Abu Dhabi: pre-qualifying

Got the feeling this might be the last race broadcast on the BBC, perhaps on free-to-air TV. We shall see.

Important off-track rumours swirl. Aston Martin may end up taking over Force India. The team has punched above its weight for a while now, and has a very solid driver line-up, so I wish it well.

Still no official confirmation, but it seems Red Bull, for all its owner’s bitching, will have a Renault engine next year.

However, the Lotus-Renault deal, which is meant to be all but done, may have hit a late snag. Not surprisingly, Ecclestone and money are involved (because Renault would be rejoining the sport as a constructor, some manner of deal was done with Ecclestone and apparently it’s fallen through).

The sport really does need to get a grip on finance and spread the wealth more fairly.

Next year Haas will have the 2016 Ferrari engine, whereas Toro Rosso are likely to have the 2015 version (from around Texas-time). Worth considering when looking at the next season.

The tyres for this weekend are soft and supersoft (incidentally, next year an ultrasoft will be available. Why we have three varieties of soft rather than a supersoft and superhard is beyond me. Perhaps ‘superhard’ was deemed a bit too racy).

In P1 Hamilton was a tenth ahead of Rosberg, with Raikkonen well over half a second down the road in third. Kvyat, Vettel and Hulkenberg had less than a tenth between them, with Ricciardo, Perez, Maldonado and Massa rounding out the top 10.

In P2 Rosberg was a tenth ahead of Hamilton, with Perez half a second down the road. Ricciardo, Vettel, Kvyat, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Alonso and Maldonado were the rest of the top 10, all quite close together.

At this stage it seems Force India may be in for a decent weekend.

In P3, Rosberg was three-tenths up on Hamilton, but that was because the Briton cocked up his earliest supersoft laps and I don’t believe that’s a representative gap. Vettel, just over three-tenths behind Rosberg, was next, with Perez impressive in 4th, ahead of Raikkonen and Ricciardo (and half a second up on Hulkenberg). Massa and Bottas were next with Sainz ending the top 10 (incidentally, Button got up to 11th, which is a bit unexpected given the long straight the circuit has, which puts a premium on engine power).

Kvyat was unable to run a lap in P3 because of electrical issues with his car. Interesting Williams were behind Force India.

Early betting ideas:
Perez Q3
Lay Bottas Q3
Rosberg pole

A meagre 1.21 was available for Perez to reach Q3. Bottas was layable at 1.5, but only for a very small amount.

I’m surprised Rosberg is odds against for pole. It’s very tight between him and Hamilton, but 2.22 for the chap who has the last five consecutive pole positions is a bit unusual. That said, he and Hamilton are evenly matched and the odds aren’t long enough to tempt.

So, no bet in qualifying.

I’ll probably put the pre-race piece up this evening.


Morris Dancer

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