track to conduct the last race of the year.
Enjoy the off season everyone!
Thank you too! Thank you Keith for making this possible. It’s always a pleasure to watch the race with F1 fanatics. Thank you Mods for everything. Hope everyone enjoys the winter break and copes well with the F1 withdrawals!
Now we’ll have a four-month wait till the Australian GP.
Glitches!
The new logo looks OK, but definitely I prefer the old one.
Prefer the old one too! :(
I thought the glitch way seemed to disrespect the “old” logo.
so, time for a final rate the race then? I acutally think that for this track it was a pretty good race. We had some fighting lower in the field that was quite entertaining, and we had Hamilton and Verstappen hunting Bottas and Kimi too.
bye everyone, see you for testing!
Thanks for joining in everyone: 2017’s had many highlights although it has to be said the last race wasn’t one of them.
Lots more to come on the site – be sure to join in Rate the Race here:
https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/11/26/rate-race-2017-abu-dhabi-grand-prix/
Hello everyone and welcome to F1 Fanatic Live for the first of two days of testing from Yas Marina.
See here for a list of who will be running today:
https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/11/28/live-abu-dhabi-test-day-one-2/
Houston we got a problem…
Kubica did the morning running for Wiliams and logged over 100 laps, Stroll has taken over now.
High mileages all round so far:
1. Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari SF70H: 1’37.768 , 69 laps
2. Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull RB13: 1’38.066 (+0.298), 100 laps
3. Romain Grosjean – Haas VF-17: 1’39.270 (+1.502), 100 laps
4. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes W08: 1’39.470 (+1.702), 102 laps
5. Fernando Alonso – McLaren MCL32: 1’39.762 (+1.994), 74 laps
6. Nico Hulkenberg – Renault RS17: 1’39.803 (+2.035), 79 laps
7. Nikita Mazepin – Force India VJM10: 1’40.890 (+3.122), 63 laps
8. Robert Kubica – Williams FW40: 1’41.296 (+3.528), 100 laps
9. Sean Gelael – Toro Rosso STR12: 1’41.428 (+3.660), 82 laps
10. Oliver Turvey – McLaren MCL32: 1’41.914 (+4.146), 105 laps
11. Marcus Ericsson – Sauber C36: 1’42.556 (+4.788), 79 laps
Day two is go, here are the times so far:
1. Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari SF70H: 1’37.551 , 35 laps
2. Esteban Ocon – Force India VJM10: 1’39.425 (+1.874), 37 laps
3. Max Verstappen – Red Bull RB13: 1’40.084 (+2.533), 37 laps
4. Valtteri Bottas – Mercedes W08: 1’40.151 (+2.600), 29 laps
5. Sergey Sirotkin – Williams FW40: 1’40.265 (+2.714), 39 laps
6. Carlos Sainz Jnr – Renault RS17: 1’40.657 (+3.106), 26 laps
7. Kevin Magnussen – Haas VF-17: 1’40.727 (+3.176), 35 laps
8. Stoffel Vandoorne – McLaren MCL32: 1’40.817 (+3.266), 31 laps
9. Lando Norris – McLaren MCL32: 1’41.714 (+4.163), 28 laps
10. Charles Leclerc – Sauber C36: 1’43.300 (+5.749), 25 laps
11. Pierre Gasly – Toro Rosso STR12: 1’45.108 (+7.557), 23 laps
funny that McLaren is testing with 2 cars (ok one is for the tyres) what is the reason they test only with 1 car??
It’s a cost saving measure.
