[Official] Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2022: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 22 of 22

[Born Racer]

The curtain goes down on the 2022 season and although there has only been one drivers' title decider (2021) since 2016 and it is not a favourite track of drivers, if Brazil's battles are anything to go by, Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina circuit is sure to play host to some intense battles, not least because it is possible to make moves stick nowadays and we are still seeing plenty of motivation to get the best result possible, particularly for the teams who are scrapping over vital championship placings.

Interlagos also saw double world champion Max Verstappen stake his claim as number 1 driver in his camp with an unsavoury inter-team disagreement after refusing to hand a place back to team-mate Sergio Pérez in his quest for runner-up spot (the Mexican enters the final round tied with Charles Leclerc on points).

Even if Verstappen manages to win his fifteenth Grand Prix this season in the final round, his Grand Prix win percentage in this season will be 68.1%, just over 4% shy of Michael Schumacher's record of 72.2%, set in 2004, with 13 victories from 18 Grands Prix.

This looks to be the final Grand Prix for Sebastian Vettel and Nicholas Latifi, possibly for Mick Schumacher too, and, for now, Daniel Ricciardo.


The history

In the first year, 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 we saw refuelling.

After leading the early laps, Lewis Hamilton was jumped at the stops by this year's retiree Sebastian Vettel, 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 with 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 had no idea 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 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 2nd and 3rd 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 champ 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, never passed from pole. Bottas was runner-up and Hamilton, returning from Covid, 3rd. Alexander Albon passed Lando Norris for 4th.

Last year's event was a thriller, albeit a controversial one somewhat marred by the controversy involving a late safety car and it saw Max Verstappen claim 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.


The track



A purpose-built race circuit designed in conjunction with the surrounding buildings, including the symbolic Yas Vicero 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. Instead of the chicane here, we now have a wider 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, instead of the quick chicane, we now have 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. This right-hander is less tight than in previous years and the radius of the next three turns has also been opened. 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 Fantasy F1:

https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157560

https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=156986

[S griffin]

FP1 about to start. Quite a few farewells this weekend

[bjohnsonsmith]

After their 1-2 at Interlagos, have Mercedes finally turned things round and can Hamilton break his duck, or will RBR bounce back and Perez finish second in the WDC, or will it be Leclerc? Exciting times, even if it is the last race of the season.

[peebee2]

After last season it would be quite funny if Hamilton wins AD this year.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Since his first GP win at Canada in 2007, Hamilton has won a race in every season he has competed. His driest season so far was 2013, with only one win at Hungary.

[seanyb505]

I love records even if there's an asterisk of any kind

Hammy needs a winless season lol

[Tourer]

Thanks for the intro BR - detailed and insightful as always (after this one you can have a bit of rest, how good is that?).

Plenty to play for amongst the teams / drivers still - game on for this weekend!

[S griffin]

Qualifying started. Alpines looking slow, but Vettel looking inspired

[crmalcolm]

Fire up the conspiracy wheel of fortune again.

Max was unable to get out and give Perez a tow......

[bjohnsonsmith]

I was hoping Perez would get pole but it wasn't to be. Otherwise it's an RB shut out, followed by Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton and Russell. Norris is 7th.

[BTCC frog]

And in a thrilling final round, Sergio Perez helped Max Verstappen to secure the qualifying championship for 2022, beating Charles Leclerc by a mere three points. Ferrari will be kicking themselves over their mistake to put Leclerc on intermediate tyres in Brazil, and they actually threw away what had been a 43 point lead with just three races remaining. Perez’s four hundredths ahead of Leclerc, along with Verstappen’s brilliant pole, decided the fate of the championship. Ferrari still claimed the constructors’ title, however, small consolation after Leclerc had dominated the drivers’ title all season only to lose it in the final round in a manner similar to Niki Lauda in 1976.

