[Official] Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2023: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 23 of 23

[Born Racer]

The curtain goes down on the 2023 season with Round 23 (although we didn't actually make it to 23 Grands Prix due to the Imola flooding and cancellation. Although there has only been one drivers' title decider (2021) since 2016 and it is not a favourite track of drivers, there are still championship placings to be settled. Of particular interest is the battle between Mercedes and Ferrari over second for the second year in a row and between McLaren and Aston Martin for fourth.


The history

In the first year of the race in 2009, Brawn driver Jenson Button arrived in Abu Dhabi for the seventeenth and final race fresh off the back of his world championship, having sealed it last time out in Brazil. This was the final race in which we saw refuelling.

After leading the early laps, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was jumped at the stops by Sebastian Vettel, who was in his first year with Red Bull. Hamilton went out with brake trouble, while the only other retirement was Jaime Alguersuari who retired after stopping in the Red Bull pit by mistake, instead of that of the junior team, Toro Rosso. Red Bull sent him out (it was the lap when Vettel was due in) and he went out of the race with a gearbox problem. Kamui Kobayashi finished sixth for Toyota, impressing the team and scoring points in only his second race; he looked set to stay at the team, but they were to withdraw at the end of the year (it was also BMW’s final race). Vettel held on for his fifth Grand Prix win and his fourth of the season. Team-mate Mark Webber fought off a hard challenge by the new world champion on the final lap to hang on to the runner-up spot.

2010 was a championship decider and it brought something few people apparently saw coming, this lack of foresight contributing to the result itself. Four drivers went into the race with a chance of winning the title, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso leading the championship battle on 246 points, with Mark Webber giving chase on 238, and more remote chances for Sebastian Vettel on 231 points and Lewis Hamilton on 222. It was the first year in which 25 points was awarded for a victory and the first time four drivers had entered the final Grand Prix with a chance of the world title.

On the opening lap, Michael Schumacher tried to pass Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg and spun, leading to a scary moment when Vitantonio Liuzzi put his car atop the Mercedes. Vettel led away from pole and ended up leading most of the race, apart from a period during the pit stops. Mark Webber struggled for grip on the super-soft tyres and pitted early. Ferrari followed suit for Alonso to cover the Red Bull driver, a catastrophic strategic decision as it turned out, which ultimately may have partly led to Aldo Costa’s demotion and perhaps even to his eventual departure from the team. Both drivers struggled to overtake and were well down the order, with Alonso’s race-long frustration behind Renault’s Vitaly Petrov a particularly obvious moment to pick as defining the outcome of the season.

Meanwhile, Vettel, blissfully unaware of being in the pound seats for the championship, romped home to victory. With some slight shades of James Hunt in 1976, he wasn't sure he was world champion on crossing the line and only learned of his success when told by his engineer.

The following year, Vettel again got into the first corner first, but a puncture led to his retirement and in a reversal of their 2009 fortunes, it was Lewis Hamilton who took the spoils. Alonso in the Ferrari and Button in the McLaren completed the podium.

2012 saw that season’s returnee Kimi Räikkönen return to the top step of the podium for the first time since 2009 in his new Lotus team. He controlled the race well since taking over the lead following Lewis Hamilton’s retirement and told the team and the world just how in control he was with his infamous words, “Just leave me alone – I know what I’m doing” and when asked by the team to keep the heat in all four tyres under the safety car, replying “Yes, yes, yes, yes – I’m doing it all the time. You don’t have to remind me every ten seconds”. Kimi was quite big on words that day as both he and Vettel were warned by the stewards about swear words on the podium that day in the new-style more media-friendly podium ceremony. Kimi still had a more typical moment of nonchalance and understatement that day, though, with his placid response to being asked about his emotions regarding how it felt to be a winner again of "not much really".

In 2013, there was a partial solar eclipse that could be seen during the race, but it was Sebastian Vettel totally eclipsed the opposition, as he overtook Mark Webber into Turn 1 and led every lap of the race, winning by 30.8 seconds from his Red Bull team-mate.

2014 saw the first and probably last time that we will see double championship points offered in the last race. We also saw the super-soft and soft tyres being introduced, instead of the soft and the medium of the previous three seasons. Lewis Hamilton ended up taking his second world title and the win, with Felipe Massa just 2.5 seconds behind at the chequered flag. Valtteri Bottas’s third meant that Williams got their first double podium since Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber finished second and third at Monaco in 2005.

The next year, Nico Rosberg completed an end-of-season hat-trick to win ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, while Kimi Räikkönen completed the podium. This run of three wins for Nico extended into a run of seven, as he also took the first four victories of 2016, setting himself up for his world championship.

In the end of that season, Nico took his only F1 world title, finishing second after what he described as a race which was "so intense, so, so, so horribly intense" and a "horrible feeling" defending. Lewis Hamilton won the race and tried to back Rosberg up into the pack, but Rosberg stayed resolute and held second over Daniel Ricciardo.

In 2017, Valtteri Bottas won from world championship-winning team mate Hamilton.