McLaren test with a second car because that car is doing the running they had planned to do in the Brazil tyre test for Pirelli that was cancelled after assaults on team members that weekend
Times as they stand:
1. Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari SF70H: 1’37.551 , 53 laps
2. Esteban Ocon – Force India VJM10: 1’39.148 (+1.597), 61 laps
3. Valtteri Bottas – Mercedes W08: 1’39.211 (+1.660), 53 laps
4. Carlos Sainz Jnr – Renault RS17: 1’39.444 (+1.893), 40 laps
5. Max Verstappen – Red Bull RB13: 1’39.616 (+2.065), 46 laps
6. Kevin Magnussen – Haas VF-17: 1’39.810 (+2.259), 50 laps
7. Sergey Sirotkin – Williams FW40: 1’39.947 (+2.396), 51 laps
8. Stoffel Vandoorne – McLaren MCL32: 1’40.817 (+3.266), 31 laps
9. Lando Norris – McLaren MCL32: 1’41.714 (+4.163), 60 laps
10. Charles Leclerc – Sauber C36: 1’43.300 (+5.749), 53 laps
11. Pierre Gasly – Toro Rosso STR12: 1’45.108 (+7.557), 23 laps
Thanks for the updates, Kubica might get a go on the hypersoft later?
Updated times:
1. Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari SF70H: 1’37.551 , 53 laps
2. Esteban Ocon – Force India VJM10: 1’39.148 (+1.597), 72 laps
3. Valtteri Bottas – Mercedes W08: 1’39.211 (+1.660), 78 laps
4. Max Verstappen – Red Bull RB13: 1’39.348 (+1.797), 61 laps
5. Carlos Sainz Jnr – Renault RS17: 1’39.444 (+1.893), 46 laps
6. Kevin Magnussen – Haas VF-17: 1’39.810 (+2.259), 63 laps
7. Sergey Sirotkin – Williams FW40: 1’39.947 (+2.396), 51 laps
8. Stoffel Vandoorne – McLaren MCL32: 1’40.817 (+3.266), 39 laps
9. Charles Leclerc – Sauber C36: 1’41.434 (+3.883), 66 laps
10. Lando Norris – McLaren MCL32: 1’41.714 (+4.163), 86 laps
11. Pierre Gasly – Toro Rosso STR12: 1’44.827 (+7.276), 53 laps
I read somewhere else that FW40 broke down with a gearbox problem. Is it true? Pity for Sirotkin, however, he’s already posted a time over a second faster than Kubica yesterday.
Repaired, drove
Thanks!
Ivan don’t be naive, Kubica only tested soft tires.
If Sirotkin doesn’t break the car in the afternoon you’ll see Robert in the softer compounds and there goes Sirotkins time.
Kubica with full tank , and probably different tires
Seems Kubica was on a race simulation yesterday to compare his times to the race, they didn’t run him on the hypersoft
If race simulation was the case yesterday it’s more like this
Race Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1’43.026
Race simulation Kubica Robert Williams-Mercedes 1:41.296
HAM was 1:41.473 in the race. Not sure it was a race setup based.
I hope someone can clear this up, however, I read in other places that he also did short qualy runs. To be fair, if I was a team manager having to decide between some drivers, I’d be interested in seeing how fast they can go off the bat, and then be making further conclusions.
He might have done some short runs but the 1:41.296 was of softs that is for sure. This afternoon will tell the full story
PS these are the 2018 tyres so the “soft” is closer to the super soft of 2017
I read that one of the concerns Renault saw in their tests with Kubica was inconsistency in long runs @njoydesign
Come on Robert! #KUBICA#ON#ITS#WAY#FOR#WILLIAMS#F1#SEAT#
That’s means Kubica not capable for softer compounds yet ! By the way what so big deal for him, that year to race rally should know to bear the consequences,
Is that you Paul di Resta?
Anywhere to see the live timings?
