2018 United Arab Emirates Grand Prix - Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi, 23-26 November

[NathanOlder]

So will Honda make that difference up? Considering both Honda's were out in Q1 and 1 blew up.

[Restomaniac]

Flashbulbs? What the frig is David Croft on about?

Have we been transported backwards 40 years?

[Sierra117]

So seems the engine is in better shape now.

[GrandAxe]

A little parting prezi for for Ric, he beat his teammate in his last quali for Red Bull.

[Juzh]

Ha, I knew Hamilton had another half a second in his pocket after his first run

Obviously he did after that lock-up in the first run.

[yelistener]

I'm just waiting how people will spin this quali as ferrari having the better car.

I think at this point it's fair to say Mercedes has the better chassis and Ferrari has the better engine.

[MtthsMlw]

Ha, I knew Hamilton had another half a second in his pocket after his first run

Obviously he did after that lock-up in the first run.

Hey I'm trying to make myself look good

[Scorpaguy]

I'm just waiting how people will spin this quali as ferrari having the better car.

"Better car"...hardly, aside from Spa and a few sessions here/there, the Merc has easily been the best overall package this season (albeit not by much at times). While Monaco, weather, and altitude can make the comparisons a bit nebulous at times, the Merc's occupied the top slots in a lion's share of sessions. Ham driving at the epitome of his career did not offer the Red cars any quarter either.

...but yes, folks will soon begin the character assassination of the the Red Car's drivers and engineers on how they threw away yet another front row lockout and 1-2 finish (despite not topping a time sheet all weekend).

[Juzh]

I'm just waiting how people will spin this quali as ferrari having the better car.

I think at this point it's fair to say Mercedes has the better chassis and Ferrari has the better engine.

I agree. I don't think there's actually been a race from monza onwards where ferrari had the better package all around, quali and the race. Even in monza hamilton was vastly faster than raikkonen in the race, but tbh that's not saying much.

[PlatinumZealot]

BOOM! pole no. 83!!

[MtthsMlw]

Your avg. F2 race start
https://twitter.com/i/status/1066342628461932545

[bill shoe]

A driver's first job is to outqualify their teammate. 2018 teammate qualy comparison over 21 races-

Mercedes-
Hamilton 15/6 Bottas
I don't buy talk about Bottas being as good as Rosberg.

Ferrari-
Vettel 17/4 Raikkonen
Hopefully Leclerc will challenge Vettel more by end of 2019.

Red Bull-
Verstappen 14/7 Ricciardo
Verstappen proved himself quicker, but Ricciardo out qualified him fully 1/3 of the time. I think Gasly and other future teammates will not approach the 1/3 ratio. Only obvious speed challenger is Hamilton but Verstappen didn't want that second Merc seat, go figure.

Renault-
Hulkenberg 13/6 Sainz
Would Hulk realistically be better at Merc than Bottas? Looking forward to Hulk vs. Ric in 2019.

Haas-
Grosjean 11/8 Magnussen
Both did OK. My guess is that Haas lost 4th in Constructor's due to their drivers being a little short of Renault's pair. This gap to Renault will increase next year.

McLaren-
Alonso 21/0 Vandoorne
Alonso obviously handed Vandoorne his ass, but I have impression Alonso could have been a better mentor/teacher for Vandoorne and thus a better asset to the team. But if you are consistently quicker then you get to decide if you are a mentor or an ass-kicker.

Force India-
Ocon 16/5 Perez
Ocon beat Perez in qualy but generally not in races. Overall Ocon did not justify a seat with one of the top-3 teams, thus is stranded in the midfield no-man's land without funding. Ocon was good but not good enough, tough situation.

Sauber-
Leclerc 17/4 Ericsson
Leclerc obviously quicker. Ericsson was set up to be cannon fodder, but he was actually OK. If Leclerc successfully challenges Vettel in 2019 then Ericsson vindicated.

Toro Rosso-
Gasly 11/6 Hartley
Not as different as I would have guessed, but that performance won't get Hartley any seat next year. In most years the Gasly performance would only be enough to retain his Toro Rosso seat.

Williams-
Sirotkin 12/9 Stroll
(Last 10 races: Sirotkin 7/3 Stroll). Sirotkin did his job and even earned a championship point in a terrible car. He's not happy now but maybe in 20 years he can take pride in his F1 accomplishment. He did pretty good. Stroll will continue on next year, don't get me started there.

[Juzh]

If you include last year alonso is 26-0 to vandoorne.

[BazingaF1]

Hey Juzh, do you have the footage of the pole lap and of the last run by VET, obviously with telemetry?

If you include last year alonso is 26-0 to vandoorne.

[siskue2005]

so anyone expecting Bottas to be gifted the win, if he is 2nd after the final pitstops?