Abu Dhabi: pre-qualifying
I must admit to being
significantly surprised Caterham will be racing in Abu Dhabi.
Kobayashi will drive one of their cars [Ericsson, of course, has
terminated his deal with the team already and next year will drive
for Sauber, assuming the contract dispute with Sutil is resolved in
the team’s favour]. The second will be driven by British chap Will
Stevens, who makes his F1 debut.
At the same time, it’s
sad to hear that over 200 Caterham employees have been made
redundant, and that some feel the announcement of the return in Abu
Dhabi was made to try and bury that bad news.
Surprisingly, Eddie
Jordan has called on Ecclestone to stand down. It was my
understanding the two got along pretty well, but it’s worth
recalling that Jordan used to run his own midfield team, which may
well affect his view of the current financial situation.
In staggeringly
unsurprising news, it’s finally been confirmed Alonso’s leaving
Ferrari, and is being replaced by Vettel. At the time of writing,
it’s believed, but not confirmed, to be the case that the Spaniard
will rejoin McLaren. However, that team has indicated it will reveal
its 2015 driver lineup in December (there’s some disagreement over
whether they ought to retain Button or Magnussen).
The tyres for this
weekend are soft and supersoft.
Although Abu Dhabi is
what might be termed a street circuit, there are a few areas of high
speed, which makes it better than it might be for Williams. In title
terms, the risk for Hamilton is that he gets stuck behind one or both
Williams and finds it hard to get past.
If both Mercedes finish
then, barring a very weird result the likes of which we haven’t
seen all year, Rosberg needs to win. Hamilton can finish 1st
or 2nd. If he’s 3rd and Rosberg wins, then
the German takes the title.
Whilst the Red Bull is
fast, the Mercedes will murder it on the straights, so I think
Williams likelier to pose a potential problem for Hamilton. If the
Briton has a clear qualifying and doesn’t leave the handbrake on
during the start, he’s set fair. But, as Rosberg discovered in
Singapore, reliability can fail at any time.
In P1 Hamilton was a
tenth ahead of Rosberg, and both were over a second and a half ahead
of third-placed Alonso. Vettel was next, then Ricciardo, Vergne,
Kvyat, Bottas, Perez and Hulkenberg (so quite team-by-team).
I watched most of P1,
and it was notable for the Williams undressing itself and meaning
both drivers got very limited running.
P2 again had Hamilton
ahead of Rosberg, but by less than a tenth of a second this time.
Magnussen was seven-tenths down the road, then we had Vettel, Bottas
and Ricciardo. Raikkonen, Button, Kvyat and Massa rounded out the top
10.
According to the BBC’s
Inside F1, Red Bull were closer to the Mercedes on race pace (a few
tenths down) compared to a single lap, but Williams never really
showed their hand. Also worth noting Alonso’s Ferrari broke down.
P3 saw the order at the
sharp end reversed, with Rosberg over a third of a second ahead of
Hamilton. Massa was over a second off the top time in third, with
Alonso fourth. Vettel, Button, Ricciardo, Bottas, Kvyat and Raikkonen
finish off the top 10.
During P3 it sounded
like Ricciarod wasn’t happy with the set-up, which may bode ill for
the race for Red Bull.
Two bets I think worth
considering are:
Rosberg for pole (it’s
a coin toss, so I’d want something a fair bit over evens)
Massa top 3 in
qualifying
Rosberg’s odds are
barely over evens. I do think it’s coin toss territory, so that
doesn’t tempt me.
Massa’s just over 3
(Betfair) top be top 3. Hmm. That’s interesting, but it’s not
enough. There are six cars behind him within four-tenths, and two
within three-tenths.
The pre-race piece will
probably be up sometime this evening.
Morris Dancer
Comments
Post a Comment