F1 | Abu Dhabi GP: analysis of qualifying

The last Saturday of the season ends in the name of Red Bull, capable of concluding the year in style by placing both cars on the front row. After impressing in free practice, the Anglo-Austrian team put the qualifying session to rest, confirming the predictions thanks to Max Verstappen's pole position and Sergio Perez's second place. An important result for the Mexican, currently fighting for second place in the drivers' standings against Charles Leclerc who will start behind him from third place tomorrow.

Only forty thousandths of a second separated the standard-bearer of the Milton Keynes team and the Ferrari driver, a pittance when compared to the more than two and a half tenths charged by the poleman. Cold numbers which, however, do not fully reflect the beauty of the lap put together by the Monegasque, constantly at the limit. The other Red team, that of Carlos Sainz, was further behind, and in the final attempt he paid the price for the traffic encountered in the third sector during the outlap, compromising the tire warm-up phase for the final assault.

Perhaps something more was expected from the two Mercedes, only fifth and sixth on the grid, also struggling in Abu Dhabi with the classic aerodynamic resistance problems that undermined the performance of the W13 throughout the entire championship. In this respect, the decision to return to a more loaded set-up to favor tire management in the race had its weight, but a hint of disappointment cannot be hidden, especially for the almost seven tenths accumulated from the top. In addition to the gap on the straights, the lower temperatures at night probably did not help to turn on the tires as during the afternoon sessions, accentuating the chronic difficulties of the German single-seater on the single lap.

Even in the last round, the challenge that animated the midfield for most of the world championship arose again, that fight between McLaren and Alpine which, at least in qualifying, was resolved in favor of the Woking team. A precious seventh place for Lando Norris, which arrived despite a feeling with the car that was far from what could be defined as ideal, but which rather highlights once again the qualities of the British driver in attacking the times. However, the MCL36 showed good potential, gaining access to Q3 also with Daniel Ricciardo, who however had to settle for tenth place after some small errors in the second sector. Eighth and eleventh position, however, for the two cars of the French team, as usual with a more relaxed wing than the competition which allowed them to extract hundredths on the sprints but without disfiguring themselves in the more driven areas.

In his last career qualifying, the talent of Sebastian Vettel shines once again, capable of equaling his best performance of the season on the flying lap on a Saturday in which the German and the team did nothing wrong both on a strategic and performance level. Perfect timing in all three heats, especially in the first, when the decision to leave the garage first gave him the opportunity to prepare the lap in peace instead of being trapped in traffic.

Even though the top ten was not reached, it can be defined as a positive Saturday also for Yuki Tsunoda, twelfth on the grid but with his eyes already turned towards the race. Although the amount of fuel was probably lower than that of his rivals, the pace shown by the Japanese on the hard during the second free practice session seems promising, putting him in jeopardy for a points finish on the very circuit where he obtained his best placing of the year. Thirteenth place for Mick Schumacher, in his last race with Haas, who precedes the other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and the Alfa Romeo of Guanyu Zhou. Complicated evening for the "Biscione" team, which once again encountered a subpar qualifying, especially with Valtteri Bottas, who was already out at the end of the first heat. The Swiss team paid for the difficulties in bringing the tires up to temperature, also thanks to the traffic in the last attempt which also penalized Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly, sixteenth and seventeenth respectively. Closing out the field are the two Williams of Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi, with the Anglo-Thai ahead of his teammate by less than thirty thousandths.

Seventh pole for Max Verstappen

After taking the lead in the second and third free practice sessions, the forecasters could not fail to see Red Bull as the big favorite for qualifying as well. On a rather complete circuit like that of Yas Martina, the overall efficiency of the RB18 played a key role: being able to do without having to make compromises to find good top speeds on the straights, both drivers of the Milton Keynes team I was able to opt for rather loaded set-ups which helped both in the slow and faster sections.