A year after, Lewis Hamilton won from Vettel and Max Verstappen. Nico Hülkenberg was tipped into a roll on the opening lap, while in 2019, Hamilton took victory from Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.

In 2020, it was Max Verstappen who stopped the Mercedes juggernaut, which had stretched back to 2014, and he was never passed from pole. Bottas was runner-up and Hamilton, returning from Covid, third.

2021's event will go done as a highly-remembered race, albeit for controversial reasons, as it was marred by the controversy involving a late safety car. It saw a revised circuit and Max Verstappen claiming his first world title follow a season-long epic scrap with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. The Red Bull driver qualified on pole, with Hamilton alongside him on the front row and Lando Norris third.

Hamilton got the lead off the line, but Verstappen attempted to get ahead on Lap 1 into Turn 6. Hamilton went off track and maintained the position, but Red Bull claimed that Hamilton should have ceded the place. Sergio Pérez led after the other two made their first stops and managed to hold Hamilton up, but not successfully enough for Verstappen to get the jump on him when Hamilton pitted.

On Lap 53 of 58, Nicholas Latifi crashed, prompting the safety car to come out. Hamilton stayed out, so as not to lose track position, but behind him, Verstappen came in for a new set of softs. The lapped drivers were told that they could not overtake, yet on Lap 57, race director Michael Masi instructed only the five lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen that they could pass. This left the two together for the final lap restart and Max went past Lewis at Turn 5, who tried to fight back, but to no avail. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff came over the radio to protest to Masi, but was rebuked by him and told "Toto, it's called a motor race, okay? We went car racing". They finished in that order, with Carlos Sainz third for Ferrari.

Last year, Red Bull locked out the front row and Verstappen took a hat trick of wins at the Yas Marina Circuit, beating the also one-stopping Charles Leclerc. Pérez, who had two stopped, came in third. Hamilton's retirement ensured Ferrari would definitely claim second in the constructors' championship.


The track



A purpose-built race circuit designed in conjunction with the surrounding buildings, including the symbolic Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi Hotel, whose diamond-shaped colour-changing LED panes show off the opulence of the Emirates and which is built over the track, the Yas Marina circuit is characterised by its billiard table-like smooth surface and contemporary corner design with a few curious and tricky curves.

Drivers can carry quite a lot of speed into the wide Turn 1, but it has to be tempered because it is also quite an angle on the exit. They then vault up towards the apex of the left-hand Turn 2 on the brow of a slight hill before holding on flat through the long right-hand Turn 3. Turn 4 is really just a bit of a curve on the downhill straight. Next is the North Hairpin (Turn 5).

They are now into Sector 2. There is a chicane here (Turns 6 and 7), which is left, a tiny bit right and then immediately left again. At the end of the next straight, there is a banked turn (Turn 9) which takes the drivers into Sector 3. Turns 10 and 11 are both right-handers and the braking for Turn 12 (formerly Turn 17) is tricky, as drivers are turning slightly and the corner soon appears. The drivers go left under the hotel at 13, before going left again at 14. The final two corners (15 and 16) are in a similar vein to 10 and 11 but with the final corner being much more angled. Drivers carry a lot of speed through the penultimate turn but have to be careful to slow down enough for the final corner, which is a tricky angle to aim at following that braking zone.

The change of ambient temperature here as the race goes on can have its effect on performance. We can anticipate some bigger vertical loads, especially on the fronts. It can also be a little difficult to to avoid wheelspin out of some of the slow corners. The tyres heat up quite a lot in the first sector before then cooling down a bit on the long straight.


Other information

Circuit length: 5.281km
Number of laps: 58
Race distance: 306.183km
Dry weather tyre compounds: C3, C4 & C5
Race Lap Record on this configuration: 1:26.103 (Max Verstappen - Red Bull Racing Honda)
First Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: 2009
First Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on this track: 2009
First Grand Prix on this configuration: 2021

Join in the fun in the predictions contest and follow Fantasy F1 to see where your team ends up in the standings.

https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158469

https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157755

[Lancsbreaker]

FP2 just red-flagged - Sainz apparently caught "dirty air" from another car, and spun into the barriers. OK and out of the car........

[Lancsbreaker]

FP2 resumes after barrier repairs with less than half an hour left - tricky as it is the only representative practice in terms of track condition/time, and half the field didn't run in FP1 as the alternate drivers were given a chance.......


And almost immediately red-flagged again as Hulk hits the barrier......


Session resumes again with under 15 minutes. Max very impatient, overtaking Hamilton in the pit lane.....

[Lancsbreaker]

Probably an unrepresentative session with teams running split strategies and tyre mixes.......Leclerc fastest, but the top 15 within one second. Norris second, Max third, Bottas (on hards!) fourth from Perez and Russell, with Zho in the other Alfa seventh and Hamilton eighth......

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

FP2 just red-flagged - Sainz apparently caught "dirty air" from another car, and spun into the barriers. OK and out of the car........

compensation!!! they should sue whoever the promoter is for all that dirty air!

