Mercedes were in a league of their own at Abu Dhabi with closest competitors Ferrari being more than 20 seconds behind. Valtteri Bottas kept his cool to fend off ever continuing pressure from Lewis Hamilton to win the Grand Prix, rounding off his season on a high by taking pole, fastest lap and the race win.
From Brazil I immediately thought that Hamilton had already won this race. Qualifying is a little different, the max engine mode is the max engine mode and there should be enough for at least one higher engine mode run in every Q3, but the race, he's just got so many higher mode laps available to him it's ridiculous with 2 races instead of 5-6 races on it. It will be a miracle for anyone to keep him behind if he doesn't get pole, or if he has a bad start.Vasconia wrote: ↑14 Nov 2017, 12:38Ferrari should be strong here but if Hamilton has a fresher PU he may get the pole and victory. Anyway, using ultasofts and with the twisted section I hope Ferrari can fight with them. Red Bull should be strong too. Can we see another tre drivers battle for the pole like in Mexico? it would be great, and if this includes the race, even better.
I am with you here, I have already mentioned it. If he can run the PU with so much power the race is over, so I hope he can´t do it or as you say, he makes a mistake.drunkf1fan wrote: ↑14 Nov 2017, 16:30
A lot of people didn't really understand that Merc could run much higher modes for many more laps due to having so few races, I think it created a bad impression in terms of Merc's 'true' pace people believe they have and the competitiveness of F1. So I do think that Ham will have ridiculous engine power to get into 1st if he's not there for any reason, but once there they'll manage the hell out of it without saying it directly on the radio and he'll just sit not far ahead of 2nd place and the message after the race will be about how close it was or how he passed 4 people but used up all his high performance laps and then had to protect the temps, etc.
Track % Full Throttle Pole Win Monza 76 Mercedes Mercedes Silverstone 70 Mercedes Mercedes Spa-Francorchamps 70 Mercedes Mercedes Circuit de Catalunya 67 Mercedes Mercedes Bahrain International Circuit 66 Mercedes Ferrari Suzuka 66 Mercedes Mercedes Red Bull Ring 65 Mercedes Mercedes Albert Park 61 Mercedes Ferrari Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 59 Mercedes Mercedes Circuit of the Americas 59 Mercedes Mercedes Yas Marina 59 Shanghai International Circuit 56 Mercedes Mercedes Sochi Autodrom 50 Ferrari Mercedes Interlagos 50 Mercedes Ferrari Baku City Circuit 49 Mercedes RBR Singapore 49 Ferrari Mercedes Sepang International Circuit 45 Mercedes RBR Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez 45 Ferrari RBR Hungaroring 44 Ferrari Ferrari Monte-Carlo 34 Ferrari Ferrari
When written down like that it's shocking how much Mercedes is still dominant after a major reg change.dans79 wrote: ↑15 Nov 2017, 00:43Based on the %full throttle numbers, this should be a fairly strait forward Merc pole and win. Specially when you consider Hamilton has fresher engine components than any other contender, and Mercedes definitely understands the "Diva" significantly better than they did earlier in the year.
Track % Full Throttle Pole Win Monza 76 Mercedes Mercedes Silverstone 70 Mercedes Mercedes Spa-Francorchamps 70 Mercedes Mercedes Circuit de Catalunya 67 Mercedes Mercedes Bahrain International Circuit 66 Mercedes Ferrari Suzuka 66 Mercedes Mercedes Red Bull Ring 65 Mercedes Mercedes Albert Park 61 Mercedes Ferrari Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 59 Mercedes Mercedes Circuit of the Americas 59 Mercedes Mercedes Yas Marina 59 Shanghai International Circuit 56 Mercedes Mercedes Sochi Autodrom 50 Ferrari Mercedes Interlagos 50 Mercedes Ferrari Baku City Circuit 49 Mercedes RBR Singapore 49 Ferrari Mercedes Sepang International Circuit 45 Mercedes RBR Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez 45 Ferrari RBR Hungaroring 44 Ferrari Ferrari Monte-Carlo 34 Ferrari Ferrari
Well, the PU continues to be the same so its not so unusual to be still dominant, but yes, they are too dominant if we consider that the new PU appeared in 2014.Restomaniac wrote: ↑15 Nov 2017, 08:57When written down like that it's shocking how much Mercedes is still dominant after a major reg change.dans79 wrote: ↑15 Nov 2017, 00:43Based on the %full throttle numbers, this should be a fairly strait forward Merc pole and win. Specially when you consider Hamilton has fresher engine components than any other contender, and Mercedes definitely understands the "Diva" significantly better than they did earlier in the year.
Track % Full Throttle Pole Win Monza 76 Mercedes Mercedes Silverstone 70 Mercedes Mercedes Spa-Francorchamps 70 Mercedes Mercedes Circuit de Catalunya 67 Mercedes Mercedes Bahrain International Circuit 66 Mercedes Ferrari Suzuka 66 Mercedes Mercedes Red Bull Ring 65 Mercedes Mercedes Albert Park 61 Mercedes Ferrari Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 59 Mercedes Mercedes Circuit of the Americas 59 Mercedes Mercedes Yas Marina 59 Shanghai International Circuit 56 Mercedes Mercedes Sochi Autodrom 50 Ferrari Mercedes Interlagos 50 Mercedes Ferrari Baku City Circuit 49 Mercedes RBR Singapore 49 Ferrari Mercedes Sepang International Circuit 45 Mercedes RBR Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez 45 Ferrari RBR Hungaroring 44 Ferrari Ferrari Monte-Carlo 34 Ferrari Ferrari
Abu Dhabi is Yas Marina, 59%
