2012 Abu Dhabi GP - Yas Marina

[mzivtins]

I do like the 1st sector of the lap here in Yas Marina, Lets hope Ferrari and mclaren bring some good upgrades here.

Very hard to see who this track would favour currently, with there only really being turn 2+3 & 15+16 that we can call true high speed corners. The hairpin favours traction and racecraft more than anything with the chicane on turn 5 being a hot spot on the first lap. Its going to be interesting

[raymondu999]

I do like the 1st sector of the lap here in Yas Marina

As the inimitable Formula One World Champion Mr. Kimi-Matias Räikkönen once said...

The first sector is pretty good. The rest is sh*t

turn 2+3 & 15+16 that we can call true high speed corners.

Should we even call them that? They're pretty much flat out, and in qualifying, either 2 or 3 (depending on the line you choose) is flat with DRS. I find it interesting that Lewis generally takes Turn 2 with DRS then goes tighter on 3 with DRS closed, while Vettel tightens 2 with DRS closed to have a wider entry into 3 with DRS open.

[mzivtins]

Is it possible this year that the red bull could do both turns 2 & 3 with DRS open? After seeing them run through 130R with it open as confidently as they did really makes me think it could be possible... knife edge though, the change in direction between the two turn makes the car look like it is really under pressure just as you come out of turn 2.

Better get on twitter and start bombarding Hamilton to tell him to do both with DRS open

[raymondu999]

Is it possible this year that the red bull could do both turns 2 & 3 with DRS open? After seeing them run through 130R with it open as confidently as they did really makes me think it could be possible...

They did it last year too though - and wouldn't the cars have less downforce this year?

I wonder if the additional loss of downforce by the Red Bull DDRS could mean they can't take either with DRS... possible?

Better get on twitter and start bombarding Hamilton to tell him to do both with DRS open

Let us know if he replies with some telemetry explaining why others could/couldn't do it

[godlameroso]

On average the cars are about a second slower than they were last year basically almost back to 2009 levels, the combination of no EBD + off throttle maps means cars lose more in the low speed stuff. In the mid speed to high speed stuff they've clawed it back almost through better designs but not quite. The only comparison one could make to see who will be fast here, you have to look at tracks with consecutive slow corners such as sector 3 in Spain, and sector 2 in Singapore.

Top 10 best sector 3 times in qualifying for Spain
1 18 Pastor Maldonado 28.321
2 4 Lewis Hamilton 28.340
3 5 Fernando Alonso 28.430
4 1 Sebastian Vettel 28.577
5 15 Sergio Perez 28.608
6 8 Nico Rosberg 28.617
7 10 Romain Grosjean 28.677
8 3 Jenson Button 28.680
9 7 Michael Schumacher 28.713
10 2 Mark Webber 28.714

Top 10 sector 2 times for qualifying in Singapore
1 4 Lewis Hamilton 41.268
2 5 Fernando Alonso 41.391
3 18 Pastor Maldonado 41.408
4 1 Sebastian Vettel 41.427
5 11 Paul di Resta 41.437
6 3 Jenson Button 41.438
7 10 Romain Grosjean 41.643
8 2 Mark Webber 41.720
9 7 Michael Schumacher 41.728
10 15 Sergio Perez 41.790

If this is anything to go by I don't think Vettel will have much of an advantage here in Abu Dhabi for except maybe the final sector, where there are four mid speed corners, two left under the hotel, and two right, with the last corner being especially tricky because it's hard to get the braking point perfect.

edit:
They will not be using the soft and supersoft, and there will be dual DRS zones this year.

"Pirelli will allocate the soft and the medium compounds, which might be a little bit on the conservative side. As in India there are two DRS sections with two detection zones. One of these DRS sections has been extended which should help overtaking."
Quoted from the official F1 website.
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/ ... 13985.html

[raymondu999]

IMO Korea Sector 3 is a similar layout, but this one has a bit more kerb riding

[godlameroso]

I agree, and also Yas Marina has a lot of off camber turns, it's hard to tell from the onboards but there are almost 5 degrees of off camber banking at a lot of turns starting in sector two.

