Abu Dhabi GP 2010 - Yas Marina Circuit

[ringo]

Alonso's drive was solid, but he could have done more.
Ferrari is to blame for his troubles, but i can't help but feel that he had it easier than lewis being behind petrov.
Lewis had to deal with Kubica, whos know to be very feisty, and Lewis also got some looks in.

Other drivers who stood out today were button and kubica.
Button was fast, but he was steady enough lap time wise, to keep in the spot light. He couldn't get around to pipping kubica; such was robert's pace, but his strategy was pretty good.
Had Lewis held out 2 laps more, he may well be fighting Vettel in the end. He was gaining pretty strongly when Kubica went in.

All in all decent race. Not boring if you're rooting for someone, but it could have been better without the SC. Alonso on Button, Lewis on Vettel would have been a nice showdown.

[timbo]

Alonso's drive was solid, but he could have done more.

For this I agree.
He had to keep his position at the start. That way he could've avoided strategy antics.
Although we do not know how Ferrari treated its tyres today. Maybe earlier pit-stop was unavoidable.

[Gerhard Berger]

Alonso's drive was solid, but he could have done more.
Ferrari is to blame for his troubles, but i can't help but feel that he had it easier than lewis being behind petrov.
Lewis had to deal with Kubica, whos know to be very feisty, and Lewis also got some looks in.

Other drivers who stood out today were button and kubica.
Button was fast, but he was steady enough lap time wise, to keep in the spot light. He couldn't get around to pipping kubica; such was robert's pace, but his strategy was pretty good.
Had Lewis held out 2 laps more, he may well be fighting Vettel in the end. He was gaining pretty strongly when Kubica went in.

All in all decent race. Not boring if you're rooting for someone, but it could have been better without the SC. Alonso on Button, Lewis on Vettel would have been a nice showdown.

Petrov was faster than Kubica this weekend, and we saw Lewis found it just as hard to pass Kubica.

The race was certainly tense, mainly because of the WDC situation. The safety car and varying pitstop strategies made it watchable, but it was by no means a classic. It really lacked overtaking and wheel to wheel action. A bit of an anti climatic end to a great championship IMO.

[Miguel]

Those that say that Alonso did a horrible job for not being able to overtake Petrov should take a look at what Hamilton did with Kubica. The main difference being that the McLaren was probably a tiny bit faster and had higher top speed. In the end no one could overtake that Renault.

Could they have done better? Perhaps. But take a look at how close they were after the hairpin, and see how they basically never ever got a decent tow. I think Alonso got one and Hamilton got two in like 30 laps. Come on!

I'm also surprised at the result. At the point that Alonso went in, it really seemed like the supersofts were going to fall apart, but the graining lasted 2 laps, and from then on they lived forever. Funnily enough, Petrov's tyres just gave up on the last lap (check his last lap). 54 laps on a set of tyres, on a track that was supposed to have horrible graining, and when Bridgestone expected the supersofts to last 20 laps tops is amazing.

[vall]

Those who thing Alonso is the best driver on the grid, we just saw today that he still has a weak mind. He was all over the place behind petrov. You could see the frustration and powerlessness. He had this in the bag and threw it away, worse than lewis did.

As much as I dislike Alonso, I do not agree. I honestly think he was let down by a very incompetent Ferrari team.

I also think Ferrari made a mistake. But it was quite clear the Alonos did not have the line speed to pass Petrov. On the opposite, on the straights Petrov was pulling away. Compere this with Hamilton who actually was closing to Bob at the end of the straights. He had much better chances for passing. At the end Alonso was clearly over-driving the car to try to get closer to the Renault.

[vall]

anyway, this race clearly showed and ever the best drivers can only do as much as the car allows them.

[myurr]

Those that say that Alonso did a horrible job for not being able to overtake Petrov should take a look at what Hamilton did with Kubica. The main difference being that the McLaren was probably a tiny bit faster and had higher top speed. In the end no one could overtake that Renault.

Could they have done better? Perhaps. But take a look at how close they were after the hairpin, and see how they basically never ever got a decent tow. I think Alonso got one and Hamilton got two in like 30 laps. Come on!

I'm also surprised at the result. At the point that Alonso went in, it really seemed like the supersofts were going to fall apart, but the graining lasted 2 laps, and from then on they lived forever. Funnily enough, Petrov's tyres just gave up on the last lap (check his last lap). 54 laps on a set of tyres, on a track that was supposed to have horrible graining, and when Bridgestone expected the supersofts to last 20 laps tops is amazing.

