#Formula1 Etihad Airways #AbuDhabiGP 2020 Preview. #F1

After Racing Point’s Sergio Perez claimed a shock maiden-victory in a wild Sakhir Grand Prix, the final round of the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship returns to the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates for the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2020. This will be the twelfth edition of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the twelfth time that event has been run as a World Championship round since the inaugural season in 1950.

 

 

Abu Dhabi GP Preview – A look at the Yas Marina Circuit

 

 

The Yas Marina Circuit is a permanent racing circuit located on the stunning Yas Island, 30 minutes away from the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi. The circuit was designed by German designer Hermann Tilke. It is the second purposely built circuit for Formula One in the Middle East with the first being in Bahrain. The circuit twists through Yas Island off the Abu Dhabi coastline passing by the marina and through the iconic five-star, 499 room Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi Hotel designed by New York -based architects Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture of Asymptote Architecture, and winds its way through sand dunes, with several long straights and tight corners. The uniquely scenic waterfront marina-based development includes water and theme parks as well as residential areas, hotels, and beaches. The track has five grandstand areas (Main Grandstand, West Grandstand, North Grandstand, South Grandstand and Marina Grandstand (aka Support)) and part of the pit lane exit runs underneath the circuit. It also features a team building behind the pits, Media Centre, Dragster Track, VIP Tower, and the Ferrari World Theme Park. The circuit also features a powerful lighting system which ensures the transition from day to night racing action.

 

The cars hit top speeds of 320 kph and average speeds of 195 kph. As well as the waterside marina area, there are high-speed sections (including the longest straight on the F1 calendar), tight corners for overtaking, and sector three which resembles part of a twisty-style street circuit. Overall, its diverse elements come together to create one of the most demanding and longest circuits in the world.

 

The Yas Marina Circuit is 5.554km (3.451 miles) in length with 21 corners and runs in an anti-clockwise direction.

 

Race distance is 305.355km (189.739 miles) in length with 55 laps in total.

 

Lewis Hamilton holds the fastest lap record at the Yas Marina Circuit with a 1:39.283 set at last year’s event in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W10 EQ Power+ racer.

 

Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most Abu Dhabi Grand Prix victories with five victories to his name.

 

Mercedes are the most successful constructors at the Yas Marina Circuit with six victories.

 

Abu Dhabi GP Preview – Onboard Pole Lap of the Yas Marina Circuit

 

 

Here is the onboard pole lap of the Yas Marina Circuit set at last year’s event by Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W10 EQ Power+, with the Briton posting a blistering 1:34.794. You can watch the video right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmuKQ2JQK30

 

Abu Dhabi GP Preview – The Last Five Winners

 

 

2019: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2017: Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1. 2016: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2015: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1.

 

Abu Dhabi GP Preview – Tyres

 

 

Pirelli will be bringing to the Yas Marina Circuit, the softest tyres in its range, the white side-walled C3 Hards, the yellow-branded C4 P-Zero Medium compounds and the C5 red-marked P-Zero Soft tyres along with the green-branded Intermediate and blue-marked Full Wet tyre compounds in case of rain.

 

Drivers will have two sets of the hards, three sets of the mediums and eight sets of the softs.

 

Abu Dhabi GP Preview – DRS Zones

 

As in 2019, there will be two DRS Zones at the Yas Marina Circuit. The first detection point will be 40 metres after turn seven with the first activation zone 390 metres after turn seven. The second detection point will be 50 metres after turn nine with the second activation zone at turn 10.

 

Abu Dhabi GP Preview – Pitlane Speeds

 

Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

 

ICYMI: Sakhir GP Rewind – Perez claims shock Sakhir GP victory as Mercedes crumble

 

 

Racing Point’s Sergio Perez clinched a shock Sakhir GP victory after a catastrophic Mercedes pit-stop error and then a puncture cost long-time race leader George Russell.

 

Renault’s Esteban Ocon finished second in-front of Lance Stroll, with the Mercedes pairing in eighth and ninth – Valtteri Bottas, also held up significantly in the pit-stop debacle, in-front of Russell.

 

Perez is also currently under investigation by the stewards for the opening lap incident, which eliminated Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, in which Perez was spun around and dropped to the back of the field.

 

When the 87 lap Sakhir GP began, Pole-sitter Bottas and stand-in team-mate Russell got a great run off the line, but the former was slower in the second half and the latter pulled alongside, with Verstappen looking in-between the pairing.

 

Russell claimed the lead at the apex of the first corner, with Bottas forced wide and then slid at the turn two entry, which let Russell bolt free and bunched the pack behind.

 

This ended in contact behind at turn four when Perez swept into the fourth corner apex and got clipped by Leclerc who locked-up and suffered a broken front-left as a result of the collision with the Mexican spinning out in the process as the duo took out Verstappen at turn four which brought out the safety car.

 

Behind Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen was spun at the exit of turn three of the opening lap at the back of the field, before the tangle at turn four as the Finn dropped to last place.

 

Perez surprisingly had no damage but pitted for a fresh set of mediums.

 

When the race resumed after lap six, Russell lead the way well clear from the safety car control line whilst behind McLaren’s Carlos Sainz got a great run on Bottas.

 

Sainz snatched second from the Mercedes driver, but the Spaniard dipped a wheel off the circuit at turn two allowing Bottas to reclaim the position.

 

At the end of the first lap at racing speed, Russell built a gap of 1.1 seconds, which he looked on increasing as the Mercedes pairing were the only ones running in the low 58 second barrier.

 

This quickly saw the F1 W11 EQ Power+ racers move away from Sainz, who lead a train of running during the initial stint of the Grand Prix, before Bottas was able to stabilise the gap when it reached 2.4 seconds on the 17^th tour.