Final standings:
1. Max Verstappen 400
2. Charles Leclerc 397
3. Carlos Sainz 303
4. Sergio Perez 263
5. Lewis Hamilton 177
6. George Russell 172
7. Lando Norris 119
8. Fernando Alonso 103
9. Esteban Ocon 72
10. Kevin Magnussen 67
11. Valtteri Bottas 45
12. Pierre Gasly 25
13. Daniel Ricciardo 25
14. Mick Schumacher 17
15. Yuki Tsunoda 13
16. Sebastian Vettel 10
17. Lance Stroll 8
18. Zhou Guanyu 3
19. Alexander Albon 2
20. Nicholas Latifi 1
21. Nyck de Vries 0
22. Nico Hulkenberg 0

1. Ferrari 700
2. Red Bull 663
3. Mercedes 349
4. Alpine 175
5. McLaren 144
6. Haas 84
7. Alfa Romeo 48
8. Alpha Tauri 38
9. Aston Martin 18
10. Williams 3

Also, what a fine job Sebastian Vettel did today.

[Adam43]

What was the qualifying championship positions in 1976? Hunt’s 2nd nabbed it from Lauda’s 3rd (just looked it up ). Hunt was out qualifying Lauda quite a lot earlier in the year. Although here were some notable races where Hunt was at the back.

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Thanks for the intro BR - detailed and insightful as always (after this one you can have a bit of rest, how good is that?).

Hehe, it would be good, Tourer. I think I will need to prepare some of the longer ones, though, which have more history!

[Born Racer]

So, Hamilton has now failed to get a pole position in a season for the first time in his career. He also looks likely to lose the record of winning in every season.

Amazing that Red Bull still don't have a 1-2 in the drivers' championship. Let's see if they rectify that today.

[bjohnsonsmith]

A clean start but did Sainz force Hamilton off, or did Hamilton gain an advantage when he left the track?

Edit: the stewards say Hamilton gained an advantage and must give the place back.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Verstappen on his record 15th win of the season. However Perez misses out on being runner up and Red Bull miss out on the clean sweep. If Verstappen had given the place back to Perez at Interlagos, it would be a different story.

I liked Vettel's farewell speech and thought he made a very good point about privilege and the responsibility that comes with it.

As for Mercedes, it looks like Interlagos was a flash in the pan and Hamilton finishes the season for the first time without a win, or even taking pole.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Congrats to Verstappen on his record 15th win of the season. However Perez misses out on being runner up and Red Bull miss out on the clean sweep. If Verstappen had given the place back to Perez at Interlagos, it would be a different story.

Perez finished 3 points behind Charles. Max cost Perez 2. Switching them likely wouldn't have made a difference unless Max played the team game today as well. Unfortunately, whilst Perez was willing to be a "legend" to get Max his first title last year, Max was not willing to be a legend to get RBR it's first 1-2 in the drivers standings ever.

[Greem]

I quite enjoyed that. Verstappen was off and running at the start and was never going to be headed, but there was action all through the field apart from him.

I didn't realise that was Mercedes' first mechanical failure this year. That's pretty impressive.

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by Greem

I didn't realise that was Mercedes' first mechanical failure this year. That's pretty impressive.

Same here - didn't realise that until the commentators said so. Genuinely impressive and is another indicator that if they turn up with a better car in 2023, it'll be game on with RB and the Scuderia.

Bit going on through the race, had a little chuckle when Latifi was part of an incident that could have led to an SC.

Personally I think that the finishing order in the WDC was pretty right - looking at it across the whole season, I feel that Leclerc deserves to be 2nd and that Checo's 3rd is probably right too.

[GT6]

As the main titles were already decided this was always going to be a bit of a dead rubber, but some good bits in the midfield think this race with it's overtaking should be earlier in the season

[Lancsbreaker]

Found it quite interesting that Hamilton's little sparring match with Perez, where he played the "allow the overtake just before the DRS detection" game to perfection, effectively delaying Perez's inevitable overtake, could well have cost Perez the time he needed to close in on, and perhaps pass, Leclerc for the desperately sought 1-2 in the Championship.


Good to see the departing Danny and Seb having a proper battle to the end.

[AndreasDavour]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Same here - didn't realise that until the commentators said so. Genuinely impressive and is another indicator that if they turn up with a better car in 2023, it'll be game on with RB and the Scuderia.

It's almost the same story for McLaren. Solid, but too slow. They should hopefully have sorted out one thing there, the driver. The question is the car. I have the same feeling about Mercedes. Now they need to up their game with the tech.