Abu Dhabi: pre-qualifying 2017

Hartley has another 10 place grid penalty, this time for the MGU-H.

In first practice, which is a lot hotter than qualifying or the race will be so is not especially useful as a guide, Vettel was fastest, a tenth ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen following close behind. Raikkonen, Bottas and Perez were next, with Alonso, Vandoorne, Massa and Ricciardo rounding out the top 10.

In second practice, the order was reversed at the sharp end, with Hamilton two-tenths up on Vettel (but the Briton looked substantially better on long runs). Ricciardo was next, with Raikkonen and Bottas next and Verstappen sixth. Perez, Ocon, Hulkenberg and Alonso came next.

At this stage I think it’s looking nice and tight, though I think Hamilton has the advantage.

Hamilton was again fastest in third practice, three-tenths up on his team mate. Raikkonen was two-tenths off Bottas, and a hair’s breadth ahead of Vettel. Ricciardo and Verstappen were a few tenths down the road and, half a second back, Alonso and Vandoorne were fast in the McLarens. Sainz and Perez finished off the top 10.

Looks like a Hamilton pole. With a dry race and one stop probable, scope for upsets is limited but it should be tight at the sharp end. Crashing, safety cars and perhaps reliability could all be factors, but remember Hamilton has a fresher engine than everyone else which won’t hurt his prospects.

Hamilton’s odds for pole are just 1.33, which is too short to tempt even though I think he’s a strong favourite. Bottas or Raikkonen each way (third odds, top 2) at 7 and 17 respectively is a bit more appetising. I was sorely tempted by splitting one stake between backing both but decided against it (just got a feeling it’ll be Vettel up there with Hamilton).

On an utterly unrelated note, I might be redoing an old comic I wrote some years ago (drawing it rather than using graphics). It’d be very helpful if anyone reading this could vote in the Twitter poll (or just mention their preference here if you don’t have Twitter):

Qualifying and race are at the normal UK times of 1pm each so the pre-race ramble should be up this afternoon/evening.


Morris Dancer

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