*just a joke.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Excellent intro as ever.

It's difficult to get enthused for the season finale since the WDC and WCC were decided back in Qatar, though there is the prospect of Verstappen winning 19 races in a season. Personally, I think a shorter season would be better. If F1 wants to up its Green credentials and lower its carbon footprint, that's something they should consider.

[BTCC frog]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Excellent intro as ever.
Personally, I think a shorter season would be better. If F1 wants to up its Green credentials and lower its carbon footprint, that's something they should consider.

Logically, you are right, and for the good of the people working for all the teams, there should be fewer races as well. But from a totally selfish perspective I am disappointed that after this weekend I won't have any Formula 1 to look forward to until March. Even in the dullest season since 2015 at least, if not the early 2000s, I still wish there was more of it. Hopefully we will have a genuine title battle next year, or at least a lot more races where there was genuine doubt after half-distance who was going to win (I think Jeddah, Miami, Monaco, Zandvoort, Singapore, Austin, Las Vegas is probably the complete list which is very short for a Formula 1 season). Singapore was the only great race of the year.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

FP2 just red-flagged - Sainz apparently caught "dirty air" from another car, and spun into the barriers. OK and out of the car........

After viewing several replays im wondering if something broke. It just snapped away under him.
I know what he said but after several views I wondered if something on the rear left corner broke.

[Born Racer]

I heard that a couple of bumps have developed on the circuit and that's what pitched him off.

[Greem]

Great intro, BR

Not much love for this particular race, is there? WDC/WCC decided, best-of-the-rest and midfield teams wrangling for WCC points to make sure they get their extra millions. Qualifying felt a bit flat to me, almost as if some teams & drivers have shrugged their shoulders a bit and are looking forward to packing up for Christmas, while others were trying just a bit too hard (Logan Sargent, I'm looking at you!).

I intend to watch it, but if something else takes my attention I don't think I'll miss it much.

[billy bleach]

What ever happened to Grojean’s Mercedes test?…

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Super Max, 19 wins in a season.

[TCT]

That was a very booooooring event.
I am not even going to call that "a race"

[Greem]

I actually enjoyed that. Predictable silly 4 or 5 laps with position changes, lunges etc while everyone sorted themselves out, settled down a bit, then the same again once the pit stops started. Repeat to chequered flag.

Was good to hear Leclerc trying to do the WCC permutations over the radio but in the end Russell was just a bit too good for that.

Max though. Imperious. What a season!

[Taxi645]

If I calculated corrected 575 out of a maximum of 646 points. In other words 89% of the maximum attainable points. That's a season we might never see again.

[Lancsbreaker]

Brief moment of excitement when it looked as though Leclerc could challenge on the first lap.....and a few entertaining strategic battles as the different tyre strategies worked out, but not a thrilling race. Nice try by Leclerc letting Perez pass so that he could try to mitigate his 5-second penalty, helping reduce Merc points - but Russell hung on well enough.


Oh well, 3 months and we'll start over........

[Taxi645]

Originally Posted by Taxi645

If I calculated corrected 575 out of a maximum of 646 points. In other words 89% of the maximum attainable points. That's a season we might never see again.

Think it should be 575 out of a possible 620 actually, so that would make it 93% of the maximum attainable points.


(22x 26 points plus 6 x 8 points).

[S griffin]

Wasn't a great way to end the year. Max too dominant. Few battles down the field, but they didn't last long and 100% reliability meant we had hardly any drama. Checo's penalty was the biggest talking point

But this hasn't been a great year all in all, so I'm just glad it's all over

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Taxi645

That's a season we might never see again.

We can but hope......

[steve_r]

What I cannot understand is that after watching the rear wing of the RBR disappear off into the distance for the last two seasons, and having been run off the road in the last race, why on earth didn't LeClerc be a bit more forceful with Verstappen on lap 1? We only need week-long memories to know what would have happened if the boot was on the other foot. Perhaps he was happy to run in second place - if so, I'm glad that I am not his team manager.

[Taxi645]

Originally Posted by steve_r

What I cannot understand is that after watching the rear wing of the RBR disappear off into the distance for the last two seasons, and having been run off the road in the last race, why on earth didn't LeClerc be a bit more forceful with Verstappen on lap 1? We only need week-long memories to know what would have happened if the boot was on the other foot. Perhaps he was happy to run in second place - if so, I'm glad that I am not his team manager.

He needed to get Ferrari 2nd in the constructors championship. Verstappen knew that as well.

[Aysedasi]

Was 2nd really that important? This season, second place brings little in the way of kudos.....

[Taxi645]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Was 2nd really that important? This season, second place brings little in the way of kudos.....

Apparently it was to them (seeing the length they were willing to go to get Perez 5s in front of Russell).

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Was 2nd really that important? This season, second place brings little in the way of kudos.....

Just a little matter of $9 million!

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Was 2nd really that important? This season, second place brings little in the way of kudos.....

I can think of several million reasons....