Since Friday, the car seemed immediately stable and responsive, without the need to make any major changes to the set-up, other than for some refinement. It is no coincidence that at the end of the first day Max Verstappen declared himself satisfied overall despite him having missed the first free practice session to hand over the car to the reserve driver as per the regulations. However, qualifying wasn't as smooth, partly due to the fluctuating behavior of the car, partly due to a small problem that occurred between the second and third heats: “It was a bit of a see-sawing session. It started off quite well. Q2 was a little messier. I honestly don't know why. With that set of tires I couldn't find grip. But then in Q3 everything seemed more normal. And yes, we were a bit scared, the car stopped before the first lap of Q3. We had to restart everything,” said the Dutchman, explaining that before the start of the final heat the team had been forced to carry out what is called a “power cycle”, effectively restarting the car.

Net of these small inconveniences, both the first and second attempts in Q3 seemed almost more like a formality for the two-time world champion, who was good at exploiting the potential of what he had at his disposal in the best possible way. Beyond the time gained on the sprints, it is important to point out how Verstappen also proved to be incisive in setting up the six-seven chicane, a treacherous point where several drivers made mistakes. And it is precisely in the central sector that the Red Bull standard bearer managed to gain those three tenths that protected him from the Ferraris, given that the times recorded in the other two sections were in line with those obtained by Leclerc.

There was also a clear comparison with his teammate, Sergio Perez, who was more than two tenths behind first place. The Mexican suffered some small mistakes as in turn one, but what weighed above all was what was lost in the last sector, both in turn nine and in the area under the hotel, where Verstappen managed to be more incisive, bringing greater speed into the entering and traveling. Something that can be appreciated from turn 12 onwards, where the Mexican had come in slightly too far when braking, compromising the appeal for the entire following area. There was also a slight difference in top speed on the straights of around 3km/h between the two, which however does not seem to be linked to the slipstream offered by the Dutchman in Q3: primarily because that gap had already appeared in other attempts , secondly because the wake effect was rather irrelevant, given that Perez had already achieved similar maximum values ​​in clean air in the other heats. It cannot be ruled out that, for the last round of the season, the Milton Keynes team has unlocked something more about the cavalry of car number 11 with a view to fighting for second place in the drivers' championship.

“It was a good session” – explained the Mexican in interviews -. “After Q2 it seemed to be going well, but Q3 didn't start well, especially the first attempt, it wasn't ideal. Then the second run went much better. Not enough for pole, though. However, I think being on the front row for the team is a good result, especially after the previous weekend, like in Sao Paulo, where we struggled a lot. It's nice to be back", added the driver from Guadalajara, also highlighting the mistakes made in the first run, in particular when in the last sector he had struggled to manage the overheated rear tyres.

Barring any particular surprises, Red Bull seems to be the big favorite for Sunday too. The results of the second long-distance free practice session crowned her the queen of Friday and, keeping in mind that the gap on the Red tends to widen on race day, it is not difficult to hypothesize that Verstappen could take and run after just a few laps. The key will be to manage the coverages and the setup chosen by the Milton Keynes team should be functional from this point of view.

An all-Red second row

Looking only at the standings, the third place on the grid conquered by Charles Leclerc could be read as a result that is within the norm, like many other second rows during this championship. With an RB18 superior even on the flying lap and the Mercedes behind, getting anything better than third place was a very difficult task, but the mere final time does not give a clear image of the Monegasque's performance. At the key moment came a "Leclerc lap", one of those back to the limit, on the razor's edge, in a continuous fight with the car. One of those laps that makes you appreciate the beauty of qualifying.

“Today it was very, very difficult to put the tires in the right window, in the end you have very different sensations from one lap to the next. Even in qualifying it was a question of management. If you pushed in the first and second sectors, then you lost everything in the third. So I tried to find that balance which I think I found on the last lap of Q3. But it wasn't enough to challenge Sergio [Perez, ed.]. I was also a little lonely. I didn't have the trail, so I don't know how much this… we paid the price. But yes, overall, I can't wait for tomorrow", explained number sixteen in interviews, highlighting how in the last attempt he managed to find the correct balance between the three sectors while safeguarding the rear tires when exiting slow corners of the central split time with a more conservative approach. Something that on the eve of the game did not seem so obvious, especially given the choices of the Italian team from the point of view of the set-up which had decided to focus on a lighter wing to recover a few km/h on the straights and, realistically, repel the assault of Mercedes on Saturday and then play it out in the race.