Actually Alonso had higher top end speed than Hamilton, in qualifying at least: http://www.formula1.com/results/season/ ... _trap.html

Hamilton's problem was that the Renault was quicker in a straight line so he wasn't able to get close enough even with the tow into the braking zone. He monstered Kubica through all the corners with a much stronger front end and more overall grip, but in the couple of places where he may have had a chance to overtake the Renault was very strong accelerating down the straights and had a higher top end speed. Similar story with Alonso, except he didn't have quite the same advantage through the corners.

In reference to how well the tyres lasted, it's been the same problem all year and it has been killing the on track racing. Those super softs went to two thirds race distance on Buttons car and had better pace at the end of the stint than at the beginning, showing the fuel weight gains were greater than the tyre degradation. Sure the primes were a few tenths quicker, but the supposedly marginal option tyre should not be giving such consistent and extensive performance. Hopefully Pirelli will find a better balance next year between making their tyres look good and giving us good racing.

[myurr]

And yes according to that table Kubica is slower than Petrov by quite some way, but remember he didn't make it into Q3 so never ran at his absolute ultimate pace with the engine turned all the way up (in theory).

[Giblet]

You could see how much earlier Petrov could get on the throttle out of the hairpin than Alonso could. He could never wind him back in after that point. The Ferrari could close up with better braking and entry speed, but that was about it. Lewis was the exact opposite, closing on Kubica towards the end of the straights, but not being able to attack the corners nearly as good.

[vall]

In reference to how well the tyres lasted, it's been the same problem all year and it has been killing the on track racing. Those super softs went to two thirds race distance on Buttons car and had better pace at the end of the stint than at the beginning, showing the fuel weight gains were greater than the tyre degradation. Sure the primes were a few tenths quicker, but the supposedly marginal option tyre should not be giving such consistent and extensive performance. Hopefully Pirelli will find a better balance next year between making their tyres look good and giving us good racing.

I completely agree on the tires. The worst I think is that Bridgestone did it on purpose nor caring much about F1. Knowing they were leaving, they did not want to "damage" their corporate image with "bad" tires.

[piast9]

And I wonder what happened to Kubica after his tyre change. He should be flying with little fuel on fresh soft tyres. I hoped he would overtake Rosberg easily. But he struggled, his lap times on options were worse than on worn-out primes.

[Raftaar]

Hello everyone!!
What an end to the season!!
After quali yesterday, I really thought that Nando had it in the bag, but today really was a bad day in the office for him. One does feel for him today.

First though,
=D> =D> =D> CONGRATULATIONS TO SEBASTIEN VETTLE =D> =D> =D>

FANTASTIC , WELL DONE !!!
Just as he says himself : NUMBER 1

Just about this race, I think of all the title contenders, his was the best attitude and, yes, EXECUTION !!
Very happy for him.

[Ender]

I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned but did Vettel exceed the maximum of 10 car lengths behind the safety car? Also did Vettel force Hamilton off the circuit behind the safety car.

[ringo]

Ferrari never learn. don't watch who's behind. Focus on who's in front!!!
Why the hell were they watching slow webber?
Secondly, the softs always last; don't change them. Too many experiences not to accept this as fact.

Vettel was the man blazing away at the front yet Ferrari just don't seem to have a mind of their own when they get nervous. I thought they improved after silverstone and european Gp and Malaysia qualifying, but they did the dumb short sighted thing again an ignored the front runners.

2 more lessons: in a championship fight race to win!!
Track position is king!!

Ferrari were racing for 3 or 2nd today, that's why there were content with holding off webber.

A very wasteful way to end Alonso's surge near the end of the season. What do i care anyway, i'm not a tifosi.
Well easy come easy go for Alonso, it was by gift of redbull's failures that he ended up in the lead anyway. So ironically it was by redbull's failure with mark that drew in ferrari to make a strategical error.

Alonso did nothing wrong, I don't think losing out to Button was the turning point.
He could have overtaken Button, or wait for Button to come in. Much better than coming in to the pits earlier, but he could have done more.

What annoyed me about him today was his frustrated driving. His lunges looked more out of rage than actually an attempt to pass. He was going on so wildy, i think Petrov chose to ignore Alonso and just do his little race. He knew Alonso was no threat. Reminiscent of Alonso's rage in the euro GP, when Kobayashi took advantage of him. 2x world champled looked silly floundering on the last lap, scrambling round the last turn, trying to beat petrov to the line; as if it helps. tisk tisk.

Well, decent race and nice way to end the run of bridgestone's immortal tyres.

[ringo]

I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned but did Vettel exceed the maximum of 10 car lengths behind the safety car? Also did Vettel force Hamilton off the circuit behind the safety car.

Yep, but it's Hamilton, no one cares if he gets the shaft.