 

Bottas edged towards Russell as the Mercedes duo were told they were well enough over their target for making a stop before the Briton was able to increase the gap again approaching one-third of the race distance.

 

As the rest of the top 10 runners in the field who started on the C4 softer rubber compared to the mediums on the Mercedes, pitted, the race leaders were soon lapping tailenders, which caused the gap between them to fluctuate.

 

Russell’s lead was 3.1 seconds when he stopped for a set of C1 harder tyres at the end of the 45^th tour, while Bottas remained out on track for another four laps.

 

Despite a sensor issue scare, which caused Russell to report “no power” over the radio on his out lap, this meant the significant undercut factor saw the Briton’s lead balloon to 8.5 seconds at the end of Bottas’ out lap.

 

Both Mercedes drivers were then warned about the suffering of their left-front track rod loads through the demanding turns seven and eight chicane, before the virtual safety car was deployed when Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi pulled off the circuit on the inside of turn eight and retired due to an oil leak.

 

Bottas cut the gap to Russell’s lead to under five seconds with solid pace on his harder compounds either side of the virtual safety car, but the race turned upside-down when a second safety car was deployed after Williams Racing’s Jack Aitken spun off at the last corner and knocked the front-wing off his FW43 racer.

 

The second VSC was upgrade to a full-course safety car caution so the debris could be cleared, and Mercedes called both drivers in for what turned out to be a disastrous double-stack pit-stop.

 

After Russell had a slightly slow stop, he was sent out with a mixed-set of mediums and had to be called in the following lap, whilst Bottas lost almost half a minute waiting as the Brackley-based outfit realised their error and sent him out on the same harder tyres he took at his first pit-stop.

 

The Mercedes pit-stop calamity meant that Perez, who pitted for hards before the first VSC, has quickly recovered up the order following his opening lap tangle, lead ahead of Ocon and Stroll – as those that had been following the Mercedes pairing who came in during the virtual safety car deployment.

 

The race went green again on the 69^th lap, with Perez moving clear as Russell ran behind Bottas before moving up to fifth place when his team-mate went deep at turn four on lap 70, which left Russell the opportunity to wrestle his way through over the bumps into the turns 7/8 chicane.

 

Russell made short work of Stroll and Ocon in successive laps shortly afterwards, which left the Briton with a 3.4 second gap to chase down Perez.

 

Russell posted a string of fastest laps, but then disaster struck as a slow-left rear puncture forced Mercedes to stop for a fourth time – for softs – and dropped the Briton out of winning contention.

 

Perez had maintained his pace and pulled clear of Ocon over the rest of the Grand Prix and came home to take a sensational maiden victory at the Sakhir GP by 10.518 seconds.

 

Stroll completed the final points place in a perfect weekend for Racing Point and ahead of Sainz who finished fourth as Bottas dropped down the field as the Finn’s harder tyres fell off the cliff, just before Russell came in to pit for his puncture.

 

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top five ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon and AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat, then followed the Mercedes pairing of the aforementioned Bottas and Russell.

 

Russell had emerged from his final stop in 14^th but was able to use his fresher softs to his advantage to fly his way up to ninth and claimed his first points finish.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris completed the top ten and in-front of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who finished 11^th and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who was 12^th.

 

Alfa Romeo Racing duo Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen were 13^th and 14^th respectively with Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen taking 15^th.

 

Aitken and Haas F1 Team’s Pietro Fittipaldi finished their maiden F1 Grands Prix in 16^th and 17^th at the rear of the pack.

 

The Situation

 

 

Lewis Hamilton sits on top of the standings with the World Driver’s Championship secured, on 332 points and a 127-point lead over Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas who is second on 205 points while Max Verstappen is a further 143 points behind the Briton in third on 189 points.

 

The question remains will Hamilton race in the final round at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix? The Briton tested positive for COVID-19 last Tuesday and missed the Sakhir GP last weekend. Hamilton posted his first video and said he is back in training in the hope of returning for this weekend’s final race of the 2020 campaign at the Yas Marina Circuit. The Briton is requiring a negative test to compete this weekend.

 

“Hi everyone. I hope you are all well,” explained Hamilton. “I know I’ve not been in touch this past week, but it’s definitely been one of the hardest weeks that I’ve had for some time. Just been focusing on recovering and trying to get back in shape so I can get back in the car and race the final race in Abu Dhabi.”

 

“I woke up today feeling great and got my first workout in, so I just wanted to send you guys a message of positivity and let you know I’m ok and thank every single one of you for sending the amazing messages and videos. I really appreciate it.” Hamilton concluded.

 

Hamilton’s video did not say he had tested negative.

 

Although the race weekend begins on Thursday, with the first track action on Friday, Hamilton could return to action as late as Saturday’s qualifying session. The FIA rules state that drivers could compete in the Grand Prix if they took part in at least one practice session that weekend, qualifying included.

 

The fight for the Vice-Champion spot in the standings is still up for grabs, Max Verstappen needs to outscore Valtteri Bottas if he wants to snatch second-place from the Finn.

 

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport comes into the Sakhir Grand Prix weekend with the World Constructors Championship wrapped up, in P1 on the standings with 540 points and a 258-point advantage over nearest rivals Aston Martin Red Bull Racing who are second on 282 points, meanwhile BWT Racing Point F1 Team are a further 346 points behind the Silver Arrows in third place on 194 points.

 

BWT Racing Point F1 Team, McLaren Racing and Renault DP World F1 Team are split by 22 points in the fight for third place in the Constructors Championship with a maximum of 44 points available, meaning that Racing Point need to outscore McLaren and Renault by various margins to lock-in third with the calculations too close to call in what has been a crazy campaign.

 

Click here for the 2020 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings.

 

The Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2020 race weekend begins Friday December 11 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday December 12 and the 55 lap Race Sunday December 13.