The grip offered by the new tire helped to mask some limitations that could potentially be more pronounced over the long distance, but the Monegasque did his best to manage to get a good time out of the hat, starting from turn three. Already during Friday's tests it was possible to observe how the F1-75 had shown some bottoming in that area of ​​the track, an element also common to Mercedes: the Yas Marina track is a track with very smooth asphalt, without large depressions, so It's no surprise that teams have gone back to lowering their cars again. If with Red Bull this phenomenon is less evident because the RB18 runs on average at slightly higher altitudes, on the Red Bull from Maranello and the car of the Brackley team it presented itself more clearly, making it even more complicated to travel certain sections. Observing the comparison from the onboards, it emerges that towards the end Leclerc exploited every centimeter available at the exit of turn three, trying to maintain the pace in a point where Red Bull had proven extremely effective the day before.

The central sector was totally the prerogative of the Milton Keynes team, once again the absolute protagonist on the straights, where Leclerc had a gap of around 6km/h from Verstappen, which widened to 9km/h when you put it compared to Perez. An important gap, which is not felt so much in terms of maximum speed peaks, but rather the ability to maintain those performances for the entire length of the stroke. From this point of view, the Honda Power Unit confirmed itself as the best in managing the electric, maintaining a constant trend up to the braking point, while the Maranello team's unit suffered, as on other occasions, derating in the final part of the straight.

The approach in the last sector is completely different, especially in the hotel area. If Verstappen had favored taking route twelve and the section that divides routes thirteen and fourteen, Leclerc had favored entering the area under the hotel and exiting from that section (where the Hasselt driver ended up with slight understeer). , so as to be able to compete in the sprint leading towards the last corner. Two different interpretations, as well as their styles, with the classic partialization of the accelerator by the Monegasque, which has now become his hallmark. What is surprising is precisely the quality of the F1-75 in the last stretch, so much so that at the end of the session it also managed to bring home the absolute record for that area of ​​the track; if it is true that at the beginning of the year that type of corner was a hunting ground for the Italian car, in the last few events those strengths seemed to have faded a little compared to a clearly growing competition. Furthermore, the fact that we had focused on a more unloaded set-up could have created some problems in managing the rear axle, which in reality the grip offered by the new set of soft tires partially covered.

Partially because this aspect emerged more with Carlos Sainz, at the limit in the last corner just after having had to correct a snap of the rear during insertion, consequently widening the trajectory. In the last attempt the Spaniard also paid for a rather slow outlap due to traffic. Suffice it to say that in the last two sectors alone, the Ferrari driver had maintained a pace 18 seconds higher than in the previous run, affecting the preparation of the tyres: "It was a solid qualifying for the whole team in which we made a step both in terms of in pace and set-up. I'm not entirely happy with my last attempt in Q3 because I encountered traffic on my out lap and this prevented me from getting the tires to the right temperature. Overall, however, I am happy with the sensations I had in the car and I think we are in a good position for tomorrow. There are still many points up for grabs and we don't want to leave any stone unturned until the end of the season,” explained Sainz. The warm-up phase of the tires is also one of the reasons why it was decided not to provide the trail to Leclerc: unless we wanted to completely sacrifice the Madrilenian, the effect would have been rather limited, so the riders preferred to concentrate on your preparation tour in peace.

The second row represents a good starting point for the Red Team, which worked hard on the track and in the factory on the simulator between Friday and Saturday to try to fix what hadn't worked on the first day. In this respect, the two Ferrari drivers were also among the few to complete a small simulation in the Saturday morning session on the medium compound, albeit clearly with less fuel and for a less prolonged period. Rather than looking ahead, realistically the fight will be with whoever starts behind them, Mercedes, who have placed strong bets with some choices designed specifically for the race.

