Well last race of the season is here: 58 laps of the 5.281-kilometre Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island 24th November Practice 1 09:30 - 10:30 24th November Practice 2 13:00 - 14:00 25th November Practice 3 10:30 - 11:30 25th November Qualifying 14:00 - 15:00 26th November Race 13:00 - 15:00 All times are UK times Poll closes before Quali.
Dread to think the weekend ticket price for Abu Dhabi and yet again we have FP2 timing out because of Red Flags. For those FIA members at the back: FREEZE THE CLOCK Ticket and TV subscribers are being robbed every weekend with this
At least it's only Friday at Abu Dhabi. There's presumably about 3 people in the stands anyway. The drivers that sat out FP1 have a gamble to make on setup now
Max to finish second . he’s got no chance of winning.. on the other hand ….. I hope this is correct , it says to name the driver if you pick. OTHER . Can’t see how to do it on the vote ?
I noticed that seems to be the case. Either Yuki has upped his game or Danny is taking his time to shake both the rust off and negativity of the past 2 years.
Theres definitely a feeling that Danny being there is pushing Yuki to up his game. Bit like Lando when he raised his level to prove himself against an established F1 name. Horner seems to think Ricciardos experience is really helping the team development and set up since their upgrades. Funny old session yesterday though- Hamilton, Sainz and Ricciardo all on the back foot against team mates, seems as if setup was very sensitive around here. No one has any long run data either so I wonder if those who found quali pace may find it comes with some compromises in the race? George Russell seemed confident he had the pace on McLaren for the race and if he’s right, I’d be impressed as I think Macca look rock solid on pace here. Here’s hoping that Max doesn’t have the car in the window in the race and that George and the two Maccas can really hassle him.
Can't see it improving until at least '25 tbh, then someone will dominate from '26 to 31 when they nail the new regs.
Thank goodness it’s over. Cant believe I’ve watched this drivel for so long. Yet again Max waved through by Charles at the one time it could have got interesting (Lap1). If it’s just single car dominance again next year il crack on with some other interests for a short while whilst we let the competitive order sort itself out. This has been like 2014/15 again, not good.
At least Fernando got P4 in the drivers. That'll probably be the only positive thing this season will be remembered for. Leclerc also jumped Sainz after that abysmal weekend from Carlos. So we also won't have to deal with people ignoring Charles's bad luck and insisting that Sainz is the better driver based on the standings
Yes there must be a tonne of development to come from Red Bull having essentially closed off the 2023 car and switched focus to next year a long time ago. I think McLaren might have to wait til 2025 too to really enjoy the benefit of the wind tunnel they have and the new personnel (Rob Marshall and David Sanchez) in place to really come up with the magic. That said, Pete Pdromou has done a heck of an aero job on these upgrades. Aston Martin have Dan Fallows so they may have a strong winter if they can iron out where their upgrades went wrong at mid season. Ferrari have to change some fundamentals in tyre performance if they are to be strong on a Sunday. Actually think Merc under James Allison might be the big gainers but all in all, I see Red Bull comfortably ahead. Be intrigued to see if Perez moves in the winter.
Personally I enjoyed the race, the winner was a forgone conclusion, but behind you had a mix of strategies, some fluctuating pace and some intrigue in terms of the championship positions. I keep saying it but if you ignore the outlier that is Max, F1 isn’t in a bad state.