[CHT]

I do like the 1st sector of the lap here in Yas Marina, Lets hope Ferrari and mclaren bring some good upgrades here.

from my observation, the only teams who are still pursuing their 2012 challengers are Ferrari and RBR.
Mclaren, with Lewis leaving, have pretty much throw in the towel and switch their focus on 2013

I am not sure how much of F2012 will be relevant for 2013, but i got this bad feeling that Ferrari could suffer in 2013 due to their decision to pursue Alonso's championship fight

I am not sure how much Santander is paying Ferrari for their sponsorship, but somehow I have this feeling that Alonso becoming like the boss at Ferrari right now.

[ArchAngel]

...somehow I have this feeling that Alonso becoming like the boss at Ferrari right now.

Recent history has shown us that LdM doesn't like/tolerate that. He'd rather "retire" such drivers, and even send the Technical Director and Team Principal off with him.

[raymondu999]

sector 3 in Spain, and sector 2 in Singapore.

Come to think of it, Barcelona is a long way ago - I don't think it's really relevant anymore. I also think Sector 3 Singapore is a lot more similar to Sector 3 Abu Dhabi, as is Sector 3 Korea.

Sector 3 Korea:

Pos Driver Time
1 Sebastian Vettel 20.155
2 Mark Webber 20.334
3 Fernando Alonso 20.456
4 Kimi Räikkönen 20.483
5 Kamui Kobayashi 20.507
6 Romain Grosjean 20.530
7 Lewis Hamilton 20.546
8 Felipe Massa 20.573
9 Sergio Perez 20.614
10 Nico Hulkenberg 20.662
11 Jenson Button 20.706
12 Paul di Resta 20.719
13 Michael Schumacher 20.801
14 Nico Rosberg 20.806
15 Pastor Maldonado 20.835
16 Daniel Ricciardo 20.857
17 Jean-Eric Vergne 20.857
18 Bruno Senna 20.935
19 Vitaly Petrov 21.163
20 Heikki Kovalainen 21.273
21 Timo Glock 21.372
22 Charles Pic 21.375
23 Pedro de la Rosa 21.678
24 Narain Karthikeyan 31.840

Sector 3 Singapore:

Pos Driver Time
1 Lewis Hamilton 36.713
2 Pastor Maldonado 36.817
3 Sebastian Vettel 36.874
4 Jenson Button 36.954
5 Fernando Alonso 36.994
6 Romain Grosjean 37.024
7 Mark Webber 37.033
8 Kimi Räikkönen 37.169
9 Paul di Resta 37.227
10 Nico Rosberg 37.275
11 Nico Hulkenberg 37.350
12 Michael Schumacher 37.395
13 Felipe Massa 37.712
14 Sergio Perez 37.792
15 Daniel Ricciardo 37.828
16 Bruno Senna 37.852
17 Jean-Eric Vergne 37.876
18 Kamui Kobayashi 38.086
19 Heikki Kovalainen 38.384
20 Vitaly Petrov 38.434
21 Timo Glock 38.522
22 Charles Pic 38.659
23 Narain Karthikeyan 38.914
24 Pedro de la Rosa 39.362

Again though, this season is evolving so rapidly that even these are slightly out of date for comparisons IMO.

[Lorenzo_Bandini]

It's the time in Quali or during the race ? I think it's interesting to have the sector time made during the race. For example, at Hungary, Alonso was 6th after the Q, but i think ( if my memory is good ) he made the best S2 during the race.

[raymondu999]

It's the time in Quali or during the race ? I think it's interesting to have the sector time made during the race. For example, at Hungary, Alonso was 6th after the Q, but i think ( if my memory is good ) he made the best S2 during the race.

Best sector times from qualifying.

In the races there are always too many variables, such as traffic, tyres, strategy etc that it becomes a bad judge of speed.

For example - I still think Vettel was quicker than Bruno Senna in the 2012 Indian GP!

[F1Goggs]

Here is the weather forecast for the GP weekend in Abu-Dhabi
http://f1goggs.wordpress.com/2012/10/30 ... -forecast/

[raymondu999]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45JDffxaarM[/youtube]

[Forza]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQDp8B9F5p0[/youtube]