Abu Dhabi GP 2010 - Yas Marina Circuit

[Miguel]

Alguersuari finishing in front of Massa is also the same story. That Toro Rosso is a car without F-duct, sacrificing downforce for top speed. That is a car able of qualifying at 41.4 tops (Jaime did two 41.7, Buemi was close to a 41.6 before a mistake). However, Massa, driving an F-ducted Ferrari, able of breaking the 40s spent even more time behind Jaime.

I mean, the bad thing about this race was not seeing Alonso losing the title. It was seeing that, lap after lap, no matter which car you had, there was no way to get a proper tow for an overtaking move. Hamilton (such a "bad" overtaker) on Kubica? No. Alonso on Petrov? No. Massa on Alguersuari? No. And at that point, with 30 laps to go, you felt something close to certainty that the race results weren't going to change at all.

Why did this happen in this track after last week in Brazil? Maybe the bumpier surface in interlagos led to more driver mistakes, while the smoother asphalt in Abu Dhabi was more lenient?

EDIT: Button may have played a role today. Nevertheless, I've the feeling that both the Red Bulls and the McLarens were faster cars today than the Ferrari. In such a situation, Ferrari couldn't afford to lose track position with *any* of the leading cars, be it Button, Hamilton, Webber or Vettel. So had any other car in front pitted, I guess Ferrari would have responded to them as soon as they put a purple sector. They misjudged the role played by Petrov and, potentially, Rosberg.

[segedunum]

Redbull had it in the bag today, they had 3 teams, redbull, str and renault working for them.

Don't forget McLaren. They were a buffer between Vettel and Alonso. As soon as I saw the McLarens getting involved yesterday around and ahead of Alonso you could see it being difficult for Alonso.

This thread is nothing without WhiteBlue.

[Giblet]

I enjoyed Petrov's comments about if Alonso would have challenged he likely wouldn't have defended very hard as he wanted to finish the race intact.

I guess Alonso could have done a Banzai and gotten away with it.

[Gerhard Berger]

I enjoyed Petrov's comments about if Alonso would have challenged he likely wouldn't have defended very hard as he wanted to finish the race intact.

I guess Alonso could have done a Banzai and gotten away with it.

I think he tried once and nearly lost his front wing.

[PlatinumZealot]

Alonso quaked. You could see it when he was driving all over the place. I even felt sort of sorry for him.

It all started with that stupid pit stop. Alonso being the leader of Ferrari, should have denied his engineer like he has done many times before and STAYED OUT on track.

One of the things about the Bridgestones...the soft tyres have two lives; the second one beginning after the grained up layer sheds away. I have no idea how Stella nor Alonso didn't even remember this. Dumb dumb dumb i tell you. But anyway I much rather Vettel win than Alonso. Can't have Alonso getting two more WDC than Hamilton now can we.

[andartop]

=D> Congrats to Vettel and Red Bull, once again dominating from pole to finish and making it look really rather easy.

Bit of a disappointing race otherwise after all the talks and analyses of possible scenarios, team orders, crashes etc I bet not even the most pessimistic of fans could have predicted how poor the action would actually be in the title deciding race, considering some of the fastest car/driver combinations were stuck for most of the race behind theoretically slower combinations..

Vettel only had to stay in front of Hamilton in the first corner, which I thought was kinda funny after all the "bullish" comments from Hamilton about others having to worry about him and how he wouldn't hesitate since he had nothing to lose and so on..

Alonso and Ferrari completely misjudged the tire situation and took the bait that ultimately cost them the title. As others have said, under such circumstances the only strategy that is guaranteed to pay off would be to aim for pole and race win rather than concentrating on what Webber was doing. Either way, the speed just wasn't there today, but still one can't help but think that someone like Schumi (in his previous reincarnation) and Brawn could have pulled it off (they just needed a bloody 4th damn it!).

Petrov was probably laughing during the whole race and thinking back in Turkey where Alonso "chopped" him while overtaking him during the closing stages of the race. Poetic justice indeed.

Webber was even more shocking to watch than Alonso. I mean, at least this guy had the benefit of the car, which was arguably the one to beat, and didn't even manage to get anywhere near Alonso once! How on earth did he expect to win the title I can't see. And if that was all he had to give in what was probably the most important race of his life, well, I'm glad Vettel won it.

I don't know what Pirelli will do with the tires next year, but a soft tire that could possibly last for a whole race distance on a track where high degradation was supposed to be an issue is just silly. Arguably the one thing that certainly needs sorting out for next year. Bridgestone good riddance, and f*&k you very much for being so corporate image aware to ruin what could have been an amazing finale and an even more amazing season. I am sure they could now go on to supply tires in endurance races and ultimately design a tire that will last a whole season.

Last but not least, well done FIA for planning the last race of 2011 in Brazil. Here's hoping that it will always be Brazil or Suzuka!

[ESPImperium]

Bit of a disappointing race otherwise after all the talks and analyses of possible scenarios, team orders, crashes etc I bet not even the most pessimistic of fans could have predicted how poor the action would actually be in the title deciding race, considering some of the fastest car/driver combinations were stuck for most of the race behind theoretically slower combinations..

...

Last but not least, well done FIA for planning the last race of 2011 in Brazil. Here's hoping that it will always be Brazil or Suzuka!

Theres now talk of Abu Dhabi having its first raft of changes done to it;

* Firstly, drop that stupid 5-6 chicane and have the cars race from 2-3-4 down to turn 7, but make turn 7 tighter to make a overtaking point there.
* Second is that chicane at the end of the back straight being tightened, if not make into a hairpin somehow.
* Finally the corner at the end of the bent back straight being made into a tight left hander as well. But there is more overtaking there than any other corner on the track, posibly leave as is???