Mercedes projected to race

“Unfortunately today it didn't go the way we wanted. We failed to do our job well and took a step back in terms of performance, while our competitors took a step forward.” A few words that clearly explain Mercedes' performance on Saturday, which was further behind than what was seen on Friday. The seven tenths recovered from the summit are significant because they arrived unexpectedly, even if there are several factors that can offer a clearer image of how this deficit came about.

First of all, the set-up choice aimed at the race undoubtedly increased the deficit on the straights, which in qualifying stood at around 8 km/h from the best. With such a pronounced wing, the most loaded of all the available options, it had already been taken into account that drag problems could have a significant impact on the final time, but the basic problem is that what was gained in the curves does not it was enough to compensate for the extensions. Of course, in high-speed sections such as route one or nine where support is needed, the W13 confirmed that it was fast, but it wasn't as fast in the final sector, especially in the guided area, where it paid the price compared to its rivals.

“We came here expecting it to be a difficult race for us, but we didn't expect a gap of eight tenths from pole position. Today we lost six tenths on the straights compared to the leading cars. I gave it my all, so it's a bit of a surprising result and it's so far away from Red Bull and Ferrari. Let's hope that tomorrow our race pace will be better than today's qualifying. There is also some bouncing at this track, which adds to our lack of performance and brake temperature issues we've been experiencing all season. The whole team is working hard and doing an incredible job to resolve these issues, especially ahead of next year. I can't wait for tomorrow and the last race of the season!”, said Lewis Hamilton, highlighting two further problems. The first concerns bouncing, which finds an explanation as for Ferrari by thinking of the fact that, taking advantage of the smooth asphalt of Yas Marina, the teams lowered the cars again, accentuating that phenomenon which had not occurred in recent events so markedly. The second is that of brake splitting, whereby the system operates at different temperatures on the two ends of the same axis, compromising stability and directionality during braking.

The fifth place finish cannot leave the Briton satisfied, who without an error in the hotel area in the last attempt probably could have climbed one position to the second row, but the focus is on the race. The team's hope is that the set-up choices can help contain degradation, giving the possibility to fight - and beat - the two Ferraris. An interesting aspect that has been overlooked, but which could have its relevance on race day, is that relating to gears and engine rpm. The cars powered by the Star units have a rather short sixth and seventh gear, which leads to maintaining a higher engine speed for a prolonged period, increasing temperatures and consumption. Although driving at night the fresh air allows for good cooling of the car, it cannot be ruled out that in the event of long stretches behind another single-seater it may be necessary to carry out a lift and coast to bring the parameters back to normal.

Vettel lights up the night in Abu Dhabi

Until a few weeks ago, that moment seemed distant, very distant, as if it were something we wanted to keep as far away as possible before having to bitterly accept the reality. That day has arrived and Sebastian Vettel closed his last qualification in the Olympus of Motorsport in style in Abu Dhabi, equaling his best result of the season with a ninth place that has the flavor of a small achievement.

Of course, talking about satisfaction for a ninth position for a driver who has over fifty pole positions to his credit may seem almost science fiction, but on the last Saturday of his career the German pulled something special out of the hat, extracting the maximum from the car . The single-seater had not yet found a definitive set-up on Saturday morning, given that in the last free practice session the four-time world champion had tested two different rear solutions, then opting for the more powerful one which had not been tested on Friday. Just as in other events, although it exposed all the defects of the AMR22 on the straights, reaching 7km/h from the McLaren, this guaranteed that extra load in corners and greater stability in braking, so much so that it could compete for the access to Q3.

A single attempt, in which everything had to be put together. A clean lap, in which he was also able to observe a different approach in tire management: more conservative in the first two sectors and then having something more in the last split time, where in fact he was able to remove two and a half tenths from his best partial : “Overall, my last Formula 1 qualifying was a good session. The car does what I want this weekend and that contributed to this result. I was very motivated and today I had the feeling of having something more. We had some traffic in Q1 and Q2 with a Red Bull at the last corner, but the lap in Q3 was clean. I'm looking forward to the race – my last in Formula 1 – and I hope we can achieve a good result for the team as I conclude my journey with all the members of Aston Martin F1. Anything can happen here and tomorrow we will try to maximize our chances,” Vettel then explained.