2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina, Dec 10 - 12

[BlueCheetah66]

Perez will need to be right behind Hamilton, stop him dropping back and saving tyres in the wake or even get ahead of him

[west52keep64]

Will Merc ask Lando to tailgun Lewis for the first few corners? and Would he do it if they did?

Norris and Verstappen are very good friends, so he absolutely will not do that. I imagine he mostly doesn't want to get too involved.

[Bill_Kar]

LH is just fine. With pole, he was risking a turn 1 incident, since Max would surely be close to him due to Softs, so I think even if it wasn't intentional, LH is at a great position.

As I said, Bottas should be P3, but I don't think Norris will do anything stupid. Especially, if Perez doesn't overtake Norris, I sense he will be out of the picture as well.

With Hamilton's pace pushing MV as well, this will be Qatar N.2 in terms of MV-LH and the rest. Let's see what happens.

[jz11]

Rocketship Mercedes now, suddenly, 0.4s behind Max, out of the blue ?

Hamilton blatantly let Max get pole because he fears this:
yt.com/watch?v=k0F9_ExTKmU

Regardless of that, if I found out tomorrow, when checking the results, that this was a "clean" race, I will be surprised:!:

I fell sorry for the mods(at least the nice ones) because tomorrow is gonna be a very busy day, in all likelyhood

why? they'll just lock the door and go out to have few drinks regardless of the outcome, then start looking for the key around Tuesday afternoon

[El Scorchio]

Yeah I think Norris will do what Ocon did in SA and just not get involved- unless one of them has a dreadful start. He doesn’t want to be THAT GUY.

Perez just needs to not go too hot into t1 up Hamilton’s backside.

[pantherxxx]

Super Max. God will protect this kid, and he will win the championship tomorrow.

[Bill_Kar]

Yeah I think Norris will do what Ocon did in SA and just not get involved- unless one of them has a dreadful start. He doesn’t want to be THAT GUY.

Perez just needs to not go too hot into t1 up Hamilton’s backside.

Exactly. LH just wants a decent start, if he's side-by-side with Norris, it's P2 for him, so all good.

[west52keep64]

Where is this "Mercedes rocket" stuff coming from? They were only a tenth or so ahead in practice, and it's just practice. When it counted Red Bull was quicker, and they were quicker in the race sims on Friday. If either car is a rocket, right now it's the Red Bull.

I actually think they are fairly equal.

[jz11]

Yeah I think Norris will do what Ocon did in SA and just not get involved- unless one of them has a dreadful start. He doesn’t want to be THAT GUY.

Perez just needs to not go too hot into t1 up Hamilton’s backside.

Exactly. LH just wants a decent start, if he's side-by-side with Norris, it's P2 for him, so all good.

I think Lando "not getting involved" has a very high chance of putting Perez into 3rd spot, and that can then make things quite exciting for Lewis, at least till the softs drop off

[xaero]

Where is this "Mercedes rocket" stuff coming from? They were only a tenth or so ahead in practice, and it's just practice. When it counted Red Bull was quicker, and they were quicker in the race sims on Friday. If either car is a rocket, right now it's the Red Bull.

I actually think they are fairly equal.

Otherwise how they will push their narrative

[siskue2005]

Redbull are the car to be on this season.
His lap in Jeddha and here speaks volumes of how much they have the car underneath him.
Only in Brazil and Qatar did Merc looked clearly faster.. apart from that redbull has been the fastest.

This is motor sport u need the motor (car) to win!

[BlueCheetah66]

Where is this "Mercedes rocket" stuff coming from? They were only a tenth or so ahead in practice, and it's just practice. When it counted Red Bull was quicker, and they were quicker in the race sims on Friday. If either car is a rocket, right now it's the Red Bull.

I actually think they are fairly equal.

I think also the vibe around the RB team this weekend throughout practice and qualifying has been quite telling. They have not been talking about how much of a challenge it will be to be ahead of Hamilton like they have in previous races. They have just been saying that Merc have had pace and turned up the engine

[Bill_Kar]

Yeah I think Norris will do what Ocon did in SA and just not get involved- unless one of them has a dreadful start. He doesn’t want to be THAT GUY.

Perez just needs to not go too hot into t1 up Hamilton’s backside.

Exactly. LH just wants a decent start, if he's side-by-side with Norris, it's P2 for him, so all good.

I think Lando "not getting involved" has a very high chance of putting Perez into 3rd spot, and that can then make things quite exciting for Lewis, at least till the softs drop off

Could be, sure. But there are a lot of factors; I mean Sainz could sneak up Perez as well. We can't possibly know of course.

[ringo]

This qualifying sheds light on Brasil, it was more than just the car.
But anyway, great qualy from max and redbull.
I think its all down to the tyre temperatures.
Max was flying even on his second lap. He also did his usual full attack. I could see that Lewis was somewhat cagey.
But yes the Bulls definitely have been fastest in qualifying since Brasil but they finally got the execution right!
Mercedes are playing the long game, but i feel pole is always the besy place to be.
Even with Max on softs, if lewis is ahead at most he has to defend again Max attacks, but being ahead is always better.
Hamilton will have to overtake Max for the lead. Or just do 1 pitstop less.
As to who will have the best pace in the race, i think it will be super close and the man who manages the rubber better will have the advantage. I dont see either car being dominant here.

[Shrieker]

Rocketship Mercedes now, suddenly, 0.4s behind Max, out of the blue ?

Hamilton blatantly let Max get pole because he fears this:

I doubt it was intentional.

If you look at the gap between Ham and Norris, it deffo looks sus. But then again, you look where Bottas is, and that's a place they can't afford to be, since it can easily leave Lewis 2v1 against the bulls, provided Perez can jump Norris on the opening lap(s).

Red Bull sandbagged. But their setup might've been swayed a little more towards qualifying than the Mercs. If it's not, I'd fully expect Max to sail into the distance.