Also the turn coming out of the Hotel underpass should have its wall brought out to the trackside to make it more Monaco-eske and the penultimate turn should be sorted out as well, allow the drivers to run out wide the way they were going in practice and make the last corner a "staged braking zone" from the curvature of the penultimate corner making it a mistake bringer??? Whilst they are at it, id also make Turn 1 tighter to have a semi overtaking zone here, or mistake bringer as well.

The reason for 2011 having the Brazilian GP last is because of Logistics, its easier to have the teams go from India to Abu Dhabi and then to Brazil and not India-Brazil-Abu Dhabi. Seemingly the plans are for India to replace Shanghai in 2012 so the Indian GP will go to the start of the 2012 callander.

[lebesset]

just a small point ....luca wasn't at the race , he just went to get on TV as many times as possible , then left before the race started

alonso not winning the WDC was ross brawn's fault ...he left ferrari because they didn't make him team principal ! luca again?

I'm delighted this wasn't decided by engines expiring !

[Mandrake]

by the looks of things it was more track position and the good start that did the trick for Seb....
So poor Hamilton so close but no cigar...

If you refer to the laptimes, I believe Vettel could have gone faster if he needed to.....he never looked too pressured by LH (only when the tires grained)

[Ray]

Wow, Ferrari did as bad as Vettel did good. I've been a fan of Vettel just a bit since he showed up and haven't really been a bigger fan as time has passed but hearing his tears of joy and his cracking voice on the radio sealed it for me. He deserved this championship. He's made some serious bonehead moves, he's made some awesome ones, but no one deserved this championship like him. He's a great qualifier, a good consistent racer, and a great personality. If he can get his passing skills up to Hamilton/Alonso level instead of crashing into people he'd be just as complete as his other current fellow champions. Congrats to him and I hope he parties all night long to celebrate.

PS: I could have sworn I saw someone drinking a beer or an alcoholic beverage during practice coverage. Isn't that kinda illegal?

[ringo]

It seemed hard for Vettel coming into to the race. But looking back on it, it was quite easy for him, considering the car and the help he got from the Renault.

This championship wasn't as climatic as i guess with 4 guys going into the last race.
I'd say this season was one of the best on paper, but not visually.

Ironically Vettel's talent made it look easy in the redbull, whereas Webber fought harder than him and may have been a more worthy champ based on that hard work.
Vettel was destined to win though, the mech DNF were giving the illusion he wasn't doing well.
Webber just made to many mistakes. Just wasn't clinical enough.

[segedunum]

But looking back on it, it was quite easy for him, considering the car and the help he got from the Renault.

What help from Renault? Ferrari and Alonso put themselves where they were.

[andartop]

He deserved this championship. He's made some serious bonehead moves, he's made some awesome ones, but no one deserved this championship like him. He's a great qualifier, a good consistent racer, and a great personality. If he can get his passing skills up to Hamilton/Alonso level instead of crashing into people he'd be just as complete as his other current fellow champions. Congrats to him and I hope he parties all night long to celebrate.

I don't doubt the passing skills will improve with more experience fighting for wins and championships. I really think Vettel needs a memorable performance to win a race starting from further back on the grid, such as Schumacher, Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton, even Barrichello, have achieved on numerous occasions. He certainly fully deserves this, but it's still far too easy for anyone to attribute this championship more to the car than the driver (15 freaking poles!). However, he is still so young, and I think and hope next year Vettel will be even stronger. He's made many mistakes, but so has everybody else this year. Still haven't made up my mind if it came down to the wire because they were all really that good or equally bad!
I am a Ferrari fan but I'm very pleased to see Vettel World Champion, and I would be just as happy with Webber.

[komninosm]

Imagine if this race was not the last, but the first, or some GP in the middle of the season. How exciting would it be then? Not too much. The action sucked. Lack of refuelling made strategy variety and overtaking even more of a living hell than normal. I mean come on, every single car had 1 stop.
Safety Car didn't help with regards to an honest fight for the contenders.
Kubica ruined what chance was left of us watching 2 people fight for the win (even if passing would be nearly impossible for them, unless they crashed). At least Petrov didn't "owe" a pit-stop. Kubica just spoiled a good show for no reason (of course it was within his rights). He had nothing to gain.
Very poor show by Alonso, Webber and Massa. Even Button did way better than them. What the hell happened to all of them? Well at least Alonso has an excuse (or 2), but Massa and Webber are really not champion material. They were just lucky to be in the best car and nearly get the championship one time in their life. They're number 2s [heh double entendre].

Heh I knew someone would complain about Vettel and the safety car stuff. Meh we've seen worse. What I also noticed was that Shoemaker tried to go forward when he was facing the wrong way. Look at his tires. He had selected 1st gear and spun them, but then stopped as he realised it was stupid. Maybe if he had let his car slide backwards or off track a bit more he would have been missed by all other cars. That accident was his fault anyway. He lost his rear, there was no contact with Rosberg as someone said here.

[myurr]

Lack of refuelling made strategy variety and overtaking even more of a living hell than normal. I mean come on, every single car had 1 stop.

Lack of refuelling wasn't the problem, it's the damned tyres. When the supposedly marginal option tyre can manage two thirds race distance on a supposedly high wearing surface without giving away much performance then something is seriously wrong. We need option tyres that are good for approx 1/4 to 1/3rd race distance, with prime tyres good for 1/3rd to 1/2 race distance. That should split the strategies between 2 and 3 stops with an outside chance of someone being able to pull off a 1 stop if they're really careful and are able to defend on shot tyres in the closing laps.

Hopefully that's what we'll get with the Pirelli's next year, and when coupled to the removal of the double diffuser then hopefully we'll get better on track action as well.