Having handed over his car to reserve driver in the opening practice, Ferrari regular driver Charles Leclerc set the benchmark time in the second practice session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
#1 driver showing his talent again by sticking such a big gap to everyone else.
Ferrari vs mercedes tomorrow will be interesting. Charles P2 and Russel P4, decent haul of points difference there. Even if they end up equal - Ferrari take the spot.
Incredible performance by Verstappen again. Best qualifier on the grid by far, shows his quality again. His ability to be on it and put the car on the limit right away from the very first lap in Q1, utilizing fewer sets of brand new tires to proceed in Q3 has been massively underrated. It was close, as predicted, and would've been even closer if all top performers were able to save 2 sets for Q3.
Disagree. Leclerc is better in quali - he just struggles so much with his car on many tracks, including this one. Nobody can qualify with a bad or improperly set up car.
But when Leclerc is on, it's 110% in qualifying, pretty much every time.
Marko just said that they didn't expect to get onto the front row and therefor went for a setup with less downforce, to be able to pass in the race. He doesn't expect it to be a problem tomorrow, though.
The money he lost to Horner will go to the bar bill of the mechanics tomorrow night.
Norris again messing up his qualifying.
Perez again losing his lap for track limits.
Verstappen and Leclerc again delivering when it matters.
Sums up 2023.
Very weird how Redbull struggled in the hotter temperatures. I mean Russell and the mclarens were clearly ahead in practice 3. This generation of cars is so sensitive. Max’s consistency needs to be applauded though. You take the car out of the equation and look at the other top drivers with albeit inferior equipment and no one has been as consistent. It gets boring but the guy is driving at another level.
Max is always on. I have seen him make wrong choices, maybe wrong is a big word, too eager is maybe better, but off the pace, sine 2015, never. Not once. Not even in FP. I think it comes from his eagerness, his willingness to go for it. And starting this young, and always competing with the best, usually much older. We all know these guys in sport, there’s always the few, on any level of sport. Great to look at but also the moment of realization, no I can’t do that. As a fan I hope it continues. The good thing for everyone who is not a fan, or who can’t stand him, or anywhere in between, the cars are getting closer and closer. The whole field is so tight now.
Very weird how Redbull struggled in the hotter temperatures. I mean Russell and the mclarens were clearly ahead in practice 3. This generation of cars is so sensitive.
Maybe, or the field is just close so 1-2 tenths variation makes a big difference where normally it wouldn't make any difference.