Here are the times now Perez and Hartley have joined in the fun:
1. Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari SF70H: 1’37.551 , 68 laps
2. Max Verstappen – Red Bull RB13: 1’38.736 (+1.185), 85 laps
3. Valtteri Bottas – Mercedes W08: 1’38.873 (+1.322), 96 laps
4. Esteban Ocon – Force India VJM10: 1’39.148 (+1.597), 72 laps
5. Carlos Sainz Jnr – Renault RS17: 1’39.444 (+1.893), 67 laps
6. Kevin Magnussen – Haas VF-17: 1’39.810 (+2.259), 85 laps
7. Sergey Sirotkin – Williams FW40: 1’39.947 (+2.396), 86 laps
8. Charles Leclerc – Sauber C36: 1’40.666 (+3.115), 91 laps
9. Stoffel Vandoorne – McLaren MCL32: 1’40.817 (+3.266), 55 laps
10. Sergio Perez – Force India VJM10: 1’41.099 (+3.548), 6 laps
11. Lando Norris – McLaren MCL32: 1’41.714 (+4.163), 107 laps
12. Brendon Hartley – Toro Rosso STR12: 1’44.265 (+6.714), 9 laps
13. Pierre Gasly – Toro Rosso STR12: 1’44.827 (+7.276), 63 laps
Small OT but I have to ask. Am I the only one who see Force India when I look at the new F1 logo?
So far only one team has set a quicker time than they achieved during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend:
Haas: 1’39.270 (-0.028) – Romain Grosjean
Sauber: 1’40.666 (+0.672) – Charles Leclerc
Ferrari: 1’37.551 (+0.774) – Sebastian Vettel
Force India: 1’39.148 (+0.789) – Esteban Ocon
Williams: 1’39.580 (+1.03) – Lance Stroll
Red Bull: 1’38.066 (+1.107) – Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren: 1’39.762 (+1.126) – Fernando Alonso
Renault: 1’39.444 (+1.306) – Carlos Sainz Jnr
Mercedes: 1’38.551 (+2.32) – Lewis Hamilton
Toro Rosso: 1’41.428 (+2.703) – Sean Gelael
01:39.485 for Kubica on ultrasofts- that’s the test fastest for Williams.
yess 1.39.485 Kubica
Kubica does 1’39.485 on ultrasofts
Anyone know what tyre Sirotkin’s quickest time was set on?
hyper
pink stripe- ultrasoft
ah ok thanks
Cheers @Arrang. Good to see Robert with decent speed :D
I only hope that Robert can be an improvement for Williams (if they will sign him) over Massa. At the moment it looks OK and it’s good to know that he’s up to the job.
Personally I think one of the differences between Robert and Felipe is Robert seems hungrier since his accident. Felipe didn’t seem to be at the same level after his.
I appreciated Robert’s movement is restricted, but he’s clearly got speed, he’s now gone quicker than Stroll did yesterday. So that’s 2 teams tested for, multiple race distances done in a day all consistent.
He’s also known for good to excellent engineer feedback – a good development driver that’s also quick has to be a benefit to a team where sadly pay drivers have become a reality for at least half the garage.
@Mark and sorry both Kubica and Sirotkin got their best times on hypersoft! Forgot that the pinkish tyre is the hyper not the ultra fast one ;)
Hah – no worries – so long as they were the same tyre – obviously we don’t know about fuel loads etc, but a good indicator of speed capability
Yep Pink is hypersoft. Now what was Strolls time on hypersoft
again?
1:39.580 for Stroll on the hypersoft, not much in it
A Russian f1 news site reports that Sirotkin was on Softs for his best lap. Whom to believe? =)
On Twitter someone said he did his best lap on softs but did run on hypersofts and failed to beat his softs time
interesting, thanks!
So that probably is true. I noticed Sirotkin on hypersofts and he wasn’t improving on his lap time – thought it’s the hypersoft compund going off. Sirotkind did some long runs on soft so if he finnished below 1’40 that’s some good pace. To be honest both Sergiey and Robert didn’t know the car nor the tyres and it can be pretty tricky to improve if you don’t know hum much you can push the compound – that might explain why Sirotkin didn’t improve his best time.
Here’s the test day two report:
https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/11/29/ferrari-quickest-yas-marina-test-ends/
And that’s it for 2017! Thanks very much for joining in over the last nine months everyone. We’ll be back with more live coverage in the new year but until then there 2017 season review is coming up and plenty more coverage during the off-season.