So final race of the year and it's the title decider well unless it subsequently goes to court! ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX 2021 55 laps of the 5.281-kilometre Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island 10th December Practice 1 09:30 - 10:30 10th December Practice 2 13:00 - 14:00 11th December Practice 3 10:00 - 11:00 11th December Qualifying 13:00 - 14:00 12th December Race 13:00 - 15:00 All times are UK times Poll closes before Quali. I was thinking of adding a poll for number of penalties or lap when Max crashes into Lewis but thought better of it
hamilton by 10 seconds minimum. cruising home. Verstappen has blown this by time. If he didn't hit the wall in quali i guess he might have pitted for tyres like hamilton on that first safety car so in the end his chance to win the Saudi death race evaporated with wrong tyres and in ability to keep hamilton from closing up (extremely closely at times ) Red bull simply don't have the speed, end of. only mechanical failure or DQ can save Verstappen now.
Tbf Max won here last season is a much slower car then he has this season, unfortunately for him Perez has been really poor recently, Silverstone was the killer for Max if he didn't get taken out there he of walk the title
Don't want to curse either of the top two... So going to spaff my vote on Perez. Sorry dude. No idea how this will play out... Not going to try predict it, not going to expect or anticipate anything...just going to hope that it's a belter!
I don’t think this will be a cakewalk for anyone- it will be very close and very tense. Can’t see anything other than Lewis and Max starting 1 and 2. Some chatter about Merc being better suited to this new layout but there are some positives for Red Bull in my opinion- I think they’ll get a great slingshot out of the hairpins so will negate some of the straight line advantage Merc might have with power. Softest compounds too which might have an edge for RBR as Mercs are very good on harder tyres. You get the impression there will be one definitive moment somewhere- I just hope it is fair racing. Qualifying will be tense for sure!
Not that the rules written down seem to matter at the moment but is there an official punishment for deliberately crashing into your title rival (assuming it could be proved deliberate of course)? With all the scrutiny going on I really would like to think even Max isn't stupid enough to do it now, but you never know! Though I was curious what the "official" punishment is for deliberately crashing into your rival. I would expect at least a DSQ and some form of ban given it's putting lives at risk. Is there anything in there about a point deduction to try and dissuade Max or would it be future consequences as apposed to consequences to his current points/results/title? Assuming they followed any rule currently written and didn't just make it up like they have all season.
I think Vettel received a 10 sec stop go for deliberately crashing into Lewis after he thought he brake tested him in Baku and that was behind a safety car. So very minimal speed was involved. Dan Ticktum received a 2 year ban (1 year suspended) when he overtook under safety car so he could crash into his rival but I'm not sure that was FIA event. In the circumstances we have going into the final race level on points but with Max ahead on countback I think things need to be clarified so that Max understands that taking out an opponent will result in a points deduction not just a time penalty. His dad has already been whining about FIA favouring Red Bull and then Hemet has to apologise for releasing an incorrect statement that Max did not brake!!! I really hope we get a clean race and Max is well and truly beaten on track not by his dad!
I almost wish there was another week before this race, I still haven't stopped thinking about the last one. Also, when this race is done, no more till March
The one thing that made that decision easier for the FIA though was that Villeneuve was champion despite the incident. wonder what would have happened had Michael have won after the collision?
That one was so blatant, they would have had to do something. No ifs buts or maybes on that one, it was clear as day.
F1 has slowly but surely gone downhill since it was stolen/bought by the yanks, they are only interested in a spectacle for the mass morons The sprint for the final pole position is the worst change yet, someone could top all the practice and qualifying for the provisional pole and then get taken out and end up at the back of the starting grid The sprint as a warm up for the main race with a couple of points at stake I could just accept but even then their is a danger that someone could end up with a wrecked car after qualifying on the front of the grid Get rid of all yanks from F1 and football
Fair comment , but imho that wasn’t quite so blatant . It it was , surely the fia would have done something given Prost was in a Ferrari ?
Not quite as obvious as the Schumacher Villeneuve moment... That one was just clear as day. If it did come to a collision, quite easy for Max to make it less obvious that that one, I'm pretty sure.
With all the telemetry and the on board 360 cameras it would be difficult for it not to be obvious as long as the FIA want the truth not just a new face as Champion! Just call me sceptical
Over cook it a bit.. go deep, oops, under steer..... It was an honest mistake 'guv! Risk in that is taking yourself out and leaving Hamilton to